Fuscópolis - Joanópolis

The Fusca, also known as the VW Beetle

I know I have talked about the "Fusca" before in my posts about visiting Joanópolis, a cute country town, population 12,000. It seems that Joanópolis (or as I call it Fuscópolis) has about one Fusca for every three residents. Nowhere inside or outside of Brazil have I ever seen so many VW Beetles. I frequently challenge visitors to our rented country home to count as many as they can from the start of the dirt road, but no one has beaten the record of 51 Fuscas (in 17 kms) counted by my friend Emily three years ago. 

Fuscas are ubiquitous in Brazil. They were made here from the 1950s until 1986 when the factories were shifted from Fuscas to the Fox and the Santana. But ex-president and now dead Itamar Franco (he of the friend with no underpants and short skirt) asked VW to bring them back in 1993...and they were produced here from 1993 to 1996, when they finally ceded the Bug to Mexico. Which means a whole lot of these cars on the road are very very old.  

I spy with my little eye....a Fusca!

How these less-than-sporty cars can get down the pockmarked, pothole-filled, frequently muddy-to-the-doorstop dirt roads, I really will never figure out. I drive a 4x4 that seems to have more trouble than these Bugs. Perhaps I'll have to try to pick up a second hand one when Dia do Fusca (VW Bug Day) is celebrated nationally on January 20, as it is every single year. I love a good holiday.

And another one!