seekingmygreaterperhaps

Oi! Tudo bem?

I am rested and happy as I just got back from my first school break! We had a 5 day weekend because of the Brazilian Independence Day on September 7th. 2 of my friends and I rented a car and a couple rooms as a pousada (guest house) and drove to Pirenopolis! It is about 2 hours away from Brasilia. As it turns out, it was a very popular destination for many people from my school.

I’m splitting my trip into 2 blog posts because Pirenopolis is known for waterfalls. There are 73 waterfalls one could visit around Piri. 73! This first part will be the non-waterfall bits. 🙂

One of my favorite parts of Pirenopolis was that I was able to bring Kya, my amazing dog. We drove and stayed at a dog friendly pousada. Our stay wasn’t anything to write home about, so I’m not going to name drop it here. It was nice enough and there was a pool. Above is one of the streets we walked along on our first night in Piri to get to the main area. Pirenopolis is a quaint and colonial city/town. There are cobblestone streets, which is cute for pictures but very bumpy to drive on, and one story houses and buildings.

There is a street of restaurants that seems to be always bustling. We arrived on the national holiday, and there was live music and lots of people. We were lucky to find a table and enjoy a couple drinks.

In the morning I took Kya on a very long walk, and we saw all the tourist attractions in the morning light, without many visitors. Above is the main church that sits at the top of the hill. You can see it from most places in Piri, which is kind of cool. We passed that church and kept walking because I found a place called “Casa dos Biscoitos.” This means, “House of Cookies.” If you know me well, I needed to check it out. Turns out it was a bakery, but a delicious one. I bought a kilo of fresh pao de queijo, some cookies for the road, and crystallized pineapple. Everything was delightful. It was very far out of the way, and we hoofed it back to share the pao de queijo love with my travel mates.

The highlight of the trip for me was brunch at the Vagafogo Wildlife Sanctuary. This was a recommendation by a colleague at school and I am so glad we went. The farm has been in the family for generations, and we were even able to talk to the son of the original owner after our hike.

There were 14 courses for brunch. 14! They were mini courses, and meant for sampling, but it was amazing. I took a note of them because I wanted to remember specifically so I could write about it. Everything from the brunch came from their farm, so this is about as farm-to-table as you can get. The courses:

1. Fruit salad with “ambrosia” (brown sugar cane cooked in ghee)
2. Yogurt with granola and hibiscus jam (FRESH YOGURT?!)
3. Omelet with herby chanclish with tomato chutney
4. Whole grain bread or white bread with pequi pulp or pesto or butter
5. Fresh cheese with mango chutney or chili jams
6. Honey bread with sweet cucumber relish or pickled okra
7. Cheese biscuit with cheese spread and ricotta
8. Cheese bread with roast beef and tangerine with baru nut jam or cagaita jam
9. Corn bread with jabuticaba jam
10. Salty hibiscus with a drop of honey
11. Waffle with blackberry jellies, mango with passion fruit, doce de leite and whipped cream
12. Banana pie with whipped cream
13. Yogurt with granola, doce de leite and whipped cream
14. Coffee with whipped cream

I’m full all over again just typing that list out.

Thankfully they had a trail at Vagafogo to help us walk off our oncoming food coma. It (of course) ended in a waterfall.

Another highlight for me was running into other members of my EAB family in Pirenopolis. Duane and Sweta and their family had rented a house with a private pool and invited a whole bunch of us over for pizza. I was able to bring Kya over and she had a great time sniffing around their backyard. Their kids are in elementary school, and I LOVE to play in the water. All that coaching and swim lessons with kids has taught me how to play with kids safely. I spent an hour or more playing around with their kids. I also learned that in Brazil, when you go underwater for a handstand they call it “planting a banana tree.”

These cows/ oxen are all over Pirenopolis. They are “cavalhadas” and are representing a folkloric tradition in the region. Piri is right in the middle of the country, so the land is rich in farming. There are festivals that go along with these cavalhadas as well, so maybe I will have to go back for that someday!

My favorite travel souvenir is art*. I love supporting local artists when I can. This is Mirim. My Portuguese is getting good enough that I was able to have a brief conversation with him. He is super nice, I bought the painting he is showing off here, and he slid another one in my envelope. Thanks Mirim!

*I am an avid postcard collector. And Pirenopolis made me HUNT for a postcard. I also collect metal lapel pins and was unable to find one at all! I’m worried South America will force me to take a hit on my collections. Sigh.

Overall, it was a great first place to see in Brazil that is outside of Brasilia!

Ate a proxima!