August 24,

Today was another travel day.

We were up and about, readied, and had our Javas with the same breakfast as yesterday with a mango. Then we packed up our stuff, which Jeff did most of as I pre-emptively laid down to stretch out my leg. Jeff loaded the car and we were out by the scheduled check out time of 1100. Bags are packed and ready to go (musical notes emoji).

We had about a 3.5 hour drive to our new destination. But we did stop at Capela Nossa Senhora das Dores, or Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel. It had a beautiful wooden piece in the entry with some stained glass. Then the interior opened to some of the most stunning stained glass windows that we have seen in quite some time. We admired them by ourselves for a little bit as the chapel was empty when we arrived. We left and moved on through town, passing by other churches as we headed out but did not stop at them, just admired from a distance. Lastly we went to a viewpoint over the town, seeing our place and the train station. It was at this town’s version of a Christ Redeemer Statue, but the statue was in disrepair and in a sketchy area, so we did not get out of our car. 

We were out of Sao Joao del Rei quickly! And by 1145, we were on the highway – BR 383/265. Then 265 turned off, we stayed on 383 most of the rest of the way. The countryside had opened up to undulating, rolling hills of farmed land. It was mostly stubbled, already harvested crops. But you could see for miles… big sky country! Also there were some more mines, and even passed by some orchards- maybe oranges or tangerines. The roadway was quite a bit rougher and the speed limits were 40 to 60 kmph or 25 to 37 mph. Jeff did not quite adhere to this, as well as most other people. He was passed by people and passed people. Anyway, it was a pleasant drive.

The landscape changed to more rugged hills, with maybe a couple being mountains, and became more ranches with still intermittent farmland. There were many cattle and more horses than we’ve seen in some time. The dirt was red – as in, like Oklahoma colored, and sometimes pink even. There were still large cargo trucks, we saw some with triple trailers carrying lumber, smaller logs though. These trucks were more numerous than we thought would be on this smaller road. Something I haven’t mentioned have been the lots of termite mounds all about on the hills! We still see the bright yellow blooming trees scattered around and I google them. If it’s the tree we think it is…it is the Brazilian National Tree, the Paubrasilia or Brazilwood, and the wood is a brilliant red hue.

We stopped in the town of Caxambu for lunch at Churrascaria E Bisteca. They seemed busy and it was the first real place that had people inside. We went through the buffet, but did not have to weigh it. HUH? So we sat down, and a waiter brought us each a smaller plate filled with meat. Well, this will be the last meal of our day. Thankfully we had not overfilled our buffet plates! It was good food, and the meat was better. We shared a ½ liter bottle of Sprite. When we finished we paid 116 BRL, or $22.50 total. We loaded back into our Onix and resumed the drive, which was not far now to our destination. We did stop at a little grocery store.

At 1600, we arrived at Pouso Alto, the town right near where we were staying. We climbed way up a hill to get to our place overlooking the town. We pulled in the drive and actually high centered a little as it was so steep. Jeff unloaded as I explored our little place. We have a retractable roof over our bed!

We enjoyed the gorgeous sunset on our roof eating some Minas Gerais cheese and bread with a lovely Chilean Syrah. It has been a bit since we have seen a sunset. Anyway, it cooled off quickly so we went back down and into our new home. I hope to see the stars tonight from the bed!