One week in…

One week in and we have truly been enjoying the start to our journey.

We started off in Pedro’s mom and dad’s town of Sardoa, Minas Gerais, Brazil (https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardoá).  Its a small farming town about 8 hours by car northwest of Rio.  We actually flew into another town (Belo Horizonte, which we will visit later) and drove into Sardoa.  That was a trip worth sharing in its own post.  We arrived at night to the family all impatiently awaiting on us, setting off fireworks as we drove to the house.  The entire town knew our our pending arrival and several of the local neighbors (think miles and miles of farms) stopped over to visit with us.

(you can see me squatting to get in the pic – lets just say Pedro is one of the tallest in his family!)

(most, if not all, of the cheese in Brazil comes from Minas Gerais, and it is served at every meal.  the cheese we had today was made the day before by one of the neighbors)

(what would a farm be without some horseback riding?  No shoes required!)

After 3 days of some country fun, we made our way to the town of Governador Valadares (https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governador_Valadares) where Pedro’s sister Rayssa lives.  She works for a local law firm and is studying to become a lawyer herself.  She has an adorable two bedroom apartment in the heart of the city where we setup our temporary (2 week) residence.  In addition to being sweet, and smart, she is a very talented singer and guitar player.

This first leg has been a lot of catching up with (and me meeting) many of our Brazilian family.  It reminds me a lot of my what Curtis and I used to call “our country grandmas” cause she owned a small working farm outside of Augusta, GA (we also had a “city” grandma in the huge town of Aiken, SC ;). Our country grandma always had extra food for folks that might stop by, need a hand, or even some work.  The caring that surrounded her spirit and the community which was her home is exactly what I feel when I am in Brazil.  Beautiful, caring, and selfless people.  Our heart will always be here no matter where our travels take us.  Brasil te amo!