I Could Fall Off The Face of The Earth...

When I went to Brazil a few years ago, my best friend and I traveled to a town called Ouro Preto. For those of you that have never heard of it, and I am guessing that's most of you, it's a pristine little town nestled in the mountains, about 200 miles north of Rio de Janiero. After a very uncomfortable overnight bus ride, we arrived in the early morning bleary-eyed, to an adorable town with some of the best architecture I'd seen in one place.

The city is a maze of hilly, cobble stoned streets, with hidden courtyards and terraces where you can sit down for a beer and a snack while watching the people go by. The most amazing aspect was the 15 or so churches spread out around town, most of them in the ornate Baroque style. Ouro Preto found it's fame - and fortune - in gold, and many of these churches have ridiculously intricate gold detailing on their interiors…and exteriors. It's a miracle that they haven't been pillaged over the years by people wanting to make a buck. After two days of wandering around town, we realized that our sightseeing options had been exhausted and we had yet another day to spend in the city before catching the overnight bus back to Rio. We inquired with the hotel management about a tour we might be able to take or some other sight worth seeing that we might have missed.

This was a feat in itself, since we only spoke Spanish, and though the lovely person at the desk said we could converse in Spanish, he kept responding to my questions in Portuguese. My Portuguese is pretty much non-existent, but I was able to piece together the gist of his sentences by understanding the few words that were close to Spanish.

He recommended that we go to the "Campo da Fazenda". Well, we know that basically means farm, and as far as we were able to understand it was a spa kind of place with hiking trails, waterfalls, a pool, and we would get lunch. He said it was 40 reais (about 10 bucks then), and they would pick us up at 9am and bring us back later in the day. We seriously had no idea what to expect.

So in the morning this little beat-up red car comes to pick us up and we have no way of communicating with the driver, but we get in the car with him and his buddy and head off. After 10 minutes of driving through the slightly creepy outskirts of town with hillside shacks, dodging farm animals along the road, we begin to look at each other and realize we have no idea where we are going, no one knows our whereabouts other than the hotel guy from the night before, and we could literally disappear at this moment and no one would even know where to begin looking for us. I could see the headlines - Americans go missing in mountains of Brazil. Dear God.

Then we pull into a driveway of sorts and we can see some buildings up a hill, so we get out of the car and start to walk up the hill, when the driver yells at us. It's pretty clear he wants us to stop and wait, so we do, and he and his friend leave. At this point we're wondering if we should start running in the other direction. I can see the blindfolds coming and the picture of me holding the day's paper asking for a ransom. Just when my nerves were starting to hit their stride this joyful women comes strolling over, shakes our hand and starts welcoming us to the "campo", in impeccable English.

She explains to us, that the grounds, which used to be a coffee plantation, are ours to peruse. She tells us there are some trails leading to waterfalls and outlooks of the mountains and ridges. She said lunch would be served at noon, and tea and snacks at 5, after which we would be driven back to Ouro Preto. She says we're the only ones using the grounds for the days so to make ourselves comfortable.

Off we go on some of the trails. Where we did in fact see some spectacular waterfalls, and stood on a cliff perched a good 1000 feet off the forest floor. Talk about getting weak in the knees. Lunch was a spectacular affair of Brazilian delicacies all freshly prepared for the two of us, and the campo staff. We spent the afternoon talking with the owner about the farm, which her father passed to her and her brother, neither of whom wanted to continue the coffee growing, so they turned it into a small bed and breakfast and place for visitors to come and relax for the day.

Hours later we had some tea and finger sandwiches, and wished we didn't have to go back. It was one of the most relaxing days I've ever spent on vacation, and it would be great to go back one day to see it all again.
The experience taught me an important lesson in being a spontaneous traveler. Yes, it very well could have ended up being a disaster in many capacities, but it wasn't. Sometimes the best travel experiences are off the beaten track, and are things you don't plan for, or even know about until your faced with it. Take chance and you'll be rewarded.