Game Changers: Altering Your Itinerary at the Last Minute

I drank some coffee this afternoon and now am unable to sleep. I am glad to use this time to share some news about my trip.

Yesterday I was advised that the person with whom I was supposed to spend the Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro legs of my trip is no longer in Brazil. For whatever reason, I was only given this information less than a week before we were supposed to meet, and less than two weeks before Carnaval is to occur. This has several implications including the fact that essentially all accomodations are now booked in Rio so close to the celebration dates, and transportation costs are very high when booking this last minute. I am dissapointed that this person did not share the possibility of his absence with me in advance so that I could properly make alternate plans, but I did have my suspicions that something was not right since I had not received confirmations from him over the last two months.

So what does one do when your plans change? Make new plans. I am lucky that I do have contacts here in Brazil who as I have said are extraordinarily hospitable. They are helping me as best they can to ensure my stay in Brazil is all I hoped it would be.

The major decisions that I have had to make in the last two days is one of value judgement - 1) is it more valuable to see more places in a country but spend most of your budget on accomodation and transportation, or 2) is it more valuable to visit fewer places but have the cash to do more and better activities?

I have chosen the option two. I know that I have never been the type of person that likes to visit a city every day or two for the sake of 'having been' to each place, but I'd rather see one city inside and out. I leave tomorrow for Brasilia. Originally I was supposed to fly from there to Sao Paolo to meet the person in question. However, without knowing someone in the city, it really doesn't have much draw for me anymore. So my options were to 1) fly directly to Rio if I could find accomodation and visit Ihla Grande for a few days before trying to go to Carnaval, 2) fly to Florianapolis for five days before trying to go to Carnaval, or 3) return to Belo Horizonte to stay with my current hosts for an additional five days and participate in the activities which they have planned for me.

After doing the cost analysis of these three options, as well as doing a safety, fun and convenience analysis, I have chosen to return to Belo Horizonte after Brasilia. There are so many activities and sites I would still like to see in Belo Horizonte, and I have a place to stay and people to expose me to the best activities in this town.

I still think good karma is on my side, and I look forward to sharing more details from Minas Gerais upon my return from the country's capital - Brasilia.

Serra do Cipo, Minas Gerais

Sunday I went hiking with Carol and her neighbours Debora and Flavian. We drove about 2hrs to a small community in Serra do Cipo national park. It is here that Flavian is hoping to buy some land so that he too can get away from the crowded cities and into nature on the weekends and holidays.

This is Flavian. As the roads changed from cement, to brick, to dirt, to run-out pot-hole filled dirt and last to grown in brush trails, you could tell he was getting more and more excited about where he was taking us - and after seeing the property I would be too.

Flavian has found a hilly piece of property in the top of the mountains with ample water frontage and surrounded by grazing cattle and sugar cane fields. The land is very rugged right now which allowed for a lot of discover as we walked the property. There are cacti everwhere and the vegetation common to the wild cerrado, which apparently has a greater biodiversity than the amazon. We hiked through the trees and shrub to the water where the vista of the surrouding mountains was inspiring. I would ceratinly get up everyday and want to hike to the top of these peaks - like in Cawston, British Columbia.

As we walked around you rocks littered the property, a reminder that we are still in Minas Gerais. Then as we approached the gem of his property (at least in my mind), two vultures flapped above us and landed on their nest. What is the gem you ask? Flavian has two private caves on his property! The rock of the bluff system is composed of calcareous rock with very hard and sharp edges making it easy to climb.

I don't know why I hadn't thought of climbing here in Minas Gerais, but with all the amazing rock I've been seeing I am hoping to get up before I leave.


On our hike we had a run in with a run-away cow. We had come to a river where we stripped down to swim. Flavian was already in the water with is dogs when we heard a man on the other side of the river chasing a cow with his dogs. The cow jumped through the barbed wire fence and launched itself into the water right where Flavian and the dogs were swimming! Luckily we got the dogs out and on leash and Flavian out before the cow decided exactly where it was going, but across it swam and then walked out in front of where I and the girls were standing before continuing on its way. Five minutes later a second cow replicated the same experience.

We all have images of what rural towns in different countries look like because of seeing them in movies or in magazines. Sometimes I wonder how true these representations actually are to the way of life as it is lived. The town we visited in Serra do Cipo was exactly what one would imagine.

Starving stray dogs roamed the streets; people sat around at the local restaurant hiding from the heat of the sun and having a drink; a couple of young men lounged on their porch wearing a straw hat and playing the guitar; a man pulled his stubborn horse while his young son sad on it's back wearing a cowboy hat and slapping it with his stick; a fat man sat on top of a very thin horse and rode it to picnic with his friends; houses were surrounded by chickens, donkeys and kids while the crowds of adults relaxed inside; and as you walked around there were painted wood signs offering land for sale, places to sleep, homemade meals or a shower.

By the time Carol and I returned home we were both pretty tired from spending a day under the sun. But, Lucas was hosting a barbeque for some friends, so I got to meet some more locals. When we showed up the meet was gone, the girls were gossiping and the boys were trying to shoot targets with the pellet gun.

Everyone spoke English at the party which was awesome since my companions for the day did not. I also find that I am much better at speaking and understanding Portuguese in the morning when I am alert than in the evening when I am tired.

Juliana is an architect, Theresa a administrative lawyer and Paula a graphic designer. We gossiped about the difficulties of dating in Belo Horizonte that is saturated with women - apparently for every 10 ladies there are only 7 men, 3 of which are homosexual, 2 of which are married and 1 of which is an asshole. So the pickings are slim especially with so many beautiful women around. I asked about the popularity of online dating in Brazil, as it has really taken off in Canada, but it was explained to me that the risks and dangers of meeting strangers in Brazil are so high that it really is not very popular.

We then talked about weddings and the cost of certain items in Brazil - you would think that buying would be cheaper here but really it is much more expensive. For example, in BH the cheapest wedding dress you can RENT is about 3000 reais; to buy is more expensive. Theresa who got married in a dual ceremony with her sister just over a year ago said that knowing the price of dresses here, it was cheaper for her to buy the dresses for both her and her sister in England while she was living in Europe. (She got them for 65 and 120 pounds at discount wedding stores abroad.) But being a catholic country, weddings do tend to be very grandiose affairs without much room for those couples who want a more modest and frugal event.

Even for Lucas and Carol, they have explained that they will likely fly to Miami to buy items for their baby because it will cost them the same or less to fly to Miami and do all their purchasing rather than buying it all here. For example in BH a stroller costs over $1000! Ridiculous.

Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais: Weekend Activities

I am being spoiled. This weekend was a weekend of luxury for sure. Honestly I am so fortunate to have such welcoming and sympatica hosts. On Saturday I was invited to spend my day with Carol and Lucas at the weekend home of Lucas' family. His family, as do Carol and Lucas, live in a gated community, which are called condominios in Brazil. His home is in a valley surrounded by minimally developed mountains so that residents can enjoy the beauty of brazilian nature and get away from the crowded city life.

His home also has an outdoor kitchen and hosting area with three large permanent outdoor dinning tables, a pool, a billiard table, a tennis court and ample room to lounge. We played music ranging from unplugged shows of Eric Clapton to MPB (musique popular brazil).

I think the lunch was to celebrate Carol being pregnant because Lucas' three sisters and their family were present and we drank a very fancy bottle of Spanish wine with lunch. Alexia, one of Lucas' sister, is a chef who teaches cooking at a school in another province. She made a delicious seafood lunch for us to enjoy for the celebrations, after which we played billiards, swam, sun tanned and generally relaxed.

Meeting kids is always an enjoyable experience in a foreign country for a number of reasons. First, you're able to communicate more easily because the topics of conversation with a child tend to be more simple. However, in many cases, children are often timido with foreigners. For two of Lucas' nephews I was the first person they have ever met that doesn't speak Portuguese. For some of the older ones, they explained that they could understand me when I spoke English because they had started to learn in school or for one Fransisco (there were two) he said he would only be learning this coming year.

The pre-teen nieces decided later to make luxury dog cookies from a cookbook that was in English. They kept running to me to explain different ingredients and words in the instructions. For example, I had to explain what 'grated' meant and what 'dough' was in a couple different ways before the girls understood. Actually it is a little like playing Tabu - you can use all sorts of hand signals and words less ones (generally the most useful) that aren't understood by the people to whom you are trying to describe the subject. 'Grated' was difficult to explain because they had to grate carrots so I explained that cheese on pizza and nachos was generally grated and that's what they had to do to the carrots.

Luckily I wasn't the only foreigner at the gathering. Mat, a Turkish exchange student living with Alexia, was able to translate much because he has already been in Brazil for six months. When I asked him why he chose to learn Portuguese of all languages, he said it was because apparently Portuguese is the most difficult of the latin languages (which I believe), and he says he has been advised that if he learns Portuguese before Spanish and Italian it will be easier to learn all three than if he learned Spanish or Italian and then tried to add Portuguese.

Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais: Where I live

This is Loro. He is a parrot that lives in the house where I am staying in Belo Horizonte. There are also two cats, one with a heavy wheezing problem and one stray, and two dogs, Jaco and Juca. Loro knows that I like him, so do the dogs, which means I keep getting into trouble with them. Loro doesn't like everyone, but has started to take advantage of the fact that he knows I like to pick him up. Everytime I go by his perch he lifts his foot for me to take him with me, which I do. Then when it it time to go back he refuses and we are stuck at a face off of stubborness, me trying to make the bird submit to my will and he trying to make me submit to his will. Really I don't mind because he is so entertaining. This morning when he was missing it was because he was taking in the sun in a tree in the garden. In the afternoons he likes to talk and sing and he even does a fabulous imitation of Gigi's husband's laugh.

I am staying in a very nice house. The construction is so different than in Canada because the temperatures here are so much more mild. Also peole like to host guests for dinners often that kitchens, I have discovered, both indoor and outdoor, tend to be a focus of most homes.

The house I live in is pink with blue windows. The neighbourhood is quite rural by Brazilian city standards, as the drive to town is about 25 minutes. Our neighbours include a riding school where there are often kids training with their horses.

The garden is maintained by a gardener twice a week and is very elaborate with a number of sitting areas, shrubs, fruit trees, a little garden and a boardwalk system. Also he is in charge of maintaining the hedges around the property to keep prying eyes out and to hide the fence that keeps the animals in and the people out.

Across from the house is the big kitchen - my favourite part of this property. I can only hope to one day have a similar setup where I live. The big kitchen has an industrial size dehydrator, two fridges and freezers, a stationary stove and a moveable stove (for when you want to be heating something right beside the table), a wood oven and so much space to work! There are two dining tables and even two couch areas for people to lounge which others prepare the food.

On Saturday night we hosted Carol and Lucas as well as Lu's brother, Bruno, and his wife Anna and their toddler Nina. We made pizza in the wood oven, and Nina slept on one of the couches.

Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais

Yesterday I went to visit Ouro Preto, meaning black gold, about an hour outside of Belo Horizonte, where I am staying. Ouro Preto is essentially the first town that was founded in Brazil by the Portuguese in the late 1600s because it is there that they found gold. The ships would land in Rio de Janeiro and make the trip inland to Ouro Preto to mine the ore and take it back to Europe. Today Ouro Preto is a protected UNESCO World Heritage site for it's colonial architecture.

Minas Gerais, the province I am in, has its name because it is a province full of mining. I have not seen so many beautiful precious and semi-precious stones come from one place ever. The main types in the stores are different colour topaz stones that are semi-precious, but imperial topaz, which only comes from this area, is a precious stone like a ruby or a emerald.



This is Jose Maria our guide in Ouro Preto. We stopped to ask him directions for the sites, and instead he made a quick sale to my host and before I knew what was happening he was hopping in the back of our car and introducing himself to me. A very hospitable man who knew a lot about the city. What was more interesting though was his family history. Apparently his father has had two wives in his life, but had a total of 38 children between the two women! Also, Jose Maria's father was born in 1898 which was only five years after slavery was abolished in Brazil - if he was born earlier, he would have been a slave.



Ouro Preto has many beautiful churches dispersed that seem to sit mainly atop the hills dispersed int he town. There are also many single person chapels with different saints to whom you can pray in passing. The town was one of the first to have a water and sewer system in Brazil, and the 75 old water fountains show this well.

Here Gigi and I look out over the city. It is a very complex town with confusing street dynamics. I was glad we had a guide.

The open air windows and balconies of many of the stores were laden with these namoradeira, women who watch at their window for potential boyfriends who may pass in the street.



The drive was an easy one except for the fact that the road is either sliding away or being covered by mud slides in many places. The extreme rainy season has just ended and apparently this year more rain was received than has been in the last 20. The soil is not very solid, which means that the water saturation has allowed for it to move very easily. It was unusual to see that for the most part the caved in roads were only designated by an earth barier built around the crumbling road. On our way back we ever saw that there was a slide that happened on part of the road we had driven on en rout to Ouro Preto.

After a day of museums and history being explained to me in Spanish and Portuguese, I was tired. I was happy to be able to speak some English at a dinner to which I was invited by the sister and husband of my good friend in the city. There Anna, an excellent hostess cook and serve us dinner in their appartment that overlooked the city - from the balcony I was shown which areas are favelas and which were the original boundaries of Belo Horizonte, one of the first planned cities in Brazil, are located.

There were three couples at dinner. Carol, Lu's sister, is an architect and her husband Luca is a lawyer who practices administrative law against the state (he said that probably doesn't exist in Canada because our government isn't as corrupt). Carol and Luca are my kind of people because they are young professionals who like to live and be active outdoors. In fact, Luca is an avid cyclist and owns 19 bikes! When I started to talk to him about his cycling adventures and explained that I have friends in Vancouver who plan cycle transportation professionally, he said that he is often used as a consultant by the city planners of Belo Horizonte for the very same thing.

Then we had our hosts Anna and her husband Daneio. Anna designs clothing and runs her own shop. It was apparent she was very glad to have people over because her hospitality was outstanding. She had platters with proscuitto, nuts, cheese, artisinal breads and sauteed green beans. Then our main was a delightful dish that consists of shredded zucchini, wild rice, white fish simmered in a vegetable stock and served with paremesan cheese. Daneio and the boys love motorcycles so this was a major topic of conversation.

The last couple were Nicole and Eduardo. Nicole works for her family business in concrete and Eduardo works for his family business which is converting waste from one of the largest beer companies in the world into organic fertilizer for agriculture. He also has started his own subsidiary company which is a waste disposal company for all companies.

I drank green wine from Portugal all night and tried to keep up with the conversations. The boys all spoke English well and were not shy. It turns out that the reason they do is because they all watch a lot of television and movies in English; when they watch with their partners they however watch in Portuguese which is why the girls struggled a little more to communicate with me in English. However it was a nice balance - I could hang out with the girls to improve my Portuguese and when I needed a break I hung out with the boys to speak some English.

Music was also a major point of conversation mainly because when I walked in they were playing The XX and then later Chromeo came on which are very popular in Vancouver, but apparently only people who are very into music may know about them here in Brazil.

(clockwise from front left) Daneio, Nicole, Eduardo, Carol, Luca and I - Anna was exhausted and has escaped to bed once we had dessert :)

Citizenship and Travel

I have arrived in Brazil. The country is in full summer bloom, the temperatures are warm and the energy is alive. As I sit writing in the airport, there is a large group of thirty- to forty-something-year-olds jumping up and down chanting in unison, throwing their arms in the air, blowing whistles and generally showing their excitement for their upcoming trip – Voce Diamond. They have been making so much noise that I am sure was not the only one who thought a fight had broken out with one of the guards when this group came through security.

Getting to Brazil has been relatively easy. I decided to fly directly from Canada to Brazil to avoid any immigration problems in the Unites States. To get into Brazil as a Canadian citizen (or American) you need to get a travel visa which I understand takes at least 10 days to process. For this reason, to even get on my flight from Montreal to Toronto, I was required to show that I had the proper documentation to enter Brazil since it was my final destination.

This is where I encountered my first problem. You see I am also a German citizen, and as such I am not required to have a travel visa to enter Brazil. So when I was asked to scan my passport for the Montreal – Toronto leg of my journey, I assumed my Canadian was required. (I had had trouble entering the German information into the Air Canada system the night prior for my pre-boarding online which is what led me to assume I should show my Canadian information while still in Canada.) But, when I scanned my Canadian passport, the system then asked me to scan my travel visa for Brazil which I of course did not have. My file was flagged. I was able to clarify the confusion easily at the special assistance desk and was advised to only shown my German passport from that point forward which has worked very well.

In fact, when I arrived in Brazil, the immigration officer said, ‘Oh, I love you!’ when she saw I was German and not Canadian because it is much easier for her to process my entry into Brazil than for those who have a travel visa. I think karma is on my side.

When it comes to travelling internationally, citizenship affects your planning in many ways. For example, living in Canada I was unable to book any of my flights with TAM Airlines through their online system. Instead I needed to call their North American dispatch to make my reservations which was easy enough. However, with Voel Gol airlines, not only was I unable to book my flight online as an ‘international’, but the airline also doesn’t have a North American call center to make my reservation by phone. When I researched my options online, one forum advised me that if I registered as an Argentinian on their website, my payment would go through, though the process and confirmation would be entirely in Spanish as a result. Sure enough it worked. I don’t know why the credit card payment requirements are different for different countries, but I am glad people share this information. It can be very frustrating to find a flight you want to book online and be unable to book it in advance.

I have always enjoyed planning and preparing for this trip has been no different. So I spent a fair amount of time reading travel tips for backpackers, individuals on a budget, and for solo women travellers which I will share with you over the coming weeks.

One piece of advice I read is that travellers tend to over pack which is not desirable when backpacking. To curb this trend, it is recommended that you lay everything out on a bed that you want to bring with you and automatically reduce it by half. Then pack your bag to see what fits in the allotted volume and do your best to cut your possessions in half again. Apparently then you will be closer to what is reasonable for your trip.

I decided to follow this advice and laid everything out on my bed, which is what I normally would do anyway. I made sure to cut a few items that felt very thick or heavy when I was rolling them out, but otherwise I kept most of what I had wanted to pack. Well, I think I have been travelling for too long to head to the recommendations I have been getting, because all my possession fit into my bag. (I also feel that I have prepared for most eventualities which is likely as my friends will attest to the fact that I am usually the person that has what someone needs.)

Packing taken care of I made sure to leave a copy of all my important documents with my family as well as a travel itinerary with contact information. I also sent the same copies to myself electronically and made hard-copies to carry with me.

Packing for the summer was easier than for winter climates because you don’t need bulky coats. I am also fortunate that when I return to Canada it will be summer. I am not returning to Montreal until September at the earliest, which means I will be living out of my backpack for the next 7 months. I am unsure if this will encourage me to lighten my load faster or hold on to my possessions that much more tightly.

As a last note, I think it is important when you pack for a trip like this to be prepared to lose everything. It will suck, yes, but hopefully you will not have brought items with you that are irreplaceable. Really the only sentimental items I have with me that I will want to hold on to forever are my picture files – make sure to back these up before you travel and also while you are travelling. The rest you can replace.

Safe travels!

My parents seeing me off at the airport. Thanks Mum and Dad!

Felseck Farm 2.0: Sheep Nutirition

Bonnie and I had a fabulous time at Felseck Farm this past weekend. We hung out with the animals, hiked in the snow (briefly), played a bunch of scrabble and even had a dance party to some of my parents old records - that is once we figures out how to work the record player.





One of the benefits of having the farm is that the wealth of knowledge and experience available to us through the people who work on the farm everyday.

For example, this weekend I learned that Annie, who lives on the farm with her daughter, has tried to improve the health and nutrition of our herd. She explained that typically we have tried to get all the lambs out as soon as possible in the spring so they can eat the sweet fresh grass leaves. However, in her opinion this is the worst we could do especially for our new lambs. She says that sheep have a very sensitive digestion. So if you take a lamb that has only ever eaten grain and hay and expose them to the fiber of new grass, they are sure to have diarrhea. Above that, if you leave the lambs out 24hrs a day, then they are susceptible to parasites. The best time to have the lambs eat the grass is once the dew has evaporated from the grass blades, and to bring them in before sunset so that they don't ingest the little bugs and worms that come up during the night when it is cool and moist. We then supplement their diet with hay and oats so that the transition is gradual. Last year, the lambs were exposed to this diet regime and the difference in their health was remarkable.

Another health booster Annie says is to have a goat in your sheep herd. Apparently goats are disease sinks - they will attract all illness but their immunity is so strong that they will not be affected. It's like growing the tomatoes after the garlic! The natural systems work in interesting ways.