This trip to Campos was “Legal demais” – TOO COOL. I want to give you a play by play as to not miss any of the trips highlights…Wednesday (Quarta Feira) June 24th, 2009
My ride arrived around 4pm - Nick and his wife Patricia – I had met Nick before in the states (he actually attended my farewell party) but this was my first encounter with his beautiful wife Patricia (Patti) . . . Honestly, I could spend the next four paragraphs singing these guys’ praise since they are almost too fabulous to put into words, however I will try to describe them using just a few. Nick: fun, honest, genuine, intelligent. Patti: beautiful, fierce, loving and imaginative. I have a feeling I’ll be friends with these two for life. Upon entering the car I was greeted by their two filhos (kids) “Toddy” a chocolate brown lab and “Chimbau” a 10-month-old giant and beautiful golden retriever. As I quickly came to discover, Toddy and Chimbau have personalities as well as voices (provided mostly by Patti) – So there we are driving, laughing, listening to music, and every time a car passes by Toddy’s “voice” yells out “Oi, Cara, Grande Balada” which means “Hey, Dude, Party On” – It’s entirely too hilarious to put into words, I can only say that the ride there was one of the highlights of the trip. Furthermore I am officially “Tia Tiffany” (Aunt Tiffany) to these two babies and I of course happily reciprocate by calling them my “Sobrinos” (nephews)
When we entered the town of Campos do Jordão, Patti explained that at one point many years ago Campos was a place of refuge and recovery for those suffering from tuberculosis, it has since morphed into an extremely popular tourist destination, mostly for wealthy Brazilians from all over the country.
I don’t know how to give you a visual other than to say that this town is like Amsterdam, meets the Swiss Alps, meets Rodeo Drive. I instantly forgot we were in Brazil.
We passed through the town and headed up the mountain. The houses, hotels and pousadas (inns) on the drive up the mountain are impressive. I even saw one estate with a private landing pad complete with helicopter… umm. What? About 15 minutes up the road, Nick shouted “chegamos” (we made it!) We pulled up to a dauntingly huge rod iron-gate sandwiched by two regal looking white lion statues. “you’ve got to be kidding me” I thought to myself.
I think for some reason I was expecting some type of cabin, however to call this place a cabin or a house for that matter would be an OBSCENE understatement. “Estate” is a better word, “small-city”… better yet. I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. There are seven bedrooms, various salons, living rooms, a library and even a house below the house where the caretaker and his family live. The décor, lovingly hand picked over the years by Nick’s mother (who owns the estate) was a plethora of artifacts and nick naks from all over the world. The chandeliers, the architecture, the staircase… ahhh. I was happy to call this place home for the next few days ☺
We dropped off our things and headed back down into town. Campos is known for having a local brewery called Baden Baden… that night I may have tasted the best beer of my life at this German pub/restaurant/brewery. It’s called “golden” – it’s a light beer with a hint of cinnamon. Seriously good.
It was less packed that usual – being that it was raining and a Wednesday so we took advantage and walked the streets a bit. This little town … It’s FABULOUS. The chocolate to clothing store ratio is like 15:1. I’m not kidding, the hot chocolate is so thick you have to drink it with a spoon. It’s like divine chocolate soup.
We were fed and tired so we headed back up to the “house” and snuggled in to bed. I laid awake thinking about how lucky I was. So grateful.
Thursday (Quinta-Feira) June 25th, 2009
We headed into town early today and spent time checking out the stores – Patti and I had a blast trying on various hats and sunglasses. I swear we get along so well we could be sisters. Nick’s team was playing so we ducked into one of the pubs and watched the game (soccer of course) while enjoying a few beers and some deep fried cheese.
(Side note. My diet this entire four days consisted almost entirely of bread, cheese and chocolate. My lactose and gluten intolerant sister would have died. I, however, was in heaven, and I kept telling myself that I was on vacation and I would have all the time in the world to Tango dance it off once I get settled in Buenos Aires, right?)
Ahem… anyways – during this little snack, Nick took a serious tone and looked me in the eyes and told me that he wants me to know that he and Patti are so happy to have met me and that they truly want me to be successful. He went on to say that whatever I needed they would help accommodate. If for some reason I decide to come back to Brazil, I will always have a home with them and if I need help finding a job or anything of the sort, I will never need to worry. Overall – he just wanted to relay to me this overwhelming sense he had that everything was going to work out for me somehow. I, of course, started to blubber like a little kid saying “obrigada, muito obrigada.” Of course those were the exact words I needed to hear at that moment.
On the way back up to the house – it began storming a bit, appropriate since at that very moment a voice came crackling over the radio that the king of pop, Michael Jackson had died. We pulled the car to the side of the rode on this pitch-black mountain terrain and the three of us sat there in silence not believing the news. I was a bit emotional actually as I think it was even more powerful for me to be in another country and to see the magnitude of how this one person’s legacy has effected to many all over the world.
We ate fondue that night… cheese and bread, chocolate, strawberries and bananas … then we spent the rest of the evening curled up on the couch with the pups watching the news and various Michael Jackson tributes.
Friday (Sexta-Feira) June 26th, 2009
Today I rode the “Teleférico” – it’s like a ski lift that takes you from the bottom of town up the mountain where there is a view of the entire landscape. It was so peaceful on the ride up – quiet and tranquil. I was swinging my legs and arms like a little kid (see photos) and Patti rode in front of me on the way up and behind me on the way back down to take photos. The view from the top was stunning and really displayed the splendor of this little town. Patti and I had this wonderful conversation about life and spirituality, then we decided to head back down where Nick was waiting (he's not a big fan of heights :)
After our Teleférico ride we drove up the mountain to the Governor’s Palace. We paid the entrance fee then headed into this monstrously beautiful estate. Inside we were greeted by the cutest little “Fofa” ever (that means Sweetheart). She must have been 90 years old, she had lipstick on her teeth and she was a walking history book when it came to the contents of this palace. There were chandeliers and relics from Italy, Russia, Germany, Peru, and more… Futhermore, the MASPE (museo de arte São Paulo) had loaned some of its finest works to the Palace for a special engagement (lucky me). We were guided through the house upstairs and down by our little Fofa and when it came to the end of our tour, Patti almost took our guide home with us in her pocket she was so smitten. It was pretty cute.
Dinner time arrived and Rodrigo and Erica showed up (dear friends of Patti and Nick and one of the other couples that would be joining us for the weekend) We all immediately took to each other and since my Portuguese has come along quickly and Nick and Patti had spent the past two days “prepping me” with inside jokes and cultural knowledge, Rodrigo and Erica were floored by how “Brazilian” I was. After dinner we all headed into the living room for concert time… Another couple of friends showed up and I spent the next hour or so performing music for everyone. Patti was so hilarious, since she had already heard many of the songs a couple of times by then – she was calling out requests, singing along, etc… Rodrigo is convinced that I could easily book a tour out here in Brazil and he has taken it upon himself to act as my “manager” and book me a tour throughout various cities here in Brazil. I promised him that if we could get the dates and locations together that I would happily fly back from Argentina and stay with Patti and Nick while I’m on tour… that would be fun ☺
More music, laughter and wine… then bedtime.
Saturday (Sabado) June 27th, 2009
This morning after a HUGE café de manha, Patti, Nick and I went out for a ride on QUADRIS (quads)… umm… for those of you who know me, I’m not the most “extreme-sport outdoorsy type” so me riding a manual quad in the middle of the brazilian mountainside is a hilarious thought. However, it was really really successfully fun.
After we cleaned up we headed to this big auditorium to see a conservatory-type musical performance. It was a band called Passoca that played classic brazilian "chorinho" music. I would compare it to our music of the 1930's and 40's - however the brazilian version includes rocking samba beats, complicated bossa chords and always moving poetry. It was really really fun.
We returned to the house, had a huge dinner and the group began to talk about friends and pastimes that I just couldn’t contribute anything to, so I quietly took three squares of dark chocolate and my glass of red wine and headed to another room… After a half an hour or so Patti showed up and we ended up sitting in that room talking until 4am in the morning. This only confirmed that fact that I ADORE this woman, plus she’s come out on the other side of some of the heartbreak I’ve recently experienced, so it’s always nice to hear those stories.
Sunday (Domingo) June 28th, 2009
Today we woke up late, ate a huge breakfast and then drove to this beautiful park where we went for a long hike up to a waterfall… I went for a little jog and arrived at the waterfall about 15 minutes before the rest of the group. I carefully jumped rock to rock to get out to this one big rock in the middle of river and then I sat there and closed my eyes, meditating on just how amazing this trip has been so far. Pondering of the circumstances that have aligned to provide me with so many good people, places and situations, I was once again struck by an overwhelming sense of gratitude for it all. We had a big lunch and left Campos around 6:30pm… “Chau Casa” Nick and I yelled as we rode down the driveway. It was close to 10 by the time we arrived back at the condo, and I was sad to say goodbye to Patti and Nick, however, they have invited me to spend my last week in Brazil at their house so I am going to be seeing them soon. Now it’s time to prepare for RIO DE JANEIRO and BAHIA!
(I'm actually posting this after the fact while i'm here in Rio - my computer's about to die and I don't have a converter with me to charge it in these foreign sockets... more photos and videos to come from Campos:)
