Visiting the Mantiqueira Range
Softly, I crossed from a very nice dream into the daylight, louring through the window. Love it, when the first sunlight tingels you to wake up. The cold, sunny wintermorning determend my pace. Had another, a bit delayed breakfast (because the stove had given up, and they make everything for the breakfast themselfs … bread, breadrolls, cakes, pão de quesjo, juice, joghurt, fruit salade… and good coffee). They put a lot of attention and care to the bufet, welcoming you and all the wishes for the day to start.
Time for homework, at my terras-‘office’-spot. Could live here (not really knowing how the summers are, I admit). Felipe, Ana and Maria picked me up for another great adventure. We drove to a restaurant, as typical for the region as it gets. Far in the valley, it lives from tourists (basically Brazilians), who hike the trails. Those traditional stoves, they use – love them! And again, other habits than we know: people don’t stick to their tables. People, who know each other, greet each other warmly and get lost in a conversation. Even, when they don’t know each other and there comes up a topic, they are interested in, they switch tables. One of the cooks was interested in my little story, though she came to eat her lunch with us. Learned a lot over the life in the valley!
After lunch, we went up to Louis, the holder of Matiqueira pousada and meeting center. A little climb … nothing happens here without crossing a steep hill … and, again, we had a great conversation. Started with exploring Deep Ecology today.
John Croft, one of the first developers of Dragon Dreaming, came here to teach several courses. Thus, also Louis is working with is. And what, again!, a great place it is. It’s impossible to not feel the energy of the place. The water, the mountains, buildings fitting in the landscape, basically build with local materials. A place to stay. For the way down, Maria got on one of Louis’ horses. Made her day!
And we had choosen to add another highlight to this day: using the sauna of the pousada, with the winterly cold natural pond behind it. Nearly impossible, but felt trully even better after this. Maybe, I should go more often?
Gazing at the stars seemed to be the right thing to do before going to bed.
