The Outline

April 17 to 19 -
Road trip starts heading towards Visconde de Mauá and Bocaina de Minas passing by the Canil Alto Quatis, home of Lampião do Alto Quatis, champion Fila Brasileiro! We will stay at the Fazenda Rio das Pedras (horses are included with the room) inicially and other places (tbd) along the way..

April 19 to 22
Our journey continues towards Belo Horizonte through the cities that were part of the Royal Pathway of brazilian Gold during the colonial and imperial periods. São João del Rey, Tiradentes, Ouro Preto and Congonhas. We will rest our bodies at the Morada do Sol in São João del Rey.

April 22 to 25
Arriving in Belo Horizonte, we will be guests at our most delightful friends house. Raimundo and Naiara. It's also were he breeds some champion Brazilian Cattle Dogs from the General Mines (Gameleira Vagalume dos Tabayara - R.I.P.), the Canil Gameleira. We intend to visit other good friends, such as José Edmar, Luciano and Paulinho da Pedra.
José Edmar is a well known Brazilian Cattle Dog from the General Mines breeder and has a wonderful cattle farm in Moeda, a quaint small town 50 minutes away from Belo Horizonte. Luciano is an exotic bird breeder - one of the only people in Brazil allowed to breed a certain endangered species of native singing bird, on his spare time he practices law. Paulinho da Pedra is a Campolina horse and mule breeder. He owns an amazing farm near BH. And he is one of the most impressive horse handlers I've ever met.

April 25 to 28
Following the recomendation of my botanist/naturalist/bird breeder/lawyer friend Luciano, we are headed out to the Serra do Cipó. 100 kms away from BH it is one of the worlds ecological landmarks, which houses unique flora and fauna. Our home there will be at the Pousada Capim Santo.

April 28 to 29
Maybe a stop in BH again - nothing planned yet

April 29 to 01
Its back to Rio de Janeiro but this time passing through the "Spring Water Circuit".
Small towns like Caxambú, São Lourenço, Itanhandú and others, which produce Brasil's most famous natural spring bottled waters.
Our last weekend we will spend in Rio with my mother and family.