Another perfect stay for us. That is again a lucky shot for us: being able to stay in the farm of our friend Glauco, the one we heard about so many times! Thank you for this wonderful and relaxing stay!
The farm
Short background
Our friend bought this farm many years ago. At that time he had settled in Europe and wanted to have his own piece of heaven in his home country. This is how he encountered this land that used to be a beautiful tea plantation. His parents, former farmers themselves before they had to sell and move to Sao Paulo in order to support their kids’ studies, were more than happy to settle back in this farm.
When you see this house standing on a small hill surrounding by plantations and jungles, it is easy to understand how they fell in love with this land, like we did!
The property
Today most of the land is being exploited farmers, producing mainly house plants like camellia, while our friends keep some parts for his own personal garden. He grows many different types of plants, vegetables and fruits mainly, but also some tropical flowers like orchids, bougainvillea and hibiscus. He also tries to develop and preserve some native plants that are located at the border of the surrounding jungle so that they can grow wildly.
It takes easily more than an hour to walk around the farm to discover all the different species… and taste some of the fruits on the way! We really enjoyed the part with the tasting directly from the tree: the flavors were stronger than we were used to.
The house itself is built for relaxation: hammocks hanging on the veranda in the middle of beautiful plants, an inviting swimming pool and a “play-house” where to entertain yourself if you would ever get bored of all this! 🙂 We were reminded that we are not that good at pool (billard), but we did not too bad at table tennis.
The bonuses
One of the best thing to be in a farm in Brazil for two weirdos like us? The food of course! 🙂
BBQs are a must-do of course, and we took the opportunity to enjoy two of them: one with fish and shrimps, the other with local meat… And for the one wondering if the Brazilian meat is good: yes it was DELICIOUS! Again, we would like to thank our friend for his meat-making techniques since we had a lot to learn.
Another big plus: every meal comes accompanied with fresh vegetables and fruits from the garden including the derivative products like fruit paste and jam!
On top of all that, let’s not forget to mention the Pao de Queijo (cheese bread) that almost made us miss our bus on the last day (we were waiting for the Pao de Queijo to be ready so we can grab some for the way!). The good news: we ate the Pao de Queijo and we also caught the bus. 🙂
When you feel the need to go for a walk out of the property, one can just get lost in the huge neighboring banana plantations!
Living like a local in Registro
The good part with staying with locals is that they usually take you to places where tourists don’t normally go, which means: very local places!
Registro, São Paulo is the “big” city around with a population of approximatively 50.000 inhabitants. This is where you would go for shopping and some animation in the evening. We went three a couple of times:
- to visit a producers market and eat like a local: a pastel de palmito (a savory pastry filled with palm heart) with some fresh sugar cane juice. We took that opportunity to buy some fish and meat for the forecasted BBQ.
- to have a beer by the river and discover the beautiful KKKK, a cultural center built with Japanese funds that was surprisingly full of life: an art exhibition, kids playing ping-pong, a class of aerobic and circus athletes training for the next-day show. We were even there too early to wait for the live music!
- to have a beer (!) in a mall to celebrate the relocation of a beer shop (now you understand us) of a friend of Glauco; an amateur band full of energy was there to entertain us with cover of pop-rock songs. Nice!
The small city of Pariquera-Açu
Pariquera-Acu is another city near the farm and with its 20.000 inhabitants the life here is smooth. We went there mainly to accompany Glauco for the daily errands: getting some mails, passing by the state pharmacy… but we liked to see the local life as it is. This cute city, organized around a beautiful blue and white little church, is indeed very quiet!
We also enjoyed a walk through a producer market!
Dear Perine & Silviu,
Thank you for the very nice report of your visit to my country place in Brazil! We’ve enjoyed your presence here and you will be always welcome back here.
May I ask if I can share your article?
All the best in your journey around South America and the rest of the world!
Glauco
Dear Glauco, you are more than welcome to share the article! Thank you again for your welcoming, we had a great stay! Looking forward to our next meeting wherever in the world!