July 9th is a major holiday in São Paulo, honoring a mostly failed attempt at a revolution back in the 1930’s. Weird? I thought so too. Regardless, for us it meant a day off from work which translated into TRIP TIME!
Michael and I, along with 4 other awesome couples, headed Northeast towards São Luiz do Paraitinga for a weekend in the mountains. We rented a cool farm property in the middle of nowhere. There was a “main house” that had the kitchen/dining area, some living space, etc. and then there were little rooms spread out through the property. The property & area was really beautiful – as in, we had a legit waterfall in the backyard – but the amenities were pretty basic – as in, no hot water – as in, I only showered oncein 3 days. The main luxury of the rental, in my opinion, was that the caretakers did dishes & cleaned for us AND brought us fresh milk from the cows every morning along with fresh cheese made from the cows’ milk. Pretty cool, right?
Backyard Waterfall
We ventured into town one day and walked around. 
Although charming, there was not too much going on, so to entertain ourselves, we cooked a lot, watched the guys jump in the freezing cold waterfall, played lots of games and stacked lots of cups…
an innocent game that turned into a 5 person, 3 round, round-robin tournament. Round 1: best out of 3. Round 2: best out of 5. Round 3: best out of 7. Undisputed Winner: Jeff Yurecko.
The highlight of the trip, however, was the glorious day we spent at Fazenda Catuçaba. One of the couples on the trip – Suzanna & Jeff – had spent a year working on this farm and helping build it into the amazing property that it is is now. 
Because the staff at Fazenda Catuçaba loves Jeff & Suzanna so much, they were incredibly warm and welcoming to our whole crew. 
And they allowed us to spend a day horseback riding through their amazing mountains, taking in the breathtaking views.
scared smiles…
Michael…deathly allergic to horses. Watching us saddle-up from a safe distance before hiking the property by foot.
Nervous but ready to go!
Our fearless leader, Jeff.
The view from the top is always the best
Such a great trip. Big thanks to Suzanna & Jeff for taking us to Fazenda Catuçaba and huge thanks to April for doing a ton of the heavy-lifting and planning of the trip. For more pics and details, check out April’s blog post on the weekend.
**Most photo credit goes to either April or Jana — thanks girls!!**
Jeans & A T-Shirt 