After such an intense week  (and this post about how to deal with our ‘viral’ situation from our amazing friend Megan) we enjoyed being unreachable on our drive through Brazil. We enjoyed the open roads, talked about the things we enjoy to talk about and forgot all about the world of the interwebs, the press and the pressures they create.

We enjoyed the South of this beautiful country which struck me as almost Amazonian!! I haven’t BEEN to the Amazon but it was how I imagined it. Watery plains with luscious green vines creeping on the top of the miles and miles of lakes. Families of Capybara sqeaked out protests as we drove by on the long single lane road that seemed to float across the expanse of boggy land. Eagles and other HUGE birds of prey flew over head, stalked on branches and waited for their moment to ‘pounce’.

The road signs begged us to drive slowly but unnecessarily, we took our time, all the while soaking up our surroundings. Numbers of Capybara deaths were posted along our route and we sadly saw more than one of the huge guinea pigs along the side of the highway. They are the size of small cows when fully grown and the babies as big as a small dog! We were shocked at how big and how similar they are to guinea pigs, they even sound the same only a lot louder!

We inevitably got lost several times as per usual and of course we had soon left the plains and hit Brazils BIGGEST city at rush hour with no map but what’s new? oh and might I mention that Sao Paulo is also the Southern Hemisphere’s largest city…and the Americas largest city…oh and the WORLDS 7th largest city by population!!!!!!!! We were back to our completely crazy version of normal!

We navigated the HUGE city with only one wrong turn and only one really illegal manoeuvre and proudly continued on our way towards Belo Horizonte!

Amidst all that had been going on in our crazy lives we had also been busy planning a wedding! We were lucky that we had been put in touch with amazing photographer Vinicius Matos by amazing photographer (who you all now know and love) Luis Chang Chiang-Way.

Alex and Vinicius had been busy spinning webs of weddingness and arranging all kinds of trickery! They had dress fittings planned, pre-wedding shoots and even a local TV show to cover the wedding!

We just had to get there now which was challenge enough. After a 670km day driving we arrived in Ouro Preto, got lost, had a miniature row,laughed about it, got lost again, tried to find a campsite and eventually gave up and parked for the night in a flattened area at the side of the road exhausted and hungry.

We enjoyed waking up in the middle of nowhere as per usual and went exploring the next morning. Ouro Preto is a former mining colonial town at just under 4000 feet altitude. It is a stunning place with its perfectly preserved Portuguese colonial buildings, cobbled streets and because it is like a valley. When you drive into the town you can see it all spread out below you. To get into the middle you have to drive or walk down some neck breaking hills but the view is so breath taking from above that we spent most of our time in the square overlooking the red tiled roofs and winding cobbles.

We checked directions to the elusive campsite online at a coffee shop and finally found it (after checking with the tourist information twice and STILL managing to drive past it twice!) which was just a field with hot showers and clean washrooms but it was just what we were looking for. Peace and quiet and no internet so a great excuse to lay in the sun and read a book…which is exactly what we did.

We made the most of our day of freedom and then got back to Belo Horizonte for my dress fitting with amazing local designer Tete Rezende!