We decided to take a day off, swim in the pool and check out the town which it turns out is a tourist hub. You can see why.
25,000 people live in this town founded in 1727. It is a tourist hub, and we had no idea, which attracts visitors from the capital Brasilia a couple of hours away.
It’s set in some hill country at 2500 feet and we’ve enjoyed much cooler temperatures. Finally it’s comfortable to sit out and even though it’s sweaty work we had the energy here to take a morning sitting and cleaning our home.
Since we’ve been using GANNET2 as a car the living quarters got a bit disheveled so we pulled out the vacuum and the cleaner and got down to restoring our environment.
We filled our water tank at the neighborhood market, we put away our clean laundry and sorted our living space. I think we both got pretty tired and disheartened in the Guyanas, the heat, the isolation and lack of overlanding amenities did get to us. I think we all three have recovered.
Pirenopolis got its name from a group of Catalan immigrants from northern Spain who were reminded of their native Pyrenees so they named these mountains with the Latin version of the name: Pireneus and Pirenópolis is the “city of Pireneus.”
They mined gold in the area and nowadays they farm and find gold in tourism.
I am not a fan of cobblestones but these were odd, stones laid lengthwise which seemed less bouncy than the traditional square cobblestones.
And of course it wasn’t so simple to get around town as there are also cobblestone speed bumps, like the gruesome surface wasn’t slowing us down enough. Better yet a number of streets, unbeknownst to Google Maps are randomly closed to vehicles as wide as the Promaster. Grr.
The camera angle makes them look wide enough but trust me it wasn’t. We did a lot of back tracking.
One other joy was the sharp cement speed bumps. One was brilliantly placed at the top of a hill on an intersection which got us stuck for a minute, rocking back and forth to get of the peak of the hill. That felt stupid.
But we did get the tires rotated, as the front wheel drive GANNET2 has a tendency to wear out the fronts faster than the rears. Seven bucks and done.
Our room at Pousada Meia Ponte (Half Bridge Guesthouse) is exceeding comfortable for $70 a night. Plus we have the whole place to ourselves, including a massive breakfast spread which saves us having lunch.
Rusty spent the whole day napping. And when I say “napping” I mean he fell into a profound sleep.
and the one he settled in we bought. He does use it but he is quite happy on cold tile, a rug, or gravel.
Cold air conditioning and strong WiFi and…
…secure courtyard parking for the beast of this journey: 
