A few days ago my wife Laura and I came back from our first trip to South America. More specifically, we were in Brazil for around one week, courtesy of a conference she had been invited to, held in Juiz de Fora (Minas Gerais).
Since the conference finished on the Friday in which the 6 Hours of São Paulo World Endurance Championship (WEC) Race weekend began, I decided to join her and take advantage of this opportunity to visit the iconic track of Interlagos. While she would be busy at the conference, I would work from the hotel like the true “digital nomad” I wish I could have been 10 years ago.
Speaking of which, this blog is now 10 years old! Time flies indeed, maybe I should write about this as well…
Back to Brazil, I had no idea about any of the topics discussed at the “GeoRaman” conference that Laura took part in. Still, it was fun to get to know a bunch of international physicists, geologists and other types of researchers from different countries. Rocks can be quite interesting, apparently.
In Juiz de Fora we enjoyed some really good meals, with different types of meat and the unmistakable pão de queijo (cheese bread) being my favorite ones. I lost count of how many pão de queijo I ate in 7 days. Rumor has it that it wasn’t that far from triple digit. Apparently Minas Gerais is famous in Brazil for their cheese which, to be fair, was quite good also on its own.
We also discovered different types of bananas, used mainly for desserts. Actually, you would usually find bananas in many different shapres or form, except as a regular fruit like we do in Europe.
As part of the conference, we joined a day trip to the colorful town of Tiradentes, a couple of hours north of Juiz de Fora.
The trip was a very interesting one, where we learned about the rich gold mines of the Minas Gerais region, and also how to look for gold in the rivers and ponds that dot the hilly countryside of Tiradentes.
I did not bring my camera with me out of paranoia – a move which I now regret, especially considering the beatiful birds we saw during the trip. I was afraid it would get stolen or that it would paint a sort of target on our backs. Better safe than sorry though, I guess.
The sheer size of the country and all the differences you can see with Europe were striking, but did not come as a complete surprise. Yet, some things must be experienced first-hand in order to be really and completely understood.
The way people live according to their economic status, the contrast between the rich areas of the cities and the neglected ones, the infrastracture connecting millions of people across thousands of kilometers. It can be difficult to comprehend all of this when you are equipped with a “Western” mindset.
After Juiz de Fora we went to Rio de Janeiro for one night, before flying to São Paulo for the race.
After landing at the São Paulo airport, we went straight to the race track to watch the Saturday qualifying session, and then back to the hotel. It was a long day, coming at the end of a pretty exhausting week between all the traveling and our work commitments. This is why we promptly fell asleep as soon as we arrived in our room, without even going for dinner. Eventually, we ended up waking up directly on Sunday morning, ready for breakfast, an early check-out, and the start of the WEC race.
It was the first time Laura attended a race in person, and I was glad that she wasn’t completely bored by it. Indeed, there’s even a chance that she did, in fact, enjoy the experience.
It’s always special to see and walk on a race track for the first time, to get a feel for the dimensions of the cars, the ups-and-downs and the twists and turns. To hear the engines roar and to see different sets of tyres come and go on small quads in a busy paddock.
Interlagos is known for its sudden changes of climate, and we got a good experience of that aspect as well. Although lasting only 6 hours, one can say that the race started in summer and ended in winter. When the green flag dropped, at the beginning of the race, it was warm and sunny, almost too hot to stay outside. Towards the end, however, menacing clouds started to close in on the race track. The temperature dropped and it looked like it would rain soon.
Eventually we had to leave before the chequered flag, in order to beat the crowd and be reasonably sure that we would catch our flight. In São Paulo there’s always a good chance of being stuck in traffic if you happen to be on the road at the wrong time, and our schedule was pretty tight.
Everything went well, luckily. We flew back to Rio to spend another night there, and then eventually we were transported back to the scorching heat of this Italian summer, with all its worries and commitments waiting for us as soon as we landed in our country of origin.
Looking back at it now, this trip was a welcome break from the difficult parts of 2026 we’ve had to endure. It left in us the desire to come back and spend more time in this beautiful country. The whole continent, to be fair, from the Panama Canal to Tierra del Fuego (and beyond).
I really hope we will be able to do that in the years to come.
Obrigado, Brasil!