Pirenópolis, GO, BRAZIL
We drove (mostly uneven dirt trails so you need an SUV) to a Santuário de Vida Silvestre Vagafogo (Vagafogo Wildlife Sanctuary), a beautiful rainforest hike (very mild hike) with a natural spring and small waterfall that you can swim at. It also boasts a 300 year old twin tree. The Farmhouse that you park at lends you walking sticks. It has a sitting room with a library of local flora, fauna and art books plus a little children's area with toys. Outside there are swings, hammocks and climbing areas and they also offer more daring experiences such as ziplining and a treehouse. and has an amazing brunch from 9am-5pm that is almost like a degustation menu. The owners introduce to you to local fare through jams, chutneys, pickles and spreads organized in what they believe to be the harmonizing of tasting notes. It's quite the experience! Most were vegan but not all. We brought our own bread for me to eat with them as they did not offer gluten free bread. If your lucky you will also meet their little parrot who will sit on your finger and loves to eat pens. A very aesthetic and relaxing experience!
My friend bought the bread and some other vegan/gluten free goodies from Belini Pani & Gastronia.
We stayed in a wonderful hotel resort called Pousada Cavaleiro dos Pireneus. Our bungalow had a private pool area. It is expensive by Brazilian standards (around US$180-$320 per night) but since we had two rooms each with their own bathroom you could easy have four people comfortably in the bungalow. The resort also had complimentary yoga/breathing session, a gym & sauna, infinity pool with a view of Pirenópolis, spa and volleyball court. We only ate breakfast there but they gave me a lot of fruit and a Brazilian manioc (tapioca crepes) with onion, peppers and tomato in the middle which was delicious. I took a picture of the spread that I couldn't eat just because it was so beautiful!
In the hotel room were these little candies common in Brazil called Paçoca which are basically just grounds peanuts and sugar. They crumble easily so the trick is pop them in your mouth as a square before they crumble. I crumbled mine by accident and had to lick mine out of the packet...like a lady lol
I saw mini capybara at the hotel! The tend to stay by lakes so I saw larger ones later at the gardens of the President's house.
Brazilian manioc (tapioca crepes)
The center of Pirenópolis is extremely picturesque and touristy due to the 18th century colonial buildings. It shines by day and sparkles by night.
A few restaurants in the "fun street" of Pirenópolis were able to give my vegan options including this one at Bistro Bar e Som (R. Nossa Sra. do Rosário, 16 - Centro, Pirenópolis - GO, 72980-000, Brazil)
Between Pirenópolis and Brasilia there was the Outlet Premium Brasilia so we stopped for some light shopping and lunch! Actually owned by a US company of outlets so I recognized many of the brands! Of course I was there to buy my body weight in Havaianas ;)
The Jerivá Restaurant (a chain eatery and Brazilian grocery) was in the front of the outlet mall and had a very nice buffet with plenty of vegan/gluten free options.
My friend also bought me these vegan pamonhas to try (one sweet, one salty). I prefer the salty one, it reminded me of polenta.
Brasília, GO, Brazil
The city was founded in 1960 and designed by Oscar Niemeyer. As Le Corbusier seemed to influence heavily in the modern buildings design I was very interested to see all of them! Internally only the Palace (through a tour) and the Cathedral were available to see. The city is designed in the shape of an airplane with the government buildings in the head and cockpit and the ministries running down the middle. The wings are the apartments where the people live and also every few blocks (walking distance to your apartment) are schools/restaurants/shops etc.
In Brasília my friends lived in Asa Sul (the south wing) so some of the restaurants we went to were in the wing areas but some were in other areas while we were sight seeing.
I found lots of vegan/gluten free options at Green's Restaurante buffet!
We stopped in at a place called Saucker which Happy Cow had recommended, they did have a couple of pastas with plain red sauce but I decided I wanted something else but I did get this soda I had been curious about! Guarana is a soda made from Brazilian berries and to me tasted like ginger ale with a hint of cherry or raspberry. It was very nice :)
Although stuffed we stopped for coffee at Choices - Confeitaria LowCarb (IG: @choices.lc) a small coffee and cake spot (Asa Norte Comércio Local Norte 406 BL B loja 46 - Asa Norte, Brasília - DF, 70847-520, Brazil) where I got to try vegan/gluten free and sugar free Brigadeiro's which I had been wanted to try but is traditionally made with condensed milk. SO yay!!!
One night we went out with friends to a place called The Plant (they had a menu in English too!) which had a few different vegan/gluten free options. They had symbols on the menu to identify allergens. It was a pretty restaurant with a lot of ambience :) I had the Arroz Meloso, it cost around US$11.
One of my favorite places I came upon by accident. A lot of the places recommended by Happy Cow unfortunately either were closed the days that we went (Sunday's a lot of places are closed) or weren't really restaurants, they were catering or private chefs. We found a vegan hamburger place but accident in the same block as Choices but it was closed on Sunday but then we noticed the place across the road that said Apetit Natural (IG: @apetitnatural.bsb) so we thought it was worth asking. And was it ever! A completely vegan buffet!! And open Sunday!! AND US$8 for this huge plate! They also had some light grocery options.
The city park located outside the South Wing was popping on a Sunday when all the healthiest people I've ever seen were out walk, running, biking and relaxing by the lake! There were samba bands and yoga groups. My favorite were these green coconuts for around US$1 which they open for you to drink the refreshing coconut water and if you ask they will slice it open for you to scrape the jelly. Scrape gently. I'm used to brown coconuts so I was trying to eat the meat and it was very sour, the jelly tastes like the water though :)
Pontão do Lago Sul was an area of restaurants on the lake front on the opposite side of the city.
It was a beautiful atmosphere for a meal, a drink or a walk (or all three). It was busy the day we went because the entertainment space was being used for a communal wedding <3
I wasn't looking for vegan options as we weren't eating there but there were many restaurants and it's just a nice area to walk.
I was lucky enough to have homemade items by some beautiful women (namely my friends mothers) and I am going to try and recreate these at home and link the recipes below as I make them. The rice and beans I had at all the buffets was amazing so I'm going to look into that too! The list below is just to remind me ;)
Brazilian Manioc (Tapioca pancakes)
Brazilian Cuscuz (steam mounds made from corn meal)
Bolo de Cenoura (a Brazilian/Portuguese carrot cake with chocolate sauce)
Fried plantains
Brazilian beans and rice
Pao de Quejo -cheese bread
Brigadeiro -chocolate truffle
vegan pamonhas
Finally, not at all food related but the National Park of Brasília had a very mild hike and a beautiful clear spring pool that locals love to swim in. The spring starts above the pool and continues down feeding into the large lake of Brasília.
Cute little Coati!
Monkey madness, they weren't aggressive but were happy to walk past the people the trashcan.
A beautiful moth or butterfly I saw.
