Pirenopolis-- in which Kevin is awesome

Kevin has been planning a bike ride with some friends for several months now. I knew about it and put it on the calendar, but it was only recently that I found out it was a 100-km mountain bike ride to Pirenopolis (a city not far from Brasilia-- 100 km, give or take) with about 600 other people. Okay, so this is a major event. And for my husband, who loves riding his bike and rides up Hawaiian volcanoes just for fun, this was a perfect event for him!

The ride set out early, so when Kevin left at about 5 AM, I woke up and sent him off with an enthusiastic, "NNnnngghhh."

Pirenopolis is about 2 or 3 hours away from Brasilia (or 8 hours, if you decide to do it on a mountain bike). It's a little Portuguese colonial city founded way back in the 17 or 1800s. It reminded me enough of Santa Fe that it really made me happy to go!

Narrow streets lined with art galleries, bed and breakfasts, restaurants, and an ice cream shop.
I actually took this picture so I could remember the way back to our car.

One of the "plazas." Really, it could be in New Mexico.

Kevin, the mountain biking machine! We drove into town at about the same time that he rode across the finish line. But because of traffic and parking issues, we didn't see him until a little while later. But he was still exhausted, so the effect was similar, I think.

Kevin is officially a Guerreiro da Bike! (Translation: warrior of bicicleta). Either way, 8 hours mountain biking is seriously tough stuff. Kevin is awesome!

Penny's comment: "Dad looks really strong in that picture!"

Penny and Dad enjoyed wading in the river running through town.

The river and wooden bridge reminded me a lot of New Mexico. The bamboo is a good reminder that it's actually Brazil.

Amaryllis growing in the sidewalk

Another picture of the small cobble-stone streets.

 That night, we stayed at a Pousada at the Salto de Curumba.

This was the pousada next to ours. Holy cow, isn't this gorgeous!

Penny picked a bunch of these little flowers from the tree and made one big flower from them.

We hiked partway up to the Curumba falls. The thing about hiking is that the further you hike, the longer it is to walk back. And with a 3-year-old getting tired, a baby strapped to his parents, and a dad who had just ridden his bike 100 km the previous day, we reached our limit before we reached the top. But these are the lower falls.

During our hike, we saw some birds, and Naomi told us, "Sometimes I think about if I was a bird."
I asked her, "What would you do?"
She waved her hand in little circles. "I would fly around."
To me this was beautiful and profound, to know that my tiny girl thinks big thoughts and uses her vivid imagination.

Gorgeous! I love the zip-line going across the swimming hole. That would be so fun!

An action shot of us hiking. This is William's first time hiking-- can you tell? Nature! Must grab!!

My lovely Naomi

At the pousada, there are several swimming pools and a couple large water slides. Even though it was across the valley and halfway up the hill, I went on one of the slides, and it was seriously fun! There was a long line, and even though I love water slides-- enough to hike across the resort to go on one by myself-- I wanted to play with my family at the swimming pool.
Once I got back, the girls were swimming in the pool with their water wings on. Penny is a confident swimmer (well, bobber. She only "swims" with her water wings on, but what she does she enjoys), but Naomi steers clear of the water. At the Embassy there's a kiddie pool that would go up to her waist, but she has never once gotten in. I think she's a little afraid of water, and I know she hates getting water splashed in her eyes. Also, she just gets cold, too. So I was pretty surprised to come back to our pousada to see BOTH my girls bobbing around the pool in their water wings. It was very shallow on one end, making the water almost bathtub warm. She stretched herself out into the water where it was shallow, and she even paddled around where her feet couldn't reach the bottom. I am very happy that she decided to swim!
William enjoyed it, too. He splashed the water all up into his face, but he didn't mind at all and kept splashing and smiling in that warm, shallow pool.
On our hike, Penny had been walking ahead of the rest of us as an explorer. At the pousada, she explored around the garden, trying to find the way back to our room so she could show us the way to go when it was time to leave. Which she did.