A Little Piece of Germany

On the weekend of December 17 – 19, Claire and I headed to Campos do Jordão, a small town 180km northeast of Sao Paulo. Campos do Jordão is where Paulistanos (inhabitants of the city of Sao Paulo) go to experience winter. Nestled high in the Mantiquiera mountains, Campos do Jordão is most popular in the winter months (July and August) when temperatures dip and prices rise. During these months the temperature easily falls to single digits and it has been known to snow before (although I am doubtful that there has ever been any accumulation).

Campos do Jordão’s other main claim to fame is that it is quite literally a little piece of Germany in Brazil. German architecture is predominant and if it were not for all the signs in Portuguese, one would swear that they were walking around in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, minus the fortress walls. The town’s main products are chocolate (there are quite literally dozens and dozens of chocolate shops), sweaters, fondues and schnitzels, and the locally brewed Baden-Baden beer. Claire and I tried it all except the sweaters.

The day before heading off to Campos do Jordão, I called around to a couple of pousadas to see if we could find a reasonable place to stay. After finding a few places in the R$140 – R$440 a night range, I stumbled across a place on the internet for R$50 for two. Surprised at the lowness of the price (approximately C$22 a night), I asked a lot of questions about the location. Not surprisingly, the owner assured me that although in no way luxurious, the pousada was clean, comfortable, safe, and close to town. We took it, thinking that we could always change places, should it be a little too inexpensive. In the end, everything was fine and we were even treated to quite a good breakfast in the morning. The pousada, Recanto Dona Olga, was right next door to the Canada Lodge, a self-named “theme hotel”, based on the style of Mont Tremblant or Whistler. The lobby was covered in just about every piece of Canada kitsch that one could imagine, old cross country skis, Mounties, snowshoes, fake moose heads, maple syrup buckets, etc. Out of curiosity, we inquired about the price of a double room, although I am not sure why the women at the desk didn’t laugh when we asked if there was a discount for Canadians!

One of the fun things that we did while in Campos do Jordão was an hour of swinging from the trees! There is quite a bit of access to "adventure sports" in and around town and Claire and I signed up for a session of arborismo -- swinging from tree to tree under the canopies. As a first experience it was a lot of fun. The hardest thing to do is trust that the wires and buckles will hold you up. Once that fear passes, it's all great!