More vacation (or vacation, day 3)

The following day we rode some more (surprise) and stopped for lunch at a place where we were provided with hammocks to rest afterwards. All I can say is wow. We moved on and during the ride into town that evening, we passed through the farm where the Brazilian Manga-larga (the breed of horse we were riding -- pretty similar to a quarter horse) is bred. When we got into town, 3 of our party were way ahead of me, and 2 were way behind. I had no idea where I was going; I just knew that the pousada was in town somewhere. Thank goodness we were in the middle of nowhere, right? There can't be that many pousadas around. When I got to the town square, I stopped to ask directions (without the help of knowing the name of the place where we were going). Here is the exchange:

Me: "Excuse me, have you seen some horses passing by here?"

Them (people sitting on the bench in the square): "Yes."

Me: "Can you tell me which way they went?"

Them: "Sure, they went on straight." (not really helpful, since I still didn't know where the pousada was, but I went on and just kept looking for horses)

Let me tell you, that is one of the greatest and most frustrating things about Brazilian culture. The exchange was much more than I can even describe, but I love the fact that I can stop a random person on the street and ask a question to kill my curiosity (or even ask directions) and I hate the fact that Brazilians will only tell you exactly what you ask for. Unless they are in a mood to tell their own entire life story.

The first picture is of me in the hammock after lunch, the second is of the kitchen of the pousada, and the third is of the family still. Minas Gerais grows a lot of sugarcane and makes a lot of cachaça (a distilled liquor made from sugarcane) -- the family that owns the pousada we stayed in also owns this still and manufactures and sells cahcaça.