Miguel Pereira

For quite some time João and I have been talking about taking a drive a couple hours south of Rio to visit a mountainous region of our state. Supposedly (and I don’t know according to whom), the region has the 3rd or 4th best climate in the world. Because of the altitude it stays cooler than Rio (which is illogically very hot, even hotter than some places much closer to the equator).

One of the members of João’s Sunday School class is a travelling salesman and knows that part of the state quite well, so he offered to go with us on our day off and show us around. We all agreed that we would make the trip this Friday.

We were up bright and early (well early anyway, as the sun wasn’t up yet and I certainly wasn’t bright at that time of day) and headed out. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Bright sun, blue sky and not too hot.

We took the scenic route, so we spent most of the day in the car. We certainly saw some beautiful scenery and got in lots of gabbing along the way.

The mountains, or to me rolling hills, looked a lot like a bed that had been messed up with lots of pillows and had a huge green fuzzy bedspread thrown over the top.

It was definitely a far cry from the hustling bustling big city of Rio. The cobblestone streets and slow pace was so nice, as was the quiet and fresh air. I really don’t think mankind was ever meant to live in our concrete jungles, since the advent of cities came after the fall of man and in every instance always led to more sin. The further we get from God’s creation, the further we move from the Creator.

The older we become, the more João and I think about retirement. We are looking for somewhere to live. The problem is here in Brazil that the rural parts of the country are very much  “underdeveloped”, with inadequate health care (which we will need as we grow older), schools, transportation. So we are looking for that utopia that offers a lovely climate, lots of green space, a slow pace of life AND some basics like health care, internet, etc. Do you think we’ll ever find it? Although we had a lovely day off on Friday, I don’t think Miguel Pereira is an alternative for us. I know God will show us just the right place at just the right time.