I.

On May 15, after four straight years of scheduling conflicts, Elisa and I were finally able to make the annual party in tiny Santa Rita (pop. 12). We’d wanted desperately to attend the festivities for the past four years, but it felt impossible. Too many parties.

Winter is a festive time across Brazil, and the tiny backcountry communities of the Espinhaço . All across the region, residents load up their cars (or horses, or mules) with kids, mattresses, and (where allowed) coolers, and make the long (and bumpy) ride to the roça, where they spend the days feasting on comida mineira and cervejinhas, catching up with friends & family, and dance the night away, catch up with friends & family, and line up for processions (many of which are truly beautiful), and attend Sunday mass. They come from Diamantina, Bêlo Horizonte, Rio, São Paulo, or beyond.

Elisa and I have been attending and documenting these festas since 2021. They’re the pefect place to meet locals (and their extended families), hear stories, and snap some non-landscape/trail photos. They’re also places to rehydrate and put on some pounds (free all you-can-eat churrasco, anyone?) before the next expedition.

To date in 2026, we’ve partied in Santa Rita (May), São Gonçalo do Rio das Pedras (May X and June X), Macacos (July X), Inhai (July X), Mata dos Crioulos (August), Curimataí (September 7–9). Somehow, we managed to squeeze in a festa junina across the state in Martinho Campos (June X) and an art exhibit in Diamantina in August. In October, we’ll be riding horses to the festa in Pé de Serra.

As exhausting as it’s been (and it really is), it pains us to think how much more productive we could have been. Conflicting dates means we regrettably missed the annual festas in Gouveia (“Kobufest”, which our oldest son attended; on the same date as Macacos), Quartel do Indaiá (same date as Mata dos Crioulos), Cemitério do Peixe (same date as Mata dos Crioulos; a party we hadn’t missed since 2022), São João da Chapada (same date as Curimataí), Capivari, Milho Verde (same date as Field Trip no. 13), and Turmalina (a little further down in the Vale do Jequitinhonha, but a party we’ve been hoping to attend for years; same date as Macacos). As if missing out on a once-a-year chance to mingle and eat our hearts out wasn’t painful enough, the locals always make sure to let us know that we missed a really good party.

Oh well, there’s always next winter.

– Eddie