WhAt to Expect
The Good Life in the Serra do Espinhaço
What you can expect from A GOGO Trip
Exhilarating days on the trail. Rustic wood-fired meals. Unforgettable homestays. And the most memorable showers on earth.
Whether you’re joining us on a Journey, Small Group Expedition, or Bespoke Trip, some things about your adventure just won’t change.
trailhead, Sempre Vivas National Park
Highly active Days
If you’re hoping to get outside and experience the majestic beauty of Brazil, you’re in the right place. The Serra do Espinhaço is a wonderland, and our itineraries are geared to make the absolute most of it.
It’s not just that we find trekking, horseback riding, off-roading, and canoeing to be the most fulfilling ways to spend our days between culturally-enriching evenings & mornings in the tiny communities of the Espinhaço; they’re often the only ways for us to get from Point A to Point B.
If you’re joining us on a Bespoke Trip, your daily mileage will vary according to your group’s preferences & itinerary. If you’re joining us on a Journey or Small Group Expedition, you should expect long, highly active days, with trekking & riding days averaging between 20-25 km and 1,000+ m of cumulative gain/loss over varied mountain terrain.
At the end of the day, you don’t need to be an avid trekker, rider, or athlete to enjoy our trips. While arriving in great physical condition is certainly beneficial (particularly during the first days of a trek), we find that the travelers who enjoy our trips the most are the ones who like a good challenge, are curious about the world around them, and enjoy living each moment to the absolute fullest.
Aprés-Trek celebration
Joyous Evenings
We are of the firm belief that life should be celebrated even after the sun goes down—especially when the days are as demanding & exhilarating as they tend to be during our trips.
Finding the joy in life is an art form in Brazil, and you won’t find a more willing group of celebrators than the inhabitants of the Espinhaço’s tiny backcountry communities.
Community festas (especially prevalent during holy days in August & September—the smaller the town, the bigger the festa) are their own particularly high-spirited class of affairs, but in our experience there is often no more satisfying—or memorable—way to celebrate life in a foreign place than to simply break bread, raise glasses, and keep company with the folks who host us each evening.
The journey is long, and the high savannah night sky is a sight to behold. Here’s to all of it, and to life in the Serra do Espinhaço.
Brazil, All to ourselves
Few (If Any) Other International Travelers
Few settings on earth are remarkable enough to warrant a single UNESCO designation. The Espinhaço possesses 3 (World Heritage Site Diamantina, Biosphere Reserve of the Serra do Espinhaço, and a rare Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System designation for sempre vivas flower pickers), yet remains virtually anonymous, even within Brazil.
Part of the region’s anonymity can be attributed to the fact that Brazil itself is dramatically under-visited—ranking 60th in the world in terms of total visitation and 143rd in terms of tourists per capita, despite ranking 5th in size, 7th in population, and 2nd & 9th by the World Economic Forum in terms of natural & cultural tourist resources during the same year (2021).
Even within that context, however, the Espinhaço is an outlier. Far removed from Brazil’s major urban centers & popular coastline, it has always required a journey simply to reach, let alone to explore.
It’s a privilege to be able to experience such a remarkable place, the way it is, right now.
Maria & Santo’s House, Bica d’Agua
Unforgettable Homestays
The trails will challenge us, and the peaks & waterfalls will leave us in awe, but in our experience, it’s the time we spend breaking bread with local families—sometimes well into the night—that provides the most enriching & memorable moments of our Expedition. It’s impossible to come away unimpressed by the foreign, often rustic conditions, and resilient, welcoming disposition of each of the many households we’ll visit.
As if good company, unique accommodations, and home-cooked meals weren’t reason enough to embrace the experience, it’s important to know that our visits provide precious income opportunities for the households we visit—several of whose livelihoods changed dramatically in recent decades with decline in mining—and helps build a culture that values the region’s overlooked history, culture, and natural environment.
We stay in all sorts of fun & memorable places during our Expedition, from historic inns & fancy resorts, to picturesque mountain refuges & pristine wilderness campsites. We’re willing to bet that it will be the homestays that cross your mind daily years from now.
Trail Conditions (October)
Empty TRails
The Espinhaço backcountry is a hidden world, and its labyrinth of lost trails, the key. We’ve spent countless days exploring, documenting, and guiding in the region since 2018. Outside of a handful of State Parks (which can fill up with locals during certain weekends & holidays), we’ve crossed paths with less than a dozen travelers on the trail.
Expect to be captivated by the natural scenery along the trail—and often, by the nature of the trails themselves—but don’t expect to see any other trekking poles.
vesperata! Diamantina
A Vesperata
From diamonds & stately architecture to former presidents & raucous Carnaval celebrations, Diamantina has more than its fair share of claims to fame. It’s a bit ironic (and endearing?), then, that the city’s most beloved tradition has become the humble Vesperata, a festive nighttime open-air serenade by the hometown band (plot twist: the musicians are the ones up in the windows & on verandas, while those of us getting serenaded are down on the street).
We can’t guarantee you’ll be in town to experience a Vesperata during your trip (although we can if you’re here for a Journey or Small Group Expedition in 2025), but should the stars & travel dates align, prepare yourself for an unforgettable evening of Beatles, samba & bossa nova, Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB), and sing-along wedding rock tunes.
There isn’t a party on earth where we’d rather celebrate the final night of an expedition.
Janta! Capivarí
Rustic Wood-Fired Meals
Tropeiro. Torresmo. Frango com quiabo. If you’re unfamiliar with comida mineira (the much-beloved regional cuisine of Minas Gerais), you will be by the end of the trip—and Brazilians everywhere will be jealous. Among the culinary treats unique to the Serra do Espinhaço: angu, quitanda, and queijo do Serro.
We have the privilege of arriving to copious quantities of rustic, highly-caloric home-cooked meals—prepared by skilled hands, well-seasoned cast-iron pots, and wood-fired stoves—throughout the backcountry, with more sophisticated offerings available in Diamantina and other front-country communities.
Throw in a few ice cold Kaisers or Antarcticas (two of the more popular national beer labels) and, well, let’s just say we rarely meet our weight-loss goals during trips. It’s worth it.
Bom apetit!
Cave Camping, Sempre Vivas National Park
a night in the wild
Pousadas & charming homestays connect us to culture & history, but it wouldn’t be a proper GOGO trip without at least one night in the middle of nowhere nature. We prefer starry nights, soft sand, warm fires, & gently rolling streams, but we gladly settle for the silence of the mountains. During your trip, we’ll hope for all of it…
Hoofing it on the Chapada do Couto (September)
Glorious Riding
If you’ve ever dreamed of steadying a sturdy steed through the brush, rivers, and rocky mountain passes of the Brazilian hinterlands, now’s your chance: few places on earth lend themselves so readily to saddle time than the steep & spectacular serras southeast of Diamantina. Should you prefer to gallop, the big sky vistas & open dirt roads of the Sertão, to Diamantina’s west, beckon.
Regardless of whose hoofs are moving during your trip, we recommend you catch your breath, take in the scenery, and immerse in the Espinhaço’s long and storied tradition of tropeirismo & cavalgadas.
Fording the Rio Pardo (September)
Exhilarating Backroads
There is “off-roading”, and there is navigating the surreal—and often surreally beautiful—backroads of the Serra do Espinhaço, where washboarded dirt tracks, jagged rocks, seasonal marshes, harrowing craters, and white sand trails are all just part of the commute.
Our vehicle of choice? Why, Brazil’s legendary Toyota Bandeirante, of course. Produced from the early 1960’s until 2001, this diesel-powered torque machine is as known for its backcountry prowess as it is its rough ride and good looks.
As your captain speaking, we recommend you relax & enjoy the ride.
Morning Shower / spiritual Experience
Daily Waterfall Baths
Take it from us: Attempting to count the waterfalls of the Espinhaço is an exercise in futility. Just as futile: trying to spend consecutive days on the trail without bathing (or as we often call it, “showering”) in one.
We typically cross paths with at least one named falls per day—and often many more—during our trips, from soothing cascades to show-stopping masterpieces, and everything in between.
“Ice-cold” has never felt so good.
Luzimar, World’s Greatest host
WelcomIng Folks
Minas Gerais is Brazil’s heartland, and Mineiros (the state’s denizens) play the part of heartland hosts to a “T”. Easy-going, down-to-earth, and famously chatty, with a well-documented love of food (especially comida mineira, of course) & drink (some of Brazil’s best cachaça & craft brews come from Minas), mineiros are to “friendly” what paulistas (residents of São Paulo) are to “fast-paced” and cariocas (folks from Rio) are to “care-free”.
We don’t usually come across too many humans during our trips, but the chances are good that the ones you do meet will be Mineiros. Generally speaking, you won’t find a kinder or more welcoming bunch anywhere in Brazil.
Long Day, Mendanha
Well-Earned Sleep
The Face of Adventure
The Adventure of a Lifetime
From deeply immersive private journeys for adventurous solo & duo travelers, to ambitious small group expeditions and (new in 2025) bespoke treks, horseback rides, and overland tours.
Our trips aren’t for everyone, but if you’ve read this far, they might be for you.