Wandering Through the Mists of Campos do Jordão
so i landed in campos do jordão, this weird little mountain town in brazil, and the first thing i noticed was how the air felt like it was trying to hug me back. it’s chilly, like 23.5°c but feels more like 24.18°c because of the humidity. kinda like stepping into a warm bath that’s also a bit misty. i just checked and it’s...there right now, hope you like that kind of thing.
i heard from a barista at *café do centro that if you get bored, são josé dos campos and pindamonhangaba are just a short drive away. but honestly, campos has enough quirks to keep you wandering for days.
"the beer here is so cold it’ll make your teeth hurt,"
said a guy in a flannel shirt outside empériodromo. i don’t know if that’s true, but i’m willing to suffer for science.
walking through vila capivari, i kept thinking this place looks like a swiss village that got lost and ended up in brazil. the chalets, the fondue places, the smell of chocolate everywhere. it’s charming in a slightly disorienting way. someone told me that leopoldina rail station is worth a visit just for the old trains and the stories the conductors tell. apparently one of them once got stuck in a snowdrift in july. i mean, it’s brazil. snowdrifts aren’t really a thing here.
if you’re into nature, parque estadual de campos do jordão is supposed to have some killer trails. i overheard a couple say they saw a toucan that looked like it was judging them. hard to blame the bird, tbh.
"don’t trust the weather app here,"
a local warned me.
"it lies more than a politician during election season."
i ended up at amantikir park, which is basically a garden that thinks it’s a mountain. the views are legit, and there’s a tea house that serves something called "mountain breath tea." i have no idea what’s in it, but it tasted like nostalgia and pine needles.
for food, restaurante terra caipira came highly recommended by a guy who looked like he’d eaten there every day for 30 years. he said the feijoada could make a grown man cry. i didn’t cry, but i did consider proposing marriage to the chef.
if you want more tips, tripadvisor has a decent list of things to do, and yelp is surprisingly useful for finding the best pão de queijo in town. also, lonely planet* has a guide that’s less outdated than you’d expect.
anyway, campos do jordão is the kind of place that makes you want to write postcards you’ll never send. it’s weird, it’s cozy, and it’s exactly the kind of detour that makes travel worth it.
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