In addition to academic excursions, our group took short recreational fieldtrips to various sites outside of São João del-Rei. My sister, Meg, graciously invited the group to spend a day in her country house, just 15 minutes outside of town. After a wonderful lunch she had prepared, we spent the afternoon hiking in the mountains, biking, playing volleyball and visiting the nearby mineral water spa.

There were additional day trips to other sites in Tiradentes, Bichinho, and Resende Costa where the group enjoyed shopping in the dozens of stores specializing in hand-woven textiles. One night was spent in an 18th-century B&B, located in the city of Coronel Xavier Chaves. The next morning, the group took a horseback ride to explore the area stopping in for lunch at a restored colonial distillery.

Short excursions were taken to visit the studios and workshops of artists such as Edmar, who specializes in embroidery and lace making, Nivaldo demonstrated, to a group of students, traditional foundry techniques and João Bôsco invited us for a visit to his workshop where liturgical silver objects are created utilizing a traditional 18th-century Portuguese technique.

Near the end of our trip, Edmar gave us a guided tour in the mountains to explore a site with prehistoric petroglyphs. By coincidence, we met up with two geology students on a research trip who gave us a short history on the rock formations of the region.

Raissa, one of our students, organized a day-trip to the city of Prados, famous for its popular crafts, for a tour of the restoration and conservation project that is being conducted by the atelier Anima Conservation and Restoration. Carlos Magno, the director of the project, took Raissa on a guided instructional visit to the sites. Raissa was so impressed that she wanted to share with the students what she had seen and learned.

The host families were very generous with the whole group. Alma was able to visit more of Niemeyer's buildings in the cities of Brasilia and Belo Horizonte with the Bello family. The house of Lucinha, Jose Alberto and Diogo became a meeting point for the students. The same happened in the house of Meg, Raphael and Lila where the group would come to socialize.