Rio Sao Francisco

On Sunday, we drove up a very steep mountain and entered the Serra da Canastra National Park. Our first stop was at the source of the Rio Sao Francisco (or River of St. Francis). This river is very important as it is the fourth longest river in South America and travels through 5 Brazilian states. It was named by the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci  in 1501 as he discovered the river on October 4th, the feast day of St. Francis. After we did a bit of exploring ourselves, we gathered around the statue of St. Francis for a short prayer service. It was nice to take a quiet moment to reflect and to thank God for the nature around us as well as the opportunity to have this amazing experience in Brazil.