Nestled amongst hills, São Lourenço is a built-up modern city with wide roads, high-rise buildings and a bustling city centre. It is renowned for its mineral springs and is part of the Minas Gerais Spa Circuit, a set of hydro-mineral resorts that includes Caxambu, a town on the Estrada Real just north of São Lourenço.
The Parque das Aguas was founded in 1936 and comprises nine natural springs, each with its own therapeutic and medicinal properties. Within the park’s 430,000m² are several species of fauna from sweet little hummingbirds to toucans, herons and peacocks. Keeping my eyes peeled on the trees, I could hear the Atlantic titi rustling amongst the branches. These small New World monkeys are endemic to Brazil. They are tree monkeys rarely found on the forest floor, keeping themselves safe from snakes.
Just like the heritage train and railway in Tiradentes, São Lourenço has its own steam locomotive, Maria-Fumaça, pulling passenger carriages on a scenic round trip to Soledade de Minas, about 6mi (10km) west of the station. The ride travels near Rio Verde and is quiet and tranquil, occasionally interrupted by guitar players who move between carriages to entertain the guests.
To wrap up my time in São Lourenço, I took a quick side trip outside of town to visit a quirky-looking chapel known as Capela Nhá Chica. It is made entirely out of large mosaic pieces, including the busts and statues that adorn the chapel’s boundary and internal courtyard. The chapel is dedicated to Nhá Chica, a 19th-century freed slave who devoted her life to the poor. Although illiterate, Nhá Chica set about gathering donations to build a chapel in her hometown of Baependi – about 15mi (24km) northeast from here – and gained a reputation for her wise counsel and effectiveness of her prayers. Living a dedicated and humble life, Nhá Chica was beatified in mid-2013, becoming the first Afro-Brazilian woman to be granted this status by the Vatican.
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