A light rain falls as I tack up Bruiser. After more than thirty days of quarantine the time has finally come to begin our ride through Brazil. I throw the saddle on his back. Journalists take photos and video.

“Filipe, how does it feel to be getting ready to ride in your own country?” a journalist asks.

“After everything we have faced on this ride, it feels amazing,” I tell him.

Riding Bruiser, and ponying Frenchie and Dude, I head towards my ‘Welcome Home’ ceremony. When I arrive, standing by the Brazilian flags are my parents, the mayor from my home town Espírito Santo do Pinhal, who has traveled all the way from the other side of Brazil just to be here, the president of the rodeo in Barretos where me and my ponies will be special guests in August, and the Mayor of Corumbá – the first Brazilian town we will arrive in on this final leg of our journey.

“Welcome back to your country,” the Mayor of Pinhal said as he handed me the flag of my hometown.

After shaking hands with everyone and taking many photos, the ponies and I continued on to Corumbá. Along the way we were joined by local cowboys who accompanied us into town.

When we arrived we discovered the organizers of the Barretos rodeo had cooked a traditional cowboy lunch called ‘queima do alho’.

“This is what the cowboys ate here in Brazil when they were traveling with cattle long distances many years ago,” the chef Chico told me.

It was a meal of rice, beans, farofa and meat, and after spending so many years away from Brazil, this was the perfect thing to welcome me back. It was delicious!

As we ate and chatted more journalists pulled me aside to ask what seemed like a million questions about the trip and my three ponies. It was an amazing day that I will never forget! I can’t thank Os Independents from Barretos, the city of Corumba, and the Mayor of Espírito Santo Do Pinhal enough.