How it started:
When you get an opportunity that you are not expecting it to come your way, what would you do? Ofcourse, grab it right. There was an opportunity to visit Brazil for a work assignment. I had no reasons to deny the offer except for a concern on the safety in Brazil and that we were expecting a baby. My family had no concerns as it was only for a couple of months and will be back well before the baby arrives.
In short I was destined to step foot in South America.
I was joined by another colleague(Ex-colleague to be precise, as I left the company over a year ago)
Travel:
We flew by Etihad Airways via Abu Dhabi and Sao Paulo and domestic airlines Gol Airways to Belo Horizonte, our final destination.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belo_Horizonte .
Place of stay:
We stayed in a hotel close to the Centro(City centre/Downtown) of Belo Horizonte (Beautiful Horizon) , capital of Minas Gerais(General Mines).
Belo Horizonte hosts the largest hippie fair in the whole of South America, every Sunday.
Some interesting bits:
i ) Brazilians speak Portuguese ,but few can also speak Italian and Spanish too, but not much English. Google Translator was the only source that could help us have conversations, though most people at work could converse in English.
ii ) Brazil as a country is better than India with the infrastructure being some where in between India and US, only my impressions though. The reason being, there's poverty in Brazil and probably worse than ours. Their slums are called Favelas and nobody dares to go there, you must have already seen it in the Fast & Furious 5, scary for a common man.
iii ) There's high crime rate and some places are best avoided for safety reasons. You must have come across some videos during the recent Olympics where people would just steal stuff from your hands and you have no option but to stare.
iv ) The good and bad part of Brazil is it's people. They go that extra mile, to help you incase of any and then there are few who don't mind robbing you in the light of the day.
Well, I couldn't digest this and was not in a mood to travel without a local. Fortunately, thanks to a couple of very friendly colleagues at work, we had the opportunity to visit couple of places, though I wished to see some more.
v ) Brazil is the largest producer of Coffee. About 2/3rd of the world's Coffee is from here.
vi ) If you are aware of our famous Ongole Bulls, which are considered to be one of the finest bulls, well they are very popular in Brazil for breeding. They are known as Nelore(not a typo) bulls and were imported from us few decades ago and is the most popular beef cattle in Brazil. So, popular that they even export to neighboring nations.
vii ) Their currency is Reais (Real in English) and is pronounces as He-ai.
viii) Native Brazilian tribes are also called Indians. They were considered slaves and it's said that there were a lot of mass-killings due to racism.
Our First short drive was to Ouro Preto (Black Gold) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouro_Preto
From Wiki :
Quote:
Ouro Preto is a city in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, a former colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains and designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO because of its outstanding Baroque architecture.
Ouro Preto is located in one of the main areas of the Brazilian Gold Rush. Officially, 800 tons of gold were sent to Portugal in the XVIII century. Other gold circulated illegally, and still other gold remained in the colony to adorn churches and for other uses. In the 18th century, Ouro Preto became for a time the most populous city in the New World, with an estimated population of 80,000 in 1750. At that time, the population of New York was half that number, and the population of São Paulo did not reach 8,000.
Ouro Preto is about a 100kms from Belo Horizonte. It's the heart of Brazil's mining industry with a lot of Gold being excavated from this part of Minas Gerais. Popular for it's Mines, Churches and also the Carnival.
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Here's some more history lesson from Wiki :
Quote:
Villa Rica de Ouro Preto (19th century).
Founded at the end of the 17th century, Ouro Preto (meaning Black Gold) was originally called Vila Rica, or "rich village", the focal point of the gold rush and Brazil's golden age in the 18th century under Portuguese rule.
The city centre contains well-preserved Portuguese colonial architecture, with few signs of modern urban development. New construction must keep with the city's historical aesthetic. 18th- and 19th-century churches decorated with gold and the sculptured works of Aleijadinho make Ouro Preto a tourist destination.
The tremendous wealth from gold mining in the 18th century created a city which attracted the intelligentsia of Europe. Philosophy and art flourished, and evidence of a baroque revival called the "Barroco Mineiro" is illustrated in architecture as well as by sculptors such as Aleijadinho, painters such as Mestre Athayde, composers such as Lobo de Mesquita, and poets such as Tomás António Gonzaga. At that time, Vila Rica was the largest city in Brazil, with 100,000 inhabitants.
In 1789, Ouro Preto became the birthplace of the Inconfidência Mineira, a failed attempt to gain independence from Portugal. The leading figure, Tiradentes, was hanged as a threat to any future revolutionaries.
In 1876, the Escola de Minas (Mines School) was created. This school established the technological foundation for several of the mineral discoveries in Brazil.
Ouro Preto was capital of Minas Gerais from 1720 until 1897, when the needs of government outgrew this town in the valley. The state government was moved to the new, planned city of Belo Horizonte
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My friend from work and his dad were courteous enough to take us here. Thanks to them.
Some clicks from the places we were able to see. We couldn't go into the churches, though I wished I could, due to time constraints. The architecture and the detailing is just amazing, especially the way they've been maintained and given importance, wish we Indians could show some respect towards what we have.
Church San Francisco de Paula
The church of São Francisco de Assis
Some Souvenirs
Bylanes - simple yet amazing architecture
She is not a real lady
Tiradentes Square from the Museum of Betraval
Info about Tiradentes Square from wiki:
Praça Tiradentes is a square located in the city of Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais. It was the place where the head of the martyr of independence, Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, Tiradentes was exposed (1792) in Vila Rica, now Ouro Preto. In the place where the pole (present day Tiradentes Square) was, today stands a monument to the Martyr. It turns out that interestingly, the bronze statue of Tiradentes has its back to the governor's official residence.
I don't actually remember, but my friend mentioned a story about this man, he's considered to be a hero IIRC. A very sad end though.
Notice his hand hiding behind? It's actually been tied.
Museum of Betraval. Cameras were not allowed inside , so no pics. However it had some amazing stuff from the bygone era. Just shows how much of history is hidden with in this little town
Igreja Nossa Senhora do Carmo
Narrow lanes
Another church
Commemorative Plaque
Evening prayers at the Church
people showcasing the Ginga , ancient tribal martial art form. You must have also heard of it from the movie PELE.
An albino Boxer
I don't think there's a place without Indians.
Figurines atop the structures
Now the P900 Zoom test
And one final click as we leave Ouro Preto