Well, after a quiet couple of days in Curitiba and a big fun train ride today, we're off on a night bus to here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguazu_Falls
More soon.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Last night in Sao Paulo
After some down time, a nap and a couple of fresh haircuts, we hit the town for our last night in Sao Paulo. We decided to re-visit Via Madalena (one of the nicer areas of Sao Paulo) and meet up with Natalia (a girl we met in Rio), and some of her friends. It was a very entertaining cab ride as we nearly clipped a guy on a motorcycle while the driver described to us how beautiful the women are in Brazil. We arrived safely and met Natalia and Isabel and but were shortly joined by four more of their friends.
Caipirinhas started flowing and the conversation on the table quickly turned to a mix of Spanish, English, some french and of course, Portuguese. Isabel then invited us to a party where one of her friends was going to dj and off we went. I think we all agreed that we would never have found this place on our own nor in a guide book. The place was like a small warehouse in someone`s former house. The music consisted of samba, some jazzy tunes, a small mix of reggae and some American hip hop. We kinda danced the night away, met some local folks and had a great time.
Hern
Caipirinhas started flowing and the conversation on the table quickly turned to a mix of Spanish, English, some french and of course, Portuguese. Isabel then invited us to a party where one of her friends was going to dj and off we went. I think we all agreed that we would never have found this place on our own nor in a guide book. The place was like a small warehouse in someone`s former house. The music consisted of samba, some jazzy tunes, a small mix of reggae and some American hip hop. We kinda danced the night away, met some local folks and had a great time.
Hern
Friday, June 6, 2008
After a full meal in Orou Preto
On this day for lunch, we visited a typical restaurant from the Minera Gerais region, in Orou Preto. The buffet consisted of several rice dishes, stewed meats and a spread of salads and veggies.
Dan was the mastermind as he consulted his magical book, or the Lonely Planet guide for a good place to eat. As you can tell from the pictures, the hills, the walking and the food took a toll on us.
Hern
Ouro Preto
The scene in Ouro Preto, an old gold mining town in rural Minas Gerais, where the fabulous wealth of the mines was invested in the town's 23 churches. The place has the look and feel of an Italian or Portuguese hill town, only bigger. The city once had a population of 120,000 - though the number has dwindled to around 60,000 today.
Love the Bonde...
Here's a video that Carlos took as we rode the Bonde over the aqueduct that spans Rio de Janeiro's Lapa neighborhood. This was among the most fun moments of the trip so far.
There's gold in dem hills
Hi from Sao Paolo! (Carlos, did I spell it correctly?) We're here in this city of 17 million people, and we've been away from steady email for a few days, so I'll backtrack and tell you about Ouro Preto. After a great Rio beach day on Monday, we put on our packs and headed for the bus station via one of the craziest bus rides ever. I knew it would be exciting when the bus driver crossed 3 lanes of traffic to pick us up. But, we flew to the bus station where our first night bus was waiting. Our trip is going to require lots of night busses, so we were hoping that it wasn't going to be a typical crappy Greyhound or something. Luckily, the seats are big, they recline almost all the way, and the bus was only about half full. I slept pretty much the whole time, but Mike tells me the ride was pretty crazy, as we climed mountain switchbacks under a starry, Brazilian sky. We woke up in the small mountain town of Ouro Preto around 7 am and passed the bottle around to wake us up. Don worry, Mom, it was mouthwash. After a night bus, that's basically a requirement. We found a hostel really close to the bus station, dropped our packs ,and started sightseeing.
A little orientation for you gringos reading this back home. Ouro Preto is an old mining town that was a major player in the Portugese empire. Basically, they came, dug out tons of gold with some help from local slave labor, and funded their empire back across the Atlantic. Not all of the money left the town, though, and it was very well built. Set amongst steep hills, even our red eyes could appreciate the beauty right away. Steep cobblestone streets crisscrossed the mountains, with picture perfect shops, houses, and running alongside. Sure, there were certainly more poor parts of the town, but it was all very beautiful and seemed to be a suprisingly busy town even though there were not many tourists.
Ouro Preto is really famous for its churches, I think there are 23 in the small town. Each was unique and each was beautiful. Lots of great paintings, carvings, and art to appreciate in each one. Imagine looking out amongst the rolling green hills and being able to always see at least a dozen church steeples. After just a few churches, our group needed a little cat nap, and I'm sure there are a few German tourists with pictures of the five of us napping in front of one of the churches. Once we got going again, we came across a gold mine that we wanted to explore, and our guide Marcelo took us deep into the mountains. We saw some gold flakes, but I think the Portugese did a pretty good job cleaning it out. Since we got such an early start and had done a ton of walking up and down the steep hills, we were ready for a feast. Lucky for us, we made our way to an all you can eat restaurant, and I think the owners eyes dropped when he saw 5 big guys attacking the food. But it was great eats, and soon we were fighting a food coma! Carlos and Hernaldo went back for a little cat nap, while Mike and Dan and I went and found some more churches! I also managed to pick up some great souveniers made of local stone and carved by local artisans. (It wasnt until I put them in my pack that I realized I added about 10 pounds of stone to my load!)
After a long day of exploring this great town, we got cleaned up and went to a restaurant that was highly recomended by our guide from earlier. Low and behold, he was the waiter! Right off the bat, he made us 5 caipirinhas, which is a fantastic brazillian drink that we had yet to try! They are sugary, full of liquor, and make the miles of steep climbing melt away. Marcelo was right, he knew how to make a great drink and of course we had some more! We shared some smaller plates of food because of our big lunch and had a great time relaxing after the day. We wandered around the town some more after dinner in seach of elusive night life. We were led to a pretty cheasy bar where we were able to catch the end of a big football game over a few more beers. We werent out too late though, knowing that there is a pretty steep climb back to the hostel and soon we were fast asleep. I knew I was tired because I didn't even hear Hernaldo snoring.
Captain Burlando was the first out of bed and found out the bus schedule to our next destination. He roused us at a great hour, we feasted on the hostel's breakfast, and soon it was back to the Rodovario where the next bus was going to take us to Bello Horizonte. I'll let one of the straight guys tell you about that stop, they seemed to really love that town for some reason!
Our adventures are continuing though, and I'll be the first to say we are having a great trip, seeing some amazing things, spending just a bit too much money, and being very safe.
Ciao mis amigos!
Joey (Bag of Everything)
A little orientation for you gringos reading this back home. Ouro Preto is an old mining town that was a major player in the Portugese empire. Basically, they came, dug out tons of gold with some help from local slave labor, and funded their empire back across the Atlantic. Not all of the money left the town, though, and it was very well built. Set amongst steep hills, even our red eyes could appreciate the beauty right away. Steep cobblestone streets crisscrossed the mountains, with picture perfect shops, houses, and running alongside. Sure, there were certainly more poor parts of the town, but it was all very beautiful and seemed to be a suprisingly busy town even though there were not many tourists.
Ouro Preto is really famous for its churches, I think there are 23 in the small town. Each was unique and each was beautiful. Lots of great paintings, carvings, and art to appreciate in each one. Imagine looking out amongst the rolling green hills and being able to always see at least a dozen church steeples. After just a few churches, our group needed a little cat nap, and I'm sure there are a few German tourists with pictures of the five of us napping in front of one of the churches. Once we got going again, we came across a gold mine that we wanted to explore, and our guide Marcelo took us deep into the mountains. We saw some gold flakes, but I think the Portugese did a pretty good job cleaning it out. Since we got such an early start and had done a ton of walking up and down the steep hills, we were ready for a feast. Lucky for us, we made our way to an all you can eat restaurant, and I think the owners eyes dropped when he saw 5 big guys attacking the food. But it was great eats, and soon we were fighting a food coma! Carlos and Hernaldo went back for a little cat nap, while Mike and Dan and I went and found some more churches! I also managed to pick up some great souveniers made of local stone and carved by local artisans. (It wasnt until I put them in my pack that I realized I added about 10 pounds of stone to my load!)
After a long day of exploring this great town, we got cleaned up and went to a restaurant that was highly recomended by our guide from earlier. Low and behold, he was the waiter! Right off the bat, he made us 5 caipirinhas, which is a fantastic brazillian drink that we had yet to try! They are sugary, full of liquor, and make the miles of steep climbing melt away. Marcelo was right, he knew how to make a great drink and of course we had some more! We shared some smaller plates of food because of our big lunch and had a great time relaxing after the day. We wandered around the town some more after dinner in seach of elusive night life. We were led to a pretty cheasy bar where we were able to catch the end of a big football game over a few more beers. We werent out too late though, knowing that there is a pretty steep climb back to the hostel and soon we were fast asleep. I knew I was tired because I didn't even hear Hernaldo snoring.
Captain Burlando was the first out of bed and found out the bus schedule to our next destination. He roused us at a great hour, we feasted on the hostel's breakfast, and soon it was back to the Rodovario where the next bus was going to take us to Bello Horizonte. I'll let one of the straight guys tell you about that stop, they seemed to really love that town for some reason!
Our adventures are continuing though, and I'll be the first to say we are having a great trip, seeing some amazing things, spending just a bit too much money, and being very safe.
Ciao mis amigos!
Joey (Bag of Everything)
And on the fourth day, there was light...
"I know you’re not a believer, but we’re going to see Jesus” is how I was awakened by Joey this morning. Physically, and spiritually. At the first glimpse of not pouring rain, we headed up to Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer), a 38m tall mosaic-tiled, art deco-stylized Jesus with arms spread. Jesus is dramatically sited atop a cliff, looking out over all Rio, perhaps the most iconic landmark of this city, after the micro-bikini (known in portugese as ‘fio dental’, literally ‘dental floss’). After a bus, some drawn-out negotiations, a van ride, lookout points so profound that Burlando briefly took up poetry, and a long series of stone stairs, we had arrived. At the scene of a Brazilian soap opera filming (if there are any telenovela fans out there, look for us in the upcoming episode of Beleza Pura), as well as the giant Jesus monument. And there, somewhere between the fantastically mustached soap star, the panoramic view of Rio, and the gleaming white statue, I had an epiphany. This gleaming white Jesus spoke to me, of the errors of my cruel, criminal ways, and of bountiful forgiveness…yada yada yada, I ran down the precipitous 12km back to town, wolfed down a ham and cheese sanduiche, shaved my head and joined the brotherhood. I look forward to going from the trip’s lone Jew to one of five lapsed Catholics. Or rather, the skies actually did part, the sun shone thru for the first time since we got to Brasil, and we got in a brief stint at the Copacabana beach. And I saw my first micro-bikini. Unfortunately, it belonged to a large, peeing woman. Then matters personal, political, socio-economic, and architectural, yet decidedly not spiritual, were discussed, argued and left unresolved over beers in the hostel’s rooftop hot tub. Miraculously, today is even sunnier and more cloudless than yesterday, and we look forward to some good beach time this afternoon before heading north to ouro preto and belo horizonte. the only question is copacabana, ipanema or leblon. life is full of difficult decisions.
-DH
-DH
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