The Adventure of Ruan: Ouro Preto & Mariana

Day 1:
This is the second section of my Minas Gerais trip. I got on the bus (which was 2 hours late) at Sao Joao del Rei bound for Ouro Preto. Sitting next to me was Doug, a student from SJ on his way to OP to DJ. We had a great chat for an hour or so. On arrival in OP, he gave me directions to the main square (Praca Tiradantes). My guide book suggested a nice (& cheap) hotel just off the square. It wasn’t there. I later checked that the guide book was published in middle 2009, so I could only use it as….a guide…not the law :) I ended up getting bed at the hostel.

Exploration time! OP is quite hilly so I’m sure if you live here you are very “walking fit”. I’m not :) I followed my nose around and was looking for a place to buy Cachaca (alcohol distilled from sugar cane used to make Caparinias) at Adriana’s request. Found one and did some tasting…bad idea. The stuff is strong! I ended up at the train station. There is a train that travels between OP and Mariana on Friday, Saturday & Sunday (this was Thursday). This trip was on my agenda so I got ticket for the next day @10am, which really played into my hands as there is an organ concert in Mariana at 11:30! Finally my plans were coming together. Also at the train station they have some video displays of the history of OP and the surrounding towns, with some locals providing commentary. All with English subtitles :) Ticket in hand & being a bit tired, I headed back to the hostel stopping to buy Cachaca on the way.

Met an Irish guys, Sean, and we got chatting about some interesting stuff. So we decided to meet later and go to the Bloco later. I finally had a bed and did an intensive study of the inside of my eyelids for 2 hours. Sean and I missed each other, so I went down to town alone (literally, the hostel is on top of a hill). The bloco was supposed to start at 9pm. There is no rush here though. The band only started to rock up around 8:45pm and stated to play around 9:45pm. I was in a prime spot as the band start right in front of me. The tuba player was next to me! Really cool. Just an observation: bloco’s are an event for the whole community. There are people from all walks of life & ages. I even saw some children (probably 10years old and another even younger). Nice to know that these events are all-inclusive :)

Back at the hostel I met up with Sean. He had gotten side tracked with Yoga (which he forgot to tell me about), but he was keen for the train ride to Mariana. We were going to leave tomorrow at 9am.

Day 2:
Took the train from OP to Mariana. The train ride was nice, winding through the valley. Only down side is that the steam engine was undergoing maintenance, so a diesel engine was pulling the carriages. Still nice. There is an organ in the church on the main square. We went to a concert that they have every Friday & Sunday. Very nice.

The weather didn’t play along today. It was raining most of the day. By the time the concert finished, we were hungry. So Sean and I sat down at a restaurant on the square for food and good conversation. It was nice to sit down and just take in the place without having to rush to the next place. We had a quick walk around town. Its small enough to see the sights in a short while, but getting wet didn’t seem like a good idea. Since Sean had never had a Capirinha, we headed for a bar for an introduction. There we saw chatting like good friends until it was time for me to head back to OP. I didn’t want to be late for my bus.

By this time we were hungry. Sat down for a nice (and cheap) meal, before heading home and catching the bus.

Views of Ouro Preto