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

  A couple taking life easy. Probably in preparation for Carnaval

 
The train ride: Carriage – We went through a couple of tunnels (not at all as fast as this pic looks. About 15kph – View

 The conductor…in Carnaval sprit

  The organ in Mariana

Ouro Preto at night from the hostel

Sao Joao del Rei & Tiradentes

Day 1: (click for map)
I disobeyed Rule #3. Man I must be stupid! I was faced with a decision at the rodoviaria on Monday: Wait until 11pm to get bus to Ouro Preto or get a bus to Sao Joao del Rei at 2pm. I though that I could save half a day by going to Sao Joao del Rei first (wanted to go there anyway). However, I would arrive at 6pm…after the tourist office had closed. The difference was that I actually had numbers and address for place in SJ! So I look the chance.

About 30min from SJ, we stopped in the highway. I saw some red flashing lights up ahead, so thought I was some road works. Thought nothing of it. Back to my book. When the driver switched off the engine, I knew there was something fish. Two trucks had collided and were now blocking the road. The bus driver informed us that those going to SJ would be able to hitch a ride with another bus…no charge. This meant that I only got to SJ at 8pm!

Not too phase, I sat down calmly as I have been told by many people that the local of Minas Gerais (the state that SJ is in) are very friendly. 10min into the trip this became apparent. A lady sitting in front of me asked me where I was going (I must’ve looked lost before getting onto the bus). She lived in SJ and offered to explain where the hostel was. She took it one step further. Her husband picked her up at the rodoviaria and there drove me there! Awesome! By now I was hungry and one of the guys the hostel had just ordered a pizza, which I was invited to share. Score! So the day didn’t end too badly.

Day 2:
Started by walking around SJ, but wasn’t overly impressed. Yes it had nice cobble streets and old buildings, but nothing spectacular. I’d seen better. Close by (15km) is Tiradentes (map) which is much nicer. Its like it was plucked from the 1800’s and the local people replaced with modern ones. Cobbles streets with nice plazas. Surrounded by mountains. Only problem is the price. It’s not a cheap town, but I can understand why.

Stumbled upon an all wood furniture manufacturer. Great stuff & his wife is learning English, so we had a bit of a chat :) I didn’t want to take photos because people are copying his designs because they are so popular. He only designs chairs, but makes anything. Saw some truly different, but still practical, furniture. (AJ if you are reading this, you would’ve drooled!).

Got back to SJ and booked my bus ticket for Ouro Preto, for Thursday morning @ 2:45am! Eish! Either that, or leave @ 4pm…its a 4 hour ride. Remembering Rule #3, I took the early option :) So now my bus tickets are all booked.

Views of Tiradantes:

Day 3:
I didn’t eat well yesterday, so was tired. Treated myself to a lie-in. Just as well, because it started to rain :( After catching up on my emails and learning some Spanish (will need much more than Portuguese, since Brazil is the only country in S. Am that speaks it), I put on on my rain jacket and headed into town to discover the historic city (where-ever that might be).

Followed my nose up the hill and into a poor residential area. Helped an old lady offload some food (my good deed for the day).
Just over the hill is the “wild”. The nature is beautiful! Getting an itch to go get some “nature time”.

Saw some of the cathedrals but to be honest, I don’t want to pay to see them inside. Even though they are historic and all.

I got to the Brazilian Expeditionary Force Museum (exhibits the history of this area’s military involvement in WW2) just as they were closing. Explained to the guy that I was leaving tomorrow and they allowed me to have a quick look inside. This must bode well for my Portuguese! Very interesting! They LOTS of guns, medals & certificates of honour, uniforms and a sculpture in remembrance of the men who died (with name, photo and rank of each man). Wish I got there earlier.

I’m taking it easy tonight as I’m taking the bus to Ouro Preto (map) really early tomorrow.

The rain that started the day

  Views from the poor neighbourhood. Not bad

 
Same poor neighbourhood: The houses….the view! Better than Constantia :)

In the historic centre – must be a strong military background here

Rule #4

I have this nasty habit of not eating at regular times. This might be due to my time as a Master’s student when losing yourself in your work is par for the course. So at about 11pm you realise that you haven’t had anything to eat since lunch. In Stellenbosch this wasn’t a problem as McDonald’s is open 24-7 and I had a car to get there quickly (hunger pains set in very quickly).

While travelling alone, this can be disastrous. When I get hungry, one of the first organs my body starts shutting down is my brain. I lose the ability to think rationally as survival mode kicks in. If I am in a strange place and don’t know where to get food, I end up walking for 30min before I find food. By this time I’ve gotten tired and walking is the last thing I want to do.

So Rule #4 is: Always keep your tank full. I’ve heard people mention this about vehicles travelling through places where fuel is scares. Even more true for the human body. If you’re hungry, you can’t enjoy anything. Eat regularly and keep some form of a snack handy!

Routes to give you perspective

I know I have mentioned many places that you have NO idea where it is. And from personal experience, it is a schlep to go Google the place & hope you’ve got the right one. Fortunately the people at Google have made it easy for us mere mortals, trying to follow a friend’s path through the world.

So to put the past couple of weeks into perspective…..here are some links.

• 2011 Cape to Rio Yacht race: Between Cape Town, South Africa and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (doesn’t give you a route, just perspective)
• Rio to Petropolis (last week’s trip)
• Rio to Sao Joao del Rei (where I am currently)

From now on it will be easier for you to follow my trip (and I’ll have to do less explaining :) )

My plan…for the next week or so

To keep you all up to date, these are my plans:

• See Sao Juan del Rei, Tiradates, Ouro Preto and Mariana (in the state of Minas Gerais) from today, I’m in Sao Juan del Rei at the moment, until Friday evening.
• I have a ticket booked from Ouro Preto to Rio, departing on Friday @ 22:15 (about a 7 hour bus drive)
• Carnival in Rio on Saturday & Sunday.
• Carnival in Correas (Monday & Tuesday), with Adriana & her friend.
• Depart for Illa Grande on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the state of my hangover :)
• Paraty
• Florianopolis
• Montevideo (Uruguay)
• Buenos Aires (hook up with Eugene. He is only there until 31 March, so I hope I don’t miss him)

This give you a rough idea. Basically I’ll be travelling down the East coast of South America. I’ll probably make some other unshedule’d stops as I go along, but at least you get the general idea.