I spent four nights or so in the barrio Liberdade, about 45 minutes from downtown BH. It's a small community, initially founded with the construction of 200 homes for Habitat for Humanity, and then expanded by the construction of an additional 300 homes by the city. The neighborhood is more country then city. The houses sit along wide paved streets, the fronts obscured by the 12 foot concrete walls and metal doors added on by the residents. There's a public school, small shops, grocery stores, bakeries, fruit stores, butchers. The streets are usually full of people - as it is the [View Full Entry]

---

---

The new camera arrived last week via New York via Idaho via Salvador. Suffice to say even if this one is lost with haste, it will not be due to lack of diligence on my part as I will be duct taping it to my head. The classes continue, and things are beginning to ramp up for World Cup. Hopefully Brazil doesn´t lose at the first group as after all this investment it would be quite an embarrasment (although it´s highly unlikely). The attached pictures were mostly taken at Joses´ family´s farmhouse (or sitio) - many of middle class here in [View Full Entry]

---

---

In the past weeks I´ve had the opportunity to work at two different project sites in the periphery of BH - teaching English (and a couple art classes) in 45 minute segments to various groups of children, ranging from 6 to 14 (and one group of adults). The difficulty in teaching is a multifaceted affair considering a.) I have no teaching experience, b.) I speak only rudimentary Portuguese, and c.) the children realize this. Most of the groups have been perfect, the greatest difficulty being their names (the creative tendency in choosing names has resulted in a rash of unheard of [View Full Entry]

---

---

Perhaps I shouldn´t be writing on a travel blog website, as I haven´t been doing a whole lot of traveling. I´ve spent the past week in Belo, either staying with a friend or visiting some of the projects. In due course the Portuguese is improving, as well as the ability to navigate the city via public transportation (which could prove less challenging were it not for the density of unruly drivers making making every street crossing a brush with death). In the next week I´ll begin assisting another volunteer in teaching english. Neither of us have taught before, but the children [View Full Entry]

---

---

I left Wednesday to get out of the city for a spell, and traveled to the town of Congonhas, south of Belo Horizonte. Only a few minutes outside of the central downtown, and past the surrounding favelas, the landscape takes a dramatic turn. The road winds through rolling hills of Savannah: large green spaces dotted with low lying trees. The foilage is amazing, and in such great variety and cannot even think to identify anything. The city of Congonhas is an industrial city with around 39,000. Most of the people work in something related to the mining industry, which must encompass [View Full Entry]

---

---

First things first, as preminitioned by my last entry, my camera was stolen last night, which I was a little sore about, mainly at my own incompetence in allowing a pickpocket to snatch it away. Besides that... I went to a futbol game here in Belo Horizonte. There is nothing in the states that compares to the fanatical energy of soccer fans. On arrival, outside the stadium, we were calming walking about when all of a sudden, a few people start running from the direction we're headed. Following them are police, on horses, riding directly into us. So naturally, we start [View Full Entry]

---

---

Thought I´d get around to uploading some photos here. I prefer not to take my camera with me when I travel about because it´s something less to worry about - what you don´t have, no one can take. But here´s a sampling. [View Full Entry]

---

---

I had the opportunity today to visit some of the neighborhoods where the "projects" are located. These two sites are administered by the people I'm staying with - one site is a previous "favela" (brazilian slum), the other is a neighborhood of originally 10 houses constructed through Habitat for Humanity which has now grown into a full size working class neighborhood. Brazil appears to have two seperate worlds, a middle class and a working class. Most of the area within the centers of the city are apartments of middle class people; the surrounding area are neighborhoods of the working class [View Full Entry]

---

---

Bom dia! Well, I've arrived in Belo Horizonte - the flight here was a bit problematic. Atlanta was a bit stormy, and the planes couldn't get out onto the tarmac, so I ended up having my flight pushed out about 5 hours, causing me to miss my connection in Brazil. So after arriving in Sao Paulo I ended up having another 7 hour layover. In total, about 27 hours of travel. Airports are seriously wierd places - the sheer number of people and unlikelihood of ever seeing anyone again prompts a lot of spontanous conversation, if you open yourself up to [View Full Entry]

---

---

AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose. Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune; Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, Strong and content, I travel the open road. I depart tommorow for Brazil. I'm intending to use this website to provide updates to where and what I'm doing. If anyone cares to, they can subscribe, and get an email when it is updated (if, however, you do not want my information to be spamming u [View Full Entry]

---

---