No More Photos

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 heading the other direction, as does everyone else, and we are much expedited when the Military police arrive - there's nothing like being pushed along with a wooden baton by a guy in fatigues and beret to get your heart started for futbol (the police were actually trying to get us out of the area so WE wouldn't attack the other fans). Brazilians love soccer. The entire 20 minutes leading up the game was chanting and singing - and the entire halftime, 15 minutes, was spent continuously yelling out the teams song. Fireworks in the stands, beer cups flying - the loss of the game was inconsequential from all appearances, but I would be interested to see what a victory looks like.

The following weekend, Saturday, I traveled to Divínopolis, a city about two hours outside of BH, accompany my friends to a concert. The festivals in small towns here seem to have a common thread of loud baile funk music and axé pounding out in the central plaza, and lots of overpriced beer (this is where my camera was stolen). On Sunday, however, we traveled to a friends modest farm of about 50 cattle. The countryside here is beautiful and stands in stark contrast to the overcrowded city. The birds in the area were fascinating, and I have no idea what I saw. Indeed, the sunset was also beautiful, but you'll have to take my word for it.

---

---