Blogs from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, South America

Life as I know it... The last post on this blog has been a while back. After Tatiana and I finished our one year travels I did not consider posting anymore here, as this was for our common journey. Soon it will be 4 years ago that we returned from this amazing trip, and enough time has passed to tell you (or my future self for that matter) about the difficulties of returning. As amazing as everything about travelling is, the last months of a one year long journey get difficult. You fancy leaving the backpack in a corner and not pick it up again for months, you fancy conditioner, putting on lotion all over your mosquito bite-covered body without getting all sticky within minutes because of the heat, you fancy a comfortable bed, good coffee, ... read more

Well, that sucked!!! (to put it mildly) To be more specific, the result sucked, the fact Brazil was dominated and eliminated from the World Cup 25 minutes into the game sucked. I still see the positive side and value the experience of seeing soccer history being created live in front of my eyes. It is why I’m here in the first place, to be a part of it and see it through to the end. I want to the see someone lift the trophy. Obviously, I would rather see Brazil lift it, as I noted the other day, but Germany put on a clinic from beginning to end and deserves to play for the title. As a fan of the game, I can pretty easily digest such a result. Let’s back up a bit. The only ... read more

Nach gut einer Woche Sao Paulo ging es für es uns weiter in die nächste Stadt. so flogen wir in den Bundesstaat Minas Gerais nach Belo Horizonte. Nach dem freundlichen Empfang unseres Gastgebers in Belo Horizonte und einer kleinen Willkommenstour durch die Gegend auf dem Weg vom Flughafen zum Appartment, in welcher wir in den nächsten 2 Wochen wohnen werden, ging es auch schon weiter zum Fussballstadion Mineirao. Wie erwartet waren Tausende argentinische Fans vor Ort. Bereits auf dem Weg zum Stadion, wurde laut gesungen und gejubelt, einmal mehr bekam man die Freude der Südamerikanischen Fussballfans hautnah mit. Als wir dann das Stadion betraten sahen und hörten wir vor allem fast 60000 Fans singen. Diese Atmosphäre ist ansteckend, noch nie habe ich ein so lautes Stadion betreten. Leute mit Fussballleibchen aus etlichen Ländern waren dort. Natürlich ... read more

First impressions of Belo Horizonte were very good. The bus trip from Brasília to Brazil’s third largest city was another efficient journey, arriving in Belo Horizonte in the early hours. The hostel I had booked online was in one of the nicer areas south of the city centre. The person who runs it was incredibly friendly, letting me in at a very early hour and then giving me lots of advice on what to see in the city. All in Portuguese, and I understood everything he said, albeit I needed him to repeat the odd sentence. But I’m definitely more comfortable with the language now, even if half of the words I say are Spanish and not Portuguese. The important thing is that I can normally convey a message and understand the person I’m speaking to. ... read more

Thursday Nothing much on this day. We slept late and then went to the tennis club. There was no one around. The men's spa opened at 3:30pm so we just took in the sun, read and waited. I chose a different masseuse. I was glad that I did since the first one just about killed me. After Minas we returned to the hotel for a little rest and then met Maria and Gilberto at 68 La Pizzeria. This is a hot spot for the chic and we had to add it to our list. Maria ran into many of her friends from her work. That's it. As I said above...nothing much on this day. Stay tuned for tomorrow, however, it was loaded.... read more