Ouro Preto

Hey everyone!!

Had the most amazing time in Rio and really didnt want to leave! But had to as its soooo expensive!! Next stop was Salvador but decided to stop off at Ouro Preto on the way, to break up the long journey a bit aswell! Ouro Preto is an old colonial town, really cute and lots of people had recommended stopping off there for a day! So we got the night bus from Rio at 23:30 - it was horrible, got no sleep whatsoever because the bus was absolutely freezing (again) - was prepared this time with fleece, pashmina etc but it was still freezing!! The bus driver also drove like an absolute lunatic - was quite scary! So it probably would have been impossible to get to sleep even if it hadnt been so cold as we were being catapoulted around the bus anyway! hehe! Were supposed to get there at 7:30am but ended up getting there at 5:30am (shows how fast the driver drove hehe!) which was a bit rubbish as it was freezing and dark! But we put our stuff in lockers and headed into town!

The town was actually really pretty.... all cobblestone roads and lots of old cute shops!! Very very hilly though which was hard work, trekking up and down steep hills at that time in the morning!! Richard was being a typical ill man, complaining that he was dying walking up the hills soooo slowly! Made me feel like an athlete hehe! Saw quite a few old churches and then went across to the old gold mine, which was quite cool! There were only a few tunnels you could go down though as most of the mine has caved in now! Walked around a bit more after that until Richard said he refused to walk another step and sat down and went to sleep so that was that! Had a yummy lunch later on and then decided to take an earlier bus to Salvador, changing in Belo Horizonte! Luckily we did get the earlier bus though as the later bus we were planning on getting apparantly didnt even exist! :o) The bus to Belo Horizonte took about 2 hours, then we had to wait for 2 hours there before getting the bus to Salvador at 6pm - which was supposed to take 22 hours!! :o(

The long bus here was absolutely packed for the first time so unfortunately didnt get 2 seats to ourselves this time! I sat next to a middle-aged Brazilian guy who could actually speak English, which was actually a bit annoying as i really wanted to go to sleep and he did not stop poking me! Whenever i started going to sleep, he would poke me and start talking again! hehe! He was actually really nice though! But the journey was business as usual and keeping to the tradition ..... we broke down AGAIN!! :o) In the middle of the night ofcourse - at 1:30am! Had to wait outside for another bus, which luckily didnt take too long! After i stopped being annoyed, i was actually quite pleased because my seat on that bus was broken and didnt recline properly! But sods law... that EXACT seat on the next bus was broken too!! hehe! really not having much luck with the Brazilian buses! But anyway we managed to get some sleep! The next day dragged sooo much though as we were supposed to get there at 4 o clock in the afternoon but didnt get there until 8pm! I had finished my book and my Ipod had run out of battery so was very very bored!! But we got here in the end! :o)

Right, going to do a seperate entry for Salvador so it maps it out for me! :o) Although not sure i have time.... there are quite a few people waiting for the internet and they look like theyre about to eat me - i have been on here quite a while though! oops!! :o)

lots and lots of love and hugs!! and miss u all lots!! email please.... i love getting all your emails!! :o)

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