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Published: July 30th 2006
Vista de Ouro Prêto
This was the view from my hostel, looking out across the hills beautiful architecture of the city.Oi gente!
This is my first entry in my Travel Blog, so get excited! After a good 30 hours straight of traveling, I made it all the way from Atlanta to Washington D.C. to São Paulo to Belo Horizonte to Ouro Prêto--my first destination.
Arriving at the hostel at 1:00 in the morning, I wasn´t quite sure what was going on, but at breakfast the next morning I talked with a Brazilian named Dávide. Later on he invited me to go see the city with him a few other people. As it turned out, they were a big group of graduate history students (20 or so) from UNESC, a college in Santa Catarina, taking a trip to see the city. I was immediately adopted by them and we had even seen the sights with a free guided tour from the professors.
I ended up hanging out with them for the rest of my time in the city. They were a really fun, crazy bunch of kids. It was a bit tiring being with them constantly because, well, they´re Brazilian, they´re crazy, but also because I´m adapting to life with just Portuguese. I actually am surprised at how well
Churrasco!
Nothing is more Brazilian that a good churrasco, some cold beer, and good friends. It was quite an evening. I´m speaking and it´s made the trip so enjoyable thus far because I´m hanging out with all types of people.
My first full day there we had a big crazy party in the hostel with churrasco (Brazilian barbeque) and lots of Skol (a popular beer). We also invited a group of Belgians that were in the hostel and my Australian roommate Peter, so I acted as intrepreter a lot of the evening. Still, it´s really cool to see what can translate across cultural and linguistical lines.
The city of Ouro Prêto itself is gorgeous. It claims to have no building built in the 20th century which is believably, but probably no entirely true. Twenty-three different churches stand out from the landscape that raising and falls in a sea of hills. I saw at least half of them over the two full days I was there.
This region had a huge gold rush in the 18th century and as a result, the city exploded. It was also very important because of a revolutionary figure Tiradente (literally ´tooth-puller,´ he was a dentist) lived and stirred up the first revolution against Portuguese rule and the gold tax that they were
A ceremônia de baptismo
Initation into the grad history program at UNESC, presided over by professor Iván and a mysterious hooded priest. imposing on Brazil. Eventually he was capture and quartered and drawn in Rio de Janeiro.
Today Ouro Prêto is a town rich in history despite the gold drawing up long ago. Also, you can get a ridiculous work-out from constantly ascending and descending all of the cobblestone streets that regularly can be anywhere from a 20 to 40 degree incline.
I already miss all the great friends I made there, but now I´m on to new adventures, in Bahia, a very tropical state that is also rich in Brazilian history. I´m going to take a day to check out Porto Seguro on the way up to Salvador. Até mais!
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Will Pinner
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Sounds amazing.