Blogs from Minas Gerais, Brazil, South America - page 2

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

The pickpockets of Rio are not worth their salt. Two weary gringos without the gumption to buy tickets for the correct month, in a hustling, run down maze of concrete, passengers and bemused staff; how much do they steal? Nada. The system of catching a bus out of Rio could use some work. In hindsight we were given a range of stops at which our bus could arrive and an 'estimated' time of arrival. Simple, just wait around those stops until the driver writes the destination and departure time of your journey on the front of his bus with white marker pen; if you can't see your bus, don't worry, even if it was due an hour ago you haven't missed it in the commotion, it's just late. We did not know this. Now we do. ... read more

Heute stand neben dem üblichen Fussballfelds mal etwas kulturelles auf dem Plan. Am Mittag fuhren wir Richtung Norden in die Stadt Ouro Preto. Sie ist wegen Ihres Barocken Baustils heute ein Unesco Weltkulturerbe. Schwarzes Gold heisst die Stadt auf Deutsch, dieser Name kommt vom leicht schwarz gefärbtem Gold. Ouro Preto war bis ins 19. Jahrhundert die Hauptstadt des Bundesstaates Minas Gerais. Wir schlenderten durch die schöne Altstadt und bewunderten die zahllosen architektonisch sehr schön gebauten Kirchen. Nebst den vielen Touristen leben auch Einheimische in der Stadt. Wo wir mit unseren Autos Mühe hätten die steilen und engen Passagen zu umfahren, kurven Sie ohne Probleme hindurch und parkieren auch noch in den steilsten Strassen. Die ganze Stadt wirkte wie eine kleine Märchenstadt, nebst den schönen Häusern mit Ihren Farbigen Schildern über den Ladeneingängen und natürlich der ... read more

From down the coast at Ubatuba, Sao Paulo State, my parents and I hit the road in the evening across the mountains, driving through green forests and farmland towards Belo Horizonte, where we had tickets for a World Cup game. We drove until 1am, then found a quiet spot along the road to pitch our tent and get a few hours of shut-eye. There was absolutely no traffic and we felt we were deep in the countryside. So imagine our surprise when a police car pulled over as we were getting in our sleeping bags. I first thought the cop would tell us we weren’t allowed to camp there but he actually looked flabbergasted and amused by these French tourists in their pajamas in the middle of nowhere, and he simply told us the police station ... read more

Saturday 11th January (Odyssey Day 64) We had a nice lazy start this morning, as we didn’t depart until 1000. Donna and Glenn decided to stay a few extra days in Rio, so they will catch us up later in the trip, likely in Brasilia. The rest of the group are sad to leave Rio, but made the most of the late start to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and one last trip to the beach. We made a lunch stop in Petropolis, a lovely town not too far from Rio. It’s one of the older towns and is still used by the wealthy as a holiday spot. A lot of the roads are paved and there is the Imperial Museum, which was once the Summer Palace of an Emperor of Brazil. Our camp tonight is in ... read more