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Published: April 15th 2009
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Ouro Preto
As it seems with all our journeys in Brazil, Ouro Preto was accessed via an overnight bus from Rio. We arrived early on a murky morning, with mist clinging to the mineral rich mountains. After checking in and catching up on some sleep, we set about exploring the town in the pouring rain.
Ouro Preto literally means “Black Gold”. In the 18th Century the Portuguese exploited some of the biggest gold deposits in the world here using African slave labour. The result of all this wealth meant that Ouro Preto developed into a fine colonial town, with dozens of churches whose interiors are gilded with gold. It is also famous (well perhaps just in Brazil or in sculpture circles) for the carvings of Aleijadinho, who was a leper and sculpted by strapping the tools to his arms.
We darted up and down the steep cobble streets to visit a few of the many churches. One, called Matriz de NS do pilar is decorated by almost 450kg of gold and silver inside, which seems a bit extreme! Another, Sao Fransico, has its entire façade carved by Aleijadinho. In the dry it would have been a really pleasant
stroll around the streets and grand squares, but the rain took the edge off it. We even ended up in the mineral museum to escape the rain, which actually proved to be pretty interesting!
We were only staying for one night and tomorrow was Valentines day, so we celebrated a day early with a trip to the pictures to see Vicky Christina Barcelona, which was suitably Woody Allen and finish off with a few caiprinhas.
Not a Valentines day to remember
I think we keep ranting on about buses in this blog, but we can’t understate just how soul destroying all of these long bus journeys are! Today we had to get from Ouro Preto to Belo Horizonte (which is only a few hours) and then hopefully get another bus all the way to Salvador.
We arrived at Belo Horizonte to find that the bus to Salvador was full. However, the Brazilian people are so friendly and helpful we soon found ourselves on an empty bus going to an out of town terminal, with a ticket on a bus coming from Asunción in Paraguay. Unfortunately, the bus was hours late, so the 24 hours to Salvador
soon became 28 and Valentines day (and a bit more) was spent on the bus!
Salvador
Salvador was worth the effort to get to though. Immediately you can see and feel a different Brazil. Lots of the population are descended from African slaves, and this comes through not only in skin colour, but in the traditions, music you hear and the food you eat. Added to this, Salvador was preparing for its carnival, so there was a definite buzz about the place.
We stayed down by the beach, in part of town called Barra. This has a few colonial remains such as the lighthouse, but the majority are in the Pelourinho. This area is high up on a hill in the centre of town and is a tangle of cobbled streets. Like a lot of the other colonial places we’d visited in Brazil, there are scores of churches dotted around, but these are apparently connected by underground tunnels to the port below so the priests and nobility could escape in times of violence. Now the Pelourinho is accessed from the port by a few funiculars and a giant lift clinging to the cliff side.
We just
wandered the streets to soak up the atmosphere. The Pelourinho is one of the carnival parade areas, so we were lucky enough to catch some of the drumming groups practice. One of these is an all girl group called Dida. They were really good, banging out rhythms whilst slowly snaking down the street with hips shaking. The atmosphere was really relaxed and it was easy to spend a few hours with some cold beers from the street sellers. We also caught a “gringo” group practising. They were immediately obvious because many of the members had the white, pasty look of newly arrived Europeans. It turns out that they were from all over Europe and had been practising in their own countries, with participation in the carnival as the culmination of their drumming course.
We also got to see a capoeira show. This is like a rhythmical martial art which the African slaves developed as a form of self defence. Apparently, they told the Portuguese guards it was traditional dancing so they could practice. The show was in one of the many capoeira schools throughout the Pelourinho. It was really good, with both men and women spinning, flipping and somehow
managing to raise their legs to tear inducing heights. The audience was also invited participate. Unfortunately most of the tourists looked more like crabs than martial artists. We also got the chance to show our samba skills, which unsurprisingly were lacking!
Salvador has a bit of a reputation for petty theft and the need to be on your guard. It did seem to have a bit more of an edge. We enjoyed 3 days there but needed to get up to Olinda for the start of carnival. So, lo and behold, we boarded our last overnight bus to make the 13 hour journey up to Olinda and the start of our Brazilian carnival experience.
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