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Published: January 17th 2008
Ouro Preto
The view from the hostelLast night, after an 11-hour bus ride (yes, 11 hours!!!), I returned to São Paulo from Ouro Prêto, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. After spending New Year at the beach, I thought it would be a good idea to head inwards and get a different taste of Brazil. I still cannot get used to the distances though. Minas Gerias is as big as France and luckily there are night buses because I really cannot imagine what a day trip of 11 hours by bus would be like!!
I'm glad I chose to visit Ouro Prêto in Minas Gerias because I totally fell in love with the history of the place. Here's a bit of it from my Lonely Planet guide book:
"Sometime around 1695, groups of explorers from São Paulo began to make regular excursions into Brazil's untamed interior. These bandeirantes were frontsiermen who roamed the interior lands, enslaving indigenous people and taking hold of precious gems and stones as they traveled. It didn't take long for these bandeirantes to fix upon the large chunks of faisqueiras (sparkles) that lined the beds of rivers flowing down from surrounding mountains.
Slaves were brought from the sugar fields
of Bahia and the savannas of Angola, as few Whites did their own mining. Until the last quarter of the 18th century, the slaves of Minas Gerias were digging up half the world's gold.
Minas's gold was siphoned off to Portugal, so the only lasting benefits to come to Brazil were the development of Rio de Janeiro (the main port for the gold) and the creation of the beautiful church-clad mining cities that dot the hills of Minas Gerais."
Why am I not surprised that like all other European colonies, Brazil was also exploited.
= Ouro Prêto =
"The most famous of the historical towns, Ouro Prêto was the stage for the Inconfidência Mineira, an uprising against Portuguese colonization led by the local hero Joaquim José Silva Xavier, more commonly known as Tiradentes."
On top of all this history, the place is absolutely charming and beautiful, especially at dusk. The streets are narrow, the architecture is totally colonial and the surrounding hills make a perfect backdrop. No wonder the city is a world heritage site.
I stayed at the Brumas Hostel, which I totally recommend because it's a really decent place with friendly staff
Ouro Preto
I love the way all churches sit on hilltops and I got to meet so many people. I spent my days walking around the city, trying to visit every church (since each one seems to have its own unique history) and eating traditional Minas food, which I must say is delicious in its simplicity. And at night, we would all go to dinner and chat chat chat about Brazil and about Malta... since of course almost NO ONE has heard of our tiny island.
= Congonhas =
One of the days, I joined a couple (who were travelling by car) on a day trip to Congonhas. I was really thankful that they invited me along because this place is a little hard to reach by bus. I wanted to visit Congonhas, more specifically Aleijadinho's 'Prophets' at the Basilica do Bom Jesus Matosinhos. They are his masterpiece and Brazil's most famed work of art.
"Aleijadinho (Little Cripple) was the son of a Portuguese architect and a black slave. His nickname was given to him sometime in the 1770s when the artist began to suffer from a terrible, debilitating disease... (causing the loss of ) his fingers, toes and the use of his lower legs. Undaunted, Aleijadinho strapped
Ouro Preto
The streets of Ouro Preto hammers and chisels to his arms and continued working."
And what works of art! One must admire such determination! It was well worth being able to appreciate his works up close!
Next destination: Foz do Iguaçu, this time with Samantha, she also arrived today from Malta! 😊
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Roxanne
non-member comment
wow
sounds like you're having a wonderful time :-) ahhh what fun! Can't wait to go abroad again :-D lots of huggies from Malta xxxxxxx