Ouro Preto
For our 2 weeks in Brazil, we decided to focus on 2 world heritage sites: Noronha (famous beaches) & Ouro Preto (a colonial town famous for its architecture and art). Both sites took awhile to get to (not a simple bus ride or boat trip or flight) and 1 solid day of research. (In Sao Paulo, we went to a wifi cafe at 9am and didn't leave until 6pm after we researched & struggled to communicate with folks on Skype).
Getting to Ouro Preto
We spent about 1.5 days getting to this town, staying overnight at the Sao Paulo airport (for flights) & taking a few bus trips. We lugged our bags over cobblestone streets and found a pousada in an old colonial house, near a beautiful church.
Guitar & soprano concert
We ventured to the Opera House next to our pousada to see a Marionette festival. We stayed at this event until a concert started at the church across the street. The church sponsors this concert series in an attempt bring back music to a convent. Both artists performed works from a Brazilian composer named Villa-Lobo. The classical guitarist's fingers were amazing and I enjoyed the soprano too.
Churches & sculptures
We visited lots of old churches and saw lots of religious sculptures. Aleijadinho seems to have done most of the stuff here and as a result he's famous in Brazil. His story is impressive: he had leprosy or something that ate his fingers so he strapped hammers and chisels to his hands and continued working.
Mining
Today, we hopped on a bus to a smaller town for a mine tour. We took a cable car down into the huge mine, learned about the geology of the area, saw a nice underground lake, and practiced panning for gold. Gosh, it takes a long time to extract just a little bit of gold dust.
Getting to Ouro Preto
We spent about 1.5 days getting to this town, staying overnight at the Sao Paulo airport (for flights) & taking a few bus trips. We lugged our bags over cobblestone streets and found a pousada in an old colonial house, near a beautiful church.
Picture of town cobblestones
We ventured to the Opera House next to our pousada to see a Marionette festival. We stayed at this event until a concert started at the church across the street. The church sponsors this concert series in an attempt bring back music to a convent. Both artists performed works from a Brazilian composer named Villa-Lobo. The classical guitarist's fingers were amazing and I enjoyed the soprano too.
Churches & sculptures
We visited lots of old churches and saw lots of religious sculptures. Aleijadinho seems to have done most of the stuff here and as a result he's famous in Brazil. His story is impressive: he had leprosy or something that ate his fingers so he strapped hammers and chisels to his hands and continued working.
Picture of famous church
Today, we hopped on a bus to a smaller town for a mine tour. We took a cable car down into the huge mine, learned about the geology of the area, saw a nice underground lake, and practiced panning for gold. Gosh, it takes a long time to extract just a little bit of gold dust.
Mining photo
More churches at Mariana
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