Minas Gerais

You probably have not heard of Minas Gerais, but it is the Brazilian state right above the state of Rio. After a 20 hour bus ride from Floripa, I arrived in Belo Horizonte, Brazil´s 3rd largest city. Belo is not a tourist city - it is as local as it gets - and that is one of the reasons I wanted to go there. It is known for its 14,000 bars. This is no exaggeration. Most are botecas or small outside bars with the plastic chair setup. Lucky for me, the month of April is Comida de Butoca, a competition where 41 of the bars in Belo compete against each other in a variety of categories. This means that every night is party in Belo in April (though I think this goes for most of the year). My second night there I met some locals at a boteca and I ended up shooting pool at one of their houses before we went out to some more botecas. The people all over Brazil, and especially in Belo, are just incredibly friendly. Thankfully, some (but not most) of the people in Belo speak English. My basic spanish is getting me by though because it is so similar to Portuegese. But just barely - I brought my camera in because it was broken and you should have seen me explain what was wrong with it.

Anyway, I left Belo Horizonte and arrived in Ouro Preto today, an old school colonial town set in the mountains and just two hours from Belo. I feel like I am living in the past as I walk through the streets here. Just amazing. Tomorrow night I am off to Rio, my final destination. I just do not know how I am going to live without my daily Acai juice when I get back to the States. Next post from Rio!