I am guessing that most people do not have Belo Horizonte on their Brazil list. Belo Horizonte is the capital of the Minas Gerais region and is home to a family member from my previous life. The last au pair I had for the kids in 2004 was a young Brazilian named Cristiani. The kids adored Cristiani and she lived with us in the States for a year. When we were planning the trip to Brazil, I knew Cristiani would kill me if we did not visit her. Initially, she lived in Sao Paolo which would have been a much easier visit but she had moved to Belo several years ago. When we landed in Belo, we found the rental car counter without issue and headed on our way. Our hotel was in the center of Belo and traffic was a nightmare. The drivers in Belo either go 100 mph or 5 mph….no in-between. Belo also has a split highway so instead of having normal off ramps in downtown, we had to turn right onto a side street, take a left and another left then wait at a redlight, cross over the incoming traffic lane to the outgoing traffic lane and then take a right into our hotel parking lot. Good times. Other than arriving and leaving, our hotel was very convenient. It was located next to an area full of restaurants so we headed out to get dinner. The menu was beyond me and I was too tired to figure it out so I just ordered a hamburger. Bill was trying to figure out what things were on the menu with Google translate. He typed in one of the items on the menu and Google translated it to “Something F*@k” which entertained us greatly!
The next morning, we headed over to see Cristiani and her family. I was Cristiani’s age last time we saw each other so it was fun to see her in the heyday of parenthood with her own two girls. We talked for several hours and then she took us to see her tennis club. A few years ago, Cristiani started playing Beach Tennis which is the fastest growing sport in the world right now. Since Belo did not have any Beach Tennis facilities (Belo is landlocked), she and her husband started a beach club which has been very successful! So successful that her husband’s company has partnered with them to open a new facility that has Beach Tennis and a restaurant. I was very proud of them! After our tour, we went for a traditional Brazilian lunch, Feijoada and Caipirinha. Feijoada is a bean and meat stew served with rice and Caipirinha is Brazil’s national drink made from cachaca. Minas Gerais is known as the food region of Brazil and our lunch did not disappoint. Following lunch, Cristiani, Bill and I went to tour the Laphina Caves which were a short distance from her house. The cave was rediscovered in 1835 and housed the remains of a 10,000 year old skeleton. Our tour was in Portuguese but we had Cristiani to translate and the caves were beautiful. We rounded out our visit with Cristiani with a promise to visit her after the weekend before we flew back to Colombia. The next morning, we headed out of Belo in search of Inhotim. Inhotim was a botanical garden and art museum all rolled into one. Inhotim was located on top of a mountain and along the way, we got our first taste of traffic in the mining region. Trucks loaded with coal rumbled along in a line as far as we could see. Passing on the roads was limited so it took all our patience to take our place in line and chug up the mountain. When we arrived at Inhotim, we walked down the first trail and discovered pretty quickly that the gardens were going to appeal to us far more than the art. The art was all modern art which has never held any interest for us. The grounds were beautiful and we spent several hours wandering around taking pictures. Leaving Inhotim, we joined back into the truck line to meander our way to Ouro Preto. Ouro was a UNESCO site and had been the center of the gold rush back in the 1700s. Our hotel was located in the historic area which meant one way streets that no one considered one way. After a few missed turns and turn arounds, we found our hotel which had an amazing view of the entire town. Churches were in every direction and we headed out to explore. The good news was the walk was all downhill. The bad news was we knew we had to eventually come back up the hill! We managed to catch two churches before they closed for the day and then we walked uphill to the main square to eat dinner. When our order arrived, dish after dish was placed on the table and we were very glad we had decided to split a meal because there was so much food! The following morning, we woke to a horrible smell in our bathroom. It smelled as if an animal had died in the drain so we opened all the windows, shook off the smell and headed to breakfast. Breakfast in Brazil was an event. Every breakfast bar had at least a dozen different kinds of pastries, scrambled eggs, bacon,sausage, rice, potatoes, cereals, fruits, meats and cheeses. If you do not eat carbohydrates, stay out of Brazil! We needed our carbs because the day’s schedule consisted of at least 4 more churches and lots of hills. Our final meal in Ouro Preto was fondue! Minas Gerais was known for its’ cheese and the fondue was top notch! We finished off our meal with a pot of chocolate fondue which filled us up for the rest of the day. The next day, we started our drive back to Belo. Along the way, we had three major annoyances….dump trucks, bad drivers and speed bumps. In the Minas region, there were speed bumps stuck in random areas and sometimes in the middle of the highway with no warning. It was a dangerous and annoying situation. We nicknamed the region “Speedbumpolis” in honor of the speedbumps. After a long and torturous 3 hours, we reached our hotel near the Belo airport and headed over to the Beach Tennis club to say goodbye to Cristiani. We watched her give some tennis lessons and then she called me onto the sand for a lesson. I actually did better than I thought I would and it was very similar to badminton which was always my best (and only) sport. After lots of hugs, we said our goodbyes to Cristiani and headed back to the hotel. Our wake up call was at 4am for our 5 hour flight back to Bogota. As we boarded the plane, a screaming toddler boarded as well. I hung onto the thought that no child could keep up that amount of screaming for 5 hours….I was wrong. After a flight from hell, we changed planes in Bogota, checked back into the country and caught our one hour flight into Cartagena. Our Brazil trip was one to remember! As with all of life’s adventures, my Galt adventure must come to an end. It is with a grateful heart that I thank all of you for following along these past years. I have lived the life of pirates and mermaids. I have encountered Mother Nature at her gentlest and her most ferocious. I have sailed the seas and trekked into undiscovered countries. As I head back to the responsibilities of life on land, I carry with me the most amazing memories. I encourage all of you to take chances in life and live your dream. As Bill’s father used to say, “Life is not a dress rehearsal. You only get one shot.” Take your shot and may your adventures lead you to discover your best self. This is Golf-Oscar-November-Echo-Golf-Alpha-Lima-Tango signing off!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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