An Argentinean friend told me few weeks ago that one of the differences between people from Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro when getting on the bus was that while people from Buenos Aires tend to seat alone always possible, Cariocas tend to look for companion, so they can have conversation with somebody. I totally agree.
I was a bit reluctant to go to Rio de Janeiro as it is very common to hear news about the lack of safety. Once I was there, I completely forgot about safety and I really enjoyed Rio. 60% of Rio´s area are green, combined with wonderful beaches and people. My visit had some French influence as the hostel, which I really recommend, were I stayed was run by a French guy and part of the guests were French too.. I enjoyed the Forro and samba music as well as some caipirinhas I had with some of the members of Hospitality Club and Couch Surfing in Rio.
I have personally discovered part of the good work of the Brasilian arquitect Oscar Nyemeyer. Next to Rio de Janeiro (Niterói) I visited the recently inaugurated Popular Theatre characterised for it circular shapes, which seem to be motivated for one of the Mr. Niemeyer’s passions: women. Last time that he got married was two years ago when he was 98 years old. I saw another piece of his work in the last place I visited in Brazil – Pampulha (Belo Horizonte). I specially liked São Francisco de Assis church. This church was inaugurated few years after it was build due to the ideological differences between the Brazilian church and Mr. Nyemayer.
One of the main reasons for to visit Brasil this time was the hospitality of my friend Pedroca whom I met in New Zealand few months ago and invited me to come to his village. Tiradentes is a Portuguese colonial village which was very important in the pass due to the amount of gold it had. Now is Brazilian’s National Heritage and therefore kept very much as it was in the past. This is a place with a lot of artists who came from all different places of Brazil as well as from abroad. If visiting it, you should not miss Restaurante Aluarte, where home made pizzas are very delicious. Pedroca, on his day off took me to Bichino, a very small and special village which has very beautiful and unique crafts.
On my way to Belo Horizonte I stoped over at other village called Ouro Preto. This is of similar style as Tiradentes, but a biger town and used to be the capital of Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte).
I was a bit reluctant to go to Rio de Janeiro as it is very common to hear news about the lack of safety. Once I was there, I completely forgot about safety and I really enjoyed Rio. 60% of Rio´s area are green, combined with wonderful beaches and people. My visit had some French influence as the hostel, which I really recommend, were I stayed was run by a French guy and part of the guests were French too.. I enjoyed the Forro and samba music as well as some caipirinhas I had with some of the members of Hospitality Club and Couch Surfing in Rio.
I have personally discovered part of the good work of the Brasilian arquitect Oscar Nyemeyer. Next to Rio de Janeiro (Niterói) I visited the recently inaugurated Popular Theatre characterised for it circular shapes, which seem to be motivated for one of the Mr. Niemeyer’s passions: women. Last time that he got married was two years ago when he was 98 years old. I saw another piece of his work in the last place I visited in Brazil – Pampulha (Belo Horizonte). I specially liked São Francisco de Assis church. This church was inaugurated few years after it was build due to the ideological differences between the Brazilian church and Mr. Nyemayer.
One of the main reasons for to visit Brasil this time was the hospitality of my friend Pedroca whom I met in New Zealand few months ago and invited me to come to his village. Tiradentes is a Portuguese colonial village which was very important in the pass due to the amount of gold it had. Now is Brazilian’s National Heritage and therefore kept very much as it was in the past. This is a place with a lot of artists who came from all different places of Brazil as well as from abroad. If visiting it, you should not miss Restaurante Aluarte, where home made pizzas are very delicious. Pedroca, on his day off took me to Bichino, a very small and special village which has very beautiful and unique crafts.
On my way to Belo Horizonte I stoped over at other village called Ouro Preto. This is of similar style as Tiradentes, but a biger town and used to be the capital of Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte).
My original plan was to stay one full day at Belo Horizonte before flying to Sao Paolo. The warm hospitality of the people I met made me to stay few more days. I practiced some portoñolo (language between Portugues and Spanish) and really enjoyed from a city which is not highly ranked by the Lonely Planet guide, and may be this is one of the reason why I liked it. I discovered a type of bars called boteco, which are very simple and modest, but with a very special character. I went to one of them my last night, it was located in the village called Sabara, near Belo Horizonte. I do not remember its name, but it was located next to the slaves´ church (during the colonial times it was very common to have different churches for people from different social classes).
The trip from Belo Horizonte until Quebec (Canada) where I am at the moment visiting my friend Ysabelle (I met her in Madrid last year while she was taking Spanish at the university in Madrid) was a bit difficult. I had some problems with Gol when trying to pay with my credit card. Then, I had problems finding space when trying to catch the flight between Sao Paolo and Montreal. Although in the end I was very lucky and I managed to travel in business class for lack of economy class seats. The last segment Montreal-Quebec was by bus. I had just left Brazil and I just realised that people talked less onboard the bus.
