Boa Noite again from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. I know I stated that I would catch everyone up on the week in my last post, but I didn't have time to include my weekend activities. On Saturday, we were lucky enough to convince Jefferson to come with us and serve as our guide to a local park called Estrada Real, which means "Royal Park" and through the historical town of Ouro Preto.
As we entered the town of Ouro Preto, you could hear all of the awes and oos since just about everyone became silent and started snapping pictures. The historical town is just amazing! It sits in the countryside, which is very mountainous meaning the houses and cascaded up and down the mountain making quite the view for you from afar and within the town itself. As we entered the town, Jefferson informed us he was taking us to "heaven". No one really knew what that meant at first. But we soon realized what he meant when we continued to drive up a very steep path through a very narrow road. We were now all joking that maybe he was referring to the place as "heaven" because we are all going to get killed when the van tips over the sharp drop off the side of the very narrow road. I was even scared and I come from Denver, Colorado and drive up mountain roads all the time. But this was very different.
We finally made it to the top called "heaven" and it was so beautiful. One of the main things Jefferson pointed out was how a main source of natural mineral water originated up here. We even saw a water truck up there filling its tank with the natural pure water to run back to BH (Belo Horizonte) for drinking. I guess the water is very pure and could be drank on-site without any further purification. Not too quite sure about that. I wasn't about to go to the spring and drink the water myself. Don't really need to be sick for the next two weeks! Anyways, we didn't even realize the best part was yet to come. Jefferson guided us down the path of the stream through the rocks to a cave. We took off our shoes and socks and climbed down a ladder to a pool of water. As we walked through the cave in the pool of water, Jefferson guided us to the most amazing waterfall. It wasn't the best I have seen, but I have never seen anything like this before. Something so natural, so pure, so quite, and so cavern. Pictures will follow in my next post.
Next, we made our way into the town. Ouro Preto means "Black Gold" in Portuguese. The town was formed as a mining town and became the capital of Minas Gerais back in the day. Minas Gerais is the state in which Belo Horizonte is located in Brazil. The town is located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains and is now a listed as a world heritage site. The town is just absolutely amazing when it comes to architecture and history. The old royal palace is located there. We took a tour and got to see everything from where they manufactured the money to all of the different rooms and quarters to the basement where the slaves where kept. By far, that was the saddest part of the tour. I couldn't believe the conditions, stories, and artifacts they had which informed you of how the slaves where treated back then. No photos were allowed (probably because they are ashamed) of this area. So, I have nothing to show you. Sorry! I do have a few pictures of the town and the palace, though. If I would used one town to remember Brazil by, it would be this town.
On Sunday, our client Joanne and Arubio invited our whole team over for hiking through Jardim Canada and a large lunch feast at their house in the afternoon. I can speak for everyone when I say their house is amazing! It sits in a private gated community located in the mountains. The view from their porch alone was absolutely gorgeous! I felt right at home being from Colorado. We started off the day with a2-3 hour hike through the mountains. When we reached the halfway point at a waterfall, Arubio even got me to do a little bouldering up a rock face. We both took a turn and did very well. Lots of smiles and laughs were exchanged. That is all we needed even though I speak English and Arubio speaks Portuguese. A moment I will remember for quite some time. For me, another amazing part of the hike was the constant weather change. At one point it was sunny. At another, it was rainy. The rain clouds or mist were so close and would move through in an instant. You could literally see the moving through the valley so quickly, which was very cool!
After the hike, we went back to Joanne and Arubio's home where we proceeded to put together quite the feast. We had everything from traditional Brazilian food to foods from everyone's home country. It was quite delicious. I think my favorite part, though, was the kegarator they had. I guess Brazilians like to party the same way we do. A kegarator is just as awesome for them as it is for us! After eating, we all sat in chairs and enjoy the afternoon on their deck. Just relaxing and enjoying a few laughs. We stayed there all the way until the sunset. I wish I would have taken more pictures with my phone to easily share with you, but I was so relaxed, I didn't really think of it. By the time we went home, everyone was exhausted. But it was a good exhausted. I could tell everyone enjoyed themselves and really needed some time away from the city and bit of peace and quite to help get them ready for the next week of work ahead.
Based on the amazing weekend I had this week, I can't wait for the next. Plans are already in the works to visit more parks, waterfalls, and even an amazing art museum. More to come!
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