Ouro Preto

Our first weekend in Brasil was spent at a picturesque and hilly town that has decided to remain in the 18th century. Situated in the state of Minas Gerais, Ouro Preto was established as a gold mining town. It generated much of Brasil's gold, and today is designated as a World Heritage site by UNESCO for its baroque churches, of which there are many. In fact, and I am not kidding - there is an exquisite church with extravagant gold covered sculpture and relief work every 500 yards or so. Several of the churches have stunning facades by Aleijadinho, Brasil's own Michelangelo, the son of a Portuguese architect and a slave. All buildings in Ouro Preto are required to preserve the look of the town, so the entire town looks straight out of a fairytale, complete with cobblestone streets.

We explored many of the churches in town, including the Matriz de Nossa Senhora do Pilar (Mother Church of Our Lady of Pilar) boasting 434 kg of gold in its ornamentation, and the Igreja de Sao Francisco de Assis (Church of St. Francisco of Assisi). The facades on the churches, and the design of the churches themselves were stunning, but the excessively gory, sanguinary sculptures in their interior were a bit creepy. Historically, all the mining in town was done by slaves imported from Africa (yes, they treated them like goods), since large indigenous populations were wiped out by disease or were hunted down by the early European settlers. We were surprised to learn that 40 percent of the slaves taken to the 'new world' were brought to Brasil. One of the colonial houses preserved in town showcases various devices employed by slave owners to manage their slaves. Even though we theoretically knew of the horror of slavery, it was stomach-churning to see the wrought iron handcuff-cum-ankle-cuff chains, neck-chains, dead weights, and awful living conditions that they were subjected to. However, at the gold mine closest to our hostel, we learned about the story of Chico Rei, a slave who bought freedom for himself and his family by mining lots of gold. At this gold mine, we were also treated like celebrities by a group of 17 year old school boys on a field trip, who were thrilled to learn we were from India and wanted to take photographs with us! We felt a little sheepish, but were happy to oblige. Apparently a hugely popular soap opera aired recently in Brasil was based upon Indian people. Mental note to self - find out more about this soap opera and watch it! We learned more about this soap opera at our stay in Sao Paulo (next stop).

We were fortunate to chance upon a musical performance in the Museu do Oratorio (museum of oratories), right next to the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (the Church of Our Lady..not sure what 'do Carmo' means). A soprano (soprano), flute (Cravo), and a harpsichord (traverso barroco) trio performed a series of classical pieces by Bach, Handel, Telemann, and Schutz. The performance was held in a small space in the museum, and we were happy to be a part of the tiny audience that would fit. All explanations and other announcements were entirely lost on us, as they were made in Portuguese. But the music held us spellbound.

There was a delicious chocolaterie in town whose cafe specialty was a twist on cappucinos.
Our hostel was clean and comfortable and had a stunning open air, rooftop kitchen. We cooked dinner one night, and thoroughly enjoyed the views of the hillsides all around us, with baroque churches and cobblestone streets peppering the landscape.

Our Portuguese improves with our increased ability to rapidly find things in the phrase book! We are now able to make purchases at local grocery stores, describe how we want our coffee, and explain to people that we speak very little Portuguese.

I have to end this post with a nod to Pao de Queijo (literally "bread of cheese"), a Minas Gerais specialty which just melts in your mouth when eaten fresh from the oven!