Teaching My Way Through Brazil: Ouro Preto

Day 1:

I walked downtown to find a bakery and bought some pão de queijo. I ate as I took an hour stroll through the municipal city park just to enjoy it one last time. It was beautiful, but lots of homeless people though, so it was a brisk stroll. I collected my things and checked out of the hostel. I got to the bus station and bought a ticket for the 10 am bus, and they still had several tickets available for the bus even an hour before. Evidently there is a bus between Belo to Ouro Preto every hour with the bus company Passaro Verde. Now that I knew the rodoviaria better, I knew to stay on the main terminal side and take the steps down by the specific letter platform. The bus ride was about 2 hours through the mountains of Minas Gerais, and it stopped at some small towns along the way.

I got to the rodoviária in Ouro Preto, and it was on top of the hill overlooking the city. There are no ubers in the city, and limited taxis, but I thought it was very walkable everywhere if you’re ok with hills. I stopped by a church on the hill as I started my trek down towards the city center. Luckily, the walk to the city center was downhill, but that meant an uphill trek on the way back at the end of the trip.

It was one road to take to arrive at Praça Tiradentes, the main square, and it was a lot less built up on the square then I expected. All of the shops were on the streets branching off from the main square. My general conclusion is that it reminds me a lot of Cuzco, especially with the layout and cobblestone roads.

I found my hostel, Uai Hostel, on one of the side streets and the workers were interesting and friendly. It was about a 3 minute walk off from the main square, and tucked into a less busy part of town. During my checkin tour, I found out that the building was 200 year old and the hostel was definitely what I paid for $10 a night. It was nice, but the breakfast was a simple bread and coffee, and I stayed in a seven person dorm room.

Once I got settled, I went to explore the town! I first went to the artisanal fair and bought some soapstones, a stone soap holder, and a painted plaque. The fair is permanently set up, and although most popular from Tuesday-Saturday, it still had some workers Sunday and Monday. I discovered that OP is really well known for their carved and painted stone products. The prices were really reasonable depending on the stand you went to and bargaining skills, but I got 7 souvenirs for 50 reais total. Next, I ventured into some of the side street shops and bought some postcards. After trekking around the hills with the stone I had just bought, I decided to drop off the heavy stones back at the hostel. Onto exploring again, and I let myself get lost amongst the cobblestone roads. I went on top of the hill over Praça Tiradentes to the Educação de Minas museum, but it cost money to get in and I decided to just take in the view from the lookout instead.

I met up with addison (another Fulbright) and gustavo at a cafe called Cafetelier, which was most on the outskirts of the bustling part of town. We chatted and then went to another overlook with a wall to sit on and see the churches and houses below. As the golden hour was approaching, we walked to a morro with a view of the city as the sun set. The churches glowed and sun reflected on the mountains. We headed back into town and stopped at the Casa dos Contos Art exhibition and museum. There were some beautiful paintings from artists from all over Brasil, and it was free to get in.

Afterwards, I split ways with Addison and Gustavo. I got a little lost, but made my way to a free beer festival that was happening at the convention center. There was a band playing Bon Jovi covers, and I enjoyed an artisanal beer from Acururi brewery. I found a lanchonete called Satellite on the way back and ate a burger with cheese, bacon, egg, lettuce, corn, and a tomato on it. It was the perfect late night snack food. By 9 pm I was back to the hostel, showered, and called it an early night.

Passing some communities during the bus ride to OP

The first church sighting after leaving the rodoviaria

The one downhill road to the center city

And the second church sighting

OP is famous for their cobblestone roads and churches upon hills

I walked through Praca Tiradentes to get to my hostel

Shops lined the streets that branch out from the main square

Yet another church, and the artesanal fair

A closer look into the large amounts of stone sold there

Interestingly, this door only opens for two days of the year on religious holidays

A closer look into the clock tower in the Praca de Tiradentes

Parts of the city were festive for Festa Junina

A view from the Educação de Minas museum on the hillside

The community definitely changed appearance as you left the center city

The golden hour and view of a church from atop the morro

The beer festival didn't have too large of a turnout, but the band was decent

Artesanl local beer

This might not look like a burger, but it's in there somewhere

thank you to Addison and his Iphone for these portrait photos

Day 2:

Waking up in the morning, I was on the top bunk and I was afraid to step down onto the person’s bed, so I stayed in bed until she got up. Hostel uai had a really simple breakfast of bread, crackers, and coffee, so afterwards I went to grab some snacks. I went across the street and bought some caipira donuts, Hungarian cookies, and cheese bread. I got about seven items for seven reais, and it was a nice snack as I walked about the town.

I went to two of the further out churches and climbed the long hill to the one that was open and having a service. Inside was beautiful with gold and blue paintings and trimming around the walls and ceiling. I sat in on the service for a few minutes, but them a band planning in the distance caught my attention. This wasn’t just a simple band, but a big band with most sections of instruments present. I rushed down to find where they were performing. The answer was all downtown. They were marching through the streets and had a mix of children to elderly playing everything from Tuba, drums, clarinet, and trumpet. Seeing them and me inexplicably happy, and I followed them through the streets during their set.

I had planned to meet up with another OP Fulbright for a day of hiking, so I went back to my hostel to pack. John and I met up in the downtown area and then went to Mr. Chef for a 20 reais buffet livre. We chatted and ate lunch, then waited for the bus to go to São Sebastião. I applaud the bus drivers in OP- I could never do it. The roads are narrow, winding, and steep. Some places two cars couldn’t pass through, and one car had to back up to a side road for the other to pass. It was a long winding road up through a favela-like community, and the difference between the downtown area to the outskirts of town and their structure was enormous.

We got off right by a green fence, which leads to the start of the trek to Andorinhas waterfalls. John and I chatted all along the way and he was so easy to get along with and talk about our world travels. It was about a 20 minute walk to the official start of the trail, which was marked by a yellow fence. There were also bathrooms at the trailhead. The first lookout was called alligator lookout, named for the giant rock formation. Evidently a lot of people jump the fence and take a picture on it, but I’m glad I didn’t since a firefighter was walking down the trail as we were leaving the spot. The trail has a succession of 3 waterfalls. The first, you pass through some rock crevices and the waterfall is in a dark pit. It looked too precarious to me, and I didn’t like the idea of it being a dark cave. So, we didn’t climb the ladder down, nor swim there. The second waterfall was my favorite and there were two waterfalls to it, one with more water flow and the other in more of a nook which was nice to dip under. It was very chilly, but I’m accustomed to Jersey water. The last waterfall was more of a lookout on top of the waterfall, and you could see the mountains with a beautiful panoramic view. As we exited the trail, we arrived at the bus stop in Sao Sebastião, where they had an event with music and food trucks.

I got back to OP, tidied up, and took the bus to mariana to see ETAs david and Addison. I ended up waiting about 30-40 minutes for the bus since they run less frequently on Sundays. It was about a 30 minute bus ride for 3.70 reais to the neighboring town, and I’m sad I didn’t at least go spend a morning in Mariana to see the other churches and small town vibes. Addison grabbed me at the bus stop and we ran into two of his friends as we headed to David’s apartment. David made some phenomenal pizza from scratch! It’s a Sunday tradition for the two Fulbrights to have Sunday dinner together, which I adore. I took the 10 pm bus back, since the last one was supposed to run around 11 pm, but I didn’t want to risk it. Even with being alone at night, it was a pretty safe feeling town.

Good for breakfast: a chocolate and coconut roll, "caipira" donuts, a cheese bread, and sweet biscuit

The church that was right beside my hostel

A quick selfie, since traveling alone requires those occasionally

A mood in itself. It looks like it could be the setting of a horror story as the clouds roll in

The Festa Junina decorations added the perfect touch

A small bridge on the outskirts of the central part of town

The trek up to it was straight uphill

Although it doesn't look like much from the outside, the inside is amazing!

The decorations and designs were beautiful

One of the steepest hikes up to a church with another church right below it

This was the moment I caught them along their route

Following the band through town

The first small waterfall along the trail

Goregeous Minas Gerais mountains

Alligator rock

The second waterfall with two water spouts

My hiking buddy for the day and guide- John

The event on top of São Sebastião at the bus stop

Day 3:

I spent the morning eating more goodies that I had bought from the bakery, and I tried some different ones. I walked up to the last church I hadn’t been to yet. It was a beautiful church on top of a very steep hill. It was so steep that I couldn’t imagine driving or parking on it. The church was closed on Monday, but there was a beautiful outlook of the city. I headed back to Praca de Tiradentes and wrote a bunch of postcards for friends and family as I sat up on the big center square monument. I packed up all my things and walked back to the rodoviaria with rocks in my sack.

I took the 3 pm bus to Belo, knowing that my bus out of Belo was at 7 pm and buses normally run late. Thank goodness I did because we didn’t arrive at the rodoviaria in Belo until 5:45 pm. I wish that I had just taken the bus back to Brasilia from Mariana instead of Belo, but I saved about $20 usd by doing a roundtrip bus in and out of Belo. It was a long journey home. The total time was 3 pm to 8 am. The bus stopped every hour or two throughout the night, so I didn’t sleep much. On a positive note, because the bus left at 7:15 pm it was a less busy bus and I got the seat next to me free to spread out.

My pastry breakfast, which I worked off with all of the walking. The cookie was surprisingly really good! I also enjoyed the bread with gioabada melted into it