Lessons I learned in Ouro Preto, one of the prettiest cities in the state of Minas Gerais: frats do exist in Brazil, the Portuguese are obsessed with churches, and you can not walk up cobblestone hills in flip flops.
Ouro Preto (Black Gold) was founded by the Portuguese in the 17th century and was the site of a Gold rush in the 18th century. The Europeans used the wealth from the gold mines to create a baroque city full of beautiful churches, like the Church of St Francis of Assis seen above.
Inside of the churches are elaborate statues and wall carvings covered in gold leaf. The altars shimmer and sparkle.
The streets are all paved in cobblestone and on steep slopes. Walking up and down the hills is a serious workout, so the residents have to eat lots of meat, rice, and beans for energy.
Almost all of the stores and houses have preserved their colonial architecture. I was obsessed with the colorful windows, porches, and vintage store signs.
After spending hours photographing all the adorable stores, we visited an old gold mine. We all had to wear hard hats and hair nets in case the mine ceiling collapsed. Luckily there were no Chilean style accidents.
Leah inside the mine, while the guide told us the history of the African slaves who were forced to mine for gold.
I was kind of a fan, despite the cold. Click below to see the man who almost cut off his hand, waterfalls, and Brazilian fraternity houses.
Ouro Preto is famous for its Soap Stone handicrafts. A market in the center of the city sells anything you could every want in soap stone: clocks, piggy banks, chess sets, etc.
We visited the factory where they cut the soap stone into designs. As you can see, the guy wore no gloves while using this giant cutting blade. All I could think of is how this would break all environmental, health, and safety standards in the U.S.
The Christ the Redeemer statue I bought.
As promised, a photo of a Brazilian frat house. Ouro Preto is one of the only cities in Brazil that has frat houses, aka repúblicas, for university students to live in.
We entered one and it was pretty barebones compared to the mansions of Greek Row at USC, but they have similar traditions: hazing, huge parties, and secret rituals.
Later we took an old train to Mariana, a nearby village that had waterfalls and even more churches. Mainly I added this photo because I wanted there to be a photo of Andrew on my blog.
Waterfall on the way to Mariana.
Two churches in Mariana. We also went to another church to listen to an organ performance. While we were waiting, our program director tried to keep us cheerful by buying us Ice Cream. The ice cream in Ouro Preto is 75% cheaper than São Paulo, making it a winning city in my book. Afterwards, we went shopping for homemade cachaça, special truffles, and post cards before heading back on the 14 hour bus ride to São Paulo, aka my home. Good times.
