Black Gold in Minas Gerais
Trip Start
Jul 02, 2009
1
3
33
Trip End
Jun 28, 2010
Ouro Preto, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
A snakeoily UK estate agent (apologies for the tautology) would describe the terrain as 'undulating' but for the rest of us it's just plain steep. One of more bizarre objects that I saw there was a large metal spider (actually a Black Widow) in the Praça Tiradentes (named for a dentist who was hung, drawn and quartered, presumably for a root canal that was too long or too slow). I photographed this for an Argentine friend in Florida whose 'pet' spider Gloria was at the time munching her way through a series of suitors. The nearby town of Mariana (even older than Ouro Preto) is easily visited on a day trip and you can do a mine tour (not for the claustrophobic or obese) on the way.
I'll be returning to Ouro Preto in November and am already looking forward to catching up with my Brazilian friends at BrazMedChem. Unfortunately Onkel Hugo won't be coming but at least that means more picanhas and caipirinhas for the rest of us.
Comments
Beautiful town!
This is a great place and I was lucky enough to return there late in 2010 because they held the Brazilian Medcinal Chemisty conference there.