Greeting all!

We are currently on the 7 hour bus journey back to Rio after the weekend in Ouro Preto. Both of us are back to full health and in much more positive moods to take on the world :-)!

Ouro Preto is a lovely historic town set in the forested mountains of Brazil. It was built in the 18th century when gold mining in the area boomed and the city grew to almost 100,000 residence, 60% of who were slaves used to work the mines. The residence of the town were extremely religious at the time and one of the unique spectacles of the town is the 11 churches built by the mine owners and rich of the time.

The most famous church is 'Igreja Martiz Nossa Senhora do Pilar' as it is decorated with hundreds of kilos of gold and silver. I have to say despite what I assume to be its astronomical value I found the decoration a bit tacky and too intricate for my liking. Another famous church is 'Igreja Santa Efigenia' which was built by a slave who managed to steal small quantities of gold from the mines over a long period of time and saved enough to free his tribe and build this church.

We had great weather on Saturday and took our own walking tour of all the churches in the town. The town's streets are all extremely steep cobbled hills so we had a good work out. In the evening we went to a restaurant recommended by the guide book, the town map and trip advisor (it had to be good) 'O Passo Pizza Jazz'. The pizza was great and we sat outside listening to a live Brazilian Jazz band and sipping Martini's. It was so good we also ate there on Saturday night.

When we woke up on Sunday we found a cloud had enveloped 'Ouro Preto' so we decided to take the bus to visit one of the local gold mines. This was disappointing and definitely not worth the £15 we paid to get in. We sat on a little carriage, a bit like the ones that takes Harry Potter to the Gringots vaults, and it took us down a rail track underground about 100m. At the bottom we were given a quick 10 minute tour (all in Portuguese) and sent back up again. Hopefully the mines in Bolivia will be better.

One thing I have noticed in Brazil is that there are literally no other English (or Danish) tourists here. Everyone is Brazilian and possibly Portuguese or Spanish (a few from the US in Rio). No one speaks any English and I have hardly seen any other backpackers. I think this must be due to the prices here which, as I mentioned in my earlier blog, are not dissimilar to UK prices. Everyone however assumes I am Brazilian and enjoys speaking to me in Portuguese whilst I stare at them blankly :-)!

Tomorrow we take the transfer from Rio to Ilha Grande for 4 days for my birthday and some beach/Jungle adventures.

I will write again soon.

Alice x