We left Ouro Preto exactly as we found it - with a cup of coffee and coxinha at the bus station. The bus to Belo Horizonte was pretty straight forward, and we arrived atthe rodoviaria just about on time and with high spirits. We had about an hour to wait for our connecting bus to Salvador and so I stayed with the bags while Alex went in search of a supermarket and snacks for our journey. During my wait I encountered a little old man who sat next to me and started unpacking a little fish bowl and two fish in a bag, which he then put within th fish bowl and showed me! He also had fish food and plastic plants to complete the set up. He told me that he´s going to Salvador on 5th September to visit his son, and also he loves Belo Horizonte, and Jesus. He asked Jesus to protect him and I, which was nice. Unfortunately, it was´t enough.

With 10 minutes to go Alex came running back having been held up in the Brazilian supermarket queues. We thought it prudent to check we were stood in the right place, so enquired at the information desk. 5 mins to go and he was telling us we were in the wrong place, but that he also speaks french, taking just about forever to direct across the rodoviraria to another platform. We ran there, but there was no bus. Luckily a nice ticket-man for another company pointed out to us that we were, in fact, atthe wrong bus station. With 2 minutes to go we accepted our fate... we were going to miss the bus.

The ticket guy took us to the ticket office of our bus company and we managed to change the tickets to the next bus... on Saturday. Alex and I decided to sit down and re-group. It was here that I then knocked into Alex while she was drinking a bottle of water, causing her to squeeze the bottle all over her face and self, thus making a tense situation more tense. Thankfully, she laughed. I left her with the bags and went to see if another company could getus to Salvador tonight. Not happening. In the meantime Alex was looking up what Belo Horizonte (the third biggest city in Brazil) could offer us; in the words of Lonely Planet, not much more than a ´charmless concrete jungle´. Brilliant.

We found the only english speaking person in the bus station at the info desk and she set about finding us a place to stay. Everyone was astoundingly helpful. Even a lady passing by stopped to call a hostel or two. Our englsih-speaker eventually found somewhere for 40 reals just as a German / Austrian couple showed up.... but for the four of us Alex and I would have to share a single bed. Things hadn´t got that desperate yet. Despite the German agreeing to it, we explained that we were here first, so sorry. A lovely taxi man took us to a little pousada, where our host (Eri) was extremely welcoming. He usually only has Brazilian guests in his home, but he took us in quite happily, even offering us a glass of cachaca for which the state is known for. We decided that this was an occasion to be ended in the pub, so we went around the corner to one of a thousand botecas in BH (one thing the city is known for) for a couple of caiprinhas. Slowly the annoyance of the whole event reduced - one of those bloody annoying things that has to happen at some point but is especially annoying since we specifially asked (in our best Portuguese) when we booked the tickets if there was only one bus station in BH. Turns out this bus station is new.

Day 18 - So with two unexpected days in BH, we started the morning finding out what the hell there is to do here. Eri also managed to tear some ancient map from an old book, which was pretty useful in the end. He walked with us a little bit through the ´hospital district´- a vast area of the city full of hospitals and people coming in from the interior to be treated. We spent the morning walking around the new, purpose-built city, calling at the Central Market, which is a bit like St Lawrence market in Toronto, only much crazier and with more animals, religious figurines and shops devoted entirely to protein shakes. Then to a few areas with buildings designed by Niemeyer (when Kurbitscheck was mayor of BH, before he became President and the two of them created Brasilia together). We had lunch at the Praca de Liberdades and watched the maintenance men working especially hard... basically messing about all afternoon.

Spent the afternoon at the municipal park, which had absolutely everything you could ask for: football court, playground, rowing lake, massive trees, bamboo and parrots (party everyday). While we were hanging out Alex remarked how many boyfriends had managed to row their girlfriends under the fountain in the middle of the pond. Moments later, a group of three were rowing (forwards and) ineffectually, doing exactly what Alex had thought of - the poor woman in the front squawking as she was getting soaked, with the other two having no clue how to getthe boat out of that position!

We have only one rule while travelling, and that is to go out every Saturday (even if it´s just for dinner)... in the event that we are on a night bus on a Saturday night, we have to go out on Friday. So, back to the pousada and into our party outfits (we have one each, and mine is borrowed from Alex) and got a taxi to Savassi. The journey was absurdly congested - something I blame the diagonal streets and 6-way intersections for - and our driver seemed to be going through his phone book calling all his friends, one after the other. Eventually we arrived, at a 6-way intersection with open air botecas and live music on each branch. We settled on one boteca and shared a fish moqueca (bahian dish with coconut milk), cervejas and caiprinhas. The whole place was busy, and at one point an American - Christopher - gave us flyers for english lessons, and when we responded to say we were english, he found it so brilliant he just had to join us!

Day 19 - Once we were up and moving we walked in the direction of the city´s largest park (Parque do Mangabeiras) that is situated on a hill above the city; on the way helping an old man to cross a very pedestrian-unfriendly road, and purchasing some juice / milkshakes. Atthe park we walked to the edge of the entrance plaze, expecting a view of the city. Instead, below us was a huge expanse of picnicking families and wild children. Avoiding that area, we went in search of a shaded, grassy spot and view of the city; an hour later we emerged at the bottom of the park having found neither of those things.

Taxi to a plaza near our hostel for that long awaited shady relaxation and then to a mall to stack up on snacks (seemingly all those BHers not in the park were in the mall) and a per kilo lunch in a nearby boteca. While we were enjoying our daily cerveja we saw a little monkey running along the telephone wires, like a squirrel! We prepared to say our goodbyes to Eri and BH - an unexpected and pleasant off-itinerary experience.

At the (correct) bus station we arrived nice and early. no way were we going to miss this one. I went in search of a lanchonette (snack bar), which was right atthe end of the stationa and beyond, returning with two coffees and shouting sucorro (help!) to Alex as I continued to spill them both down me. The bus arrived and we got on (yey)... as well as many other passengers with disproportionate amounts of luggage with them (including a strimmer and a waist-height model pylon). Before the bus departed the driver came on and described presumably the journey in Portuguese. As he walked off we asked for it ´en ingles´, which made him smile. We were in good spirits.