Ouro Preto

Well, it's cold and rainy here, but very gorgeous! The historic center seems to have pictures at every turn. The lighting was questionable- not having stark lighting conditions resulted in more even tones, but I felt like the vibrancy was wiped out of everything.

We took a taxi-cab to UFOP campus to meet the director of medicine, but her office was apparently back in the City Center. After rescheduling with the medical department for tomorrow, Dan, who had to work, sent me back to the city center in a another taxi-cab. I spent the early afternoon working and sorting out computer business- oh, and buying new shoes- turns out, in addition to being cold, it's very hilly here and the soapstone gets slippery. Tennis shoes (or equivalents) are a must! I spent the rest of the day walking around, taking photos, eating at a GREAT chocolate shop (they had REAL chocolate- with whiskey!!! :D), talking to a guy selling yarn!! (first place I've seen it in Brazil- it's apparently manufactured in Rio Grande do Sul?) and visiting the local museum of Conspiracy- dedicated to the revolutionaries of the 1790's.

Ouro Preto has an interesting, if not sad, history. As a site of the purest gold mining, it was one of the main reasons for the slave trade in Brazil (and the economic booms in Portugal and England which led to the industrial revolution). As such, the mountain overlooking the city is reportedly home to 700,000 corpses- African slaves who died in the mines. There's also a significant amount of environmental degradation (and problems with landslides, etc.) as mining has continued- I guess it's mostly bauxite for the production of aluminum. Oh Brazil, what will we do with you? There are so many questions here.