Brazil

Images from our travel to Brazil, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte

Home China Painting Ink and watercolor sketching Jewelry Photos Artwork For Business Brazil 2		We arrived in Sao Paulo, a city filled with 22 Million people.
	Wonderful old architecture.
		Derelict old mansions on Av Paulista, a rare relic of past glories
	And many more modern towers, all with steel gates, electric wire, armed guards and numerous locks and keys.
		With so many people and cars, motorbikes are a necessity for young students and professionals. Impromtu "parking lots" with attendants are a form of safety and enterprise.
	The city is covered with art, much in the form of mural art, intense, bold, imaginative and colorful.
		A wonderful sculpture in a very rare park in Sao Paulo.
	On to Belo Horizonte where we were warmly greeted with a wonderful Brazilian "almoco" or lunch. I have a new appreciation for Brazilian beer.
		Two sisters, Zizinha and Assuncao, matriarchs of wonderful families that welcomed us with open arms and the best hospitality anyone could provide
	Vania, Zizinha's daughter introduced us to Ruy, who became our friend and guide. The first town we visit is Ouro Preto, "Black Gold", a beautifully preserved old mining town in the hills outside of Belo Horizonte.
		We stopped at a gift shop that had a small "Tourist farm"
	Assuncao and I at another gift shop showing the local Brazilian crafts including wooden spoons made from Brazilian hard wood. They are beautiful and inexpensive.
		Ruy and his new Fiat navigated narrow, steep, cobbled roads with ease while we clutched handstraps.
	One of 13 churches in Ouro Preto, filled with the incredible life like drawings and sculpture of Aleijadinho, who would have chisels strapped to his arms when he could no longer use hands destroyed by leprosy.
		Ouro Preto became a city in 1711, and many of the beautiful homes and churches were built with new found gold.
	John and Ruy filling up at a buffet style restaurant. The steaming pots are carved from soapstone with copper bands. The meat was cooked in sauces and the desserts were sugar preserved fruit.
		Up more steep hills to another Igreja and a craft show in the marketplace. Men and donkeys pull large carts to move supplies where trucks cannot go.
	A soapstone carver at work. Much of Ouro Preto was built in the 1700"s with slave labor. When freed, most of them stayed on and some are now the local craftsmen, and guides for their town.
		Near Ouro Preto. Everything is green and lush with great gashes on many hills, the results of mining rich ore and gem deposits.
	The flowers are intensely colored like the golden Ipes tree.
		The Heliconia plant that Brazilians sometimes call the "banana flower". This is a baby plant. We see another at a restaurant that is almost 2 feet in length.
	Back in Belo Horizonte we have a delicious barbecue presented by Assuncao's brother, Azarias Barcelos, and I can't stop eating the meat! We meet Margarete, Wagner and their beautiful daughter Isabela.
		Two days later, Ruy takes us to Vale Verde, a park sustained with the production of Cachaca. It is a Brazilian paradise and also the breeding area for local exotic birds,
	...like the "Borboleta Azul" that come from the south of Brazil near the border with Argentina,
		... and the Cockatiel,
	...and a pair of loving green parrots like the ones flying free outside of Assuncao's home in Carmo. I will never enjoy seeing these parrots alone in cages again.
		A truly majestic bird.
	with a face only a mother could love...
		Assuncao finds a bottle of Cachaca that had been produced many years earlier by her family on their farm.
	Pink and purple orchids grow outside in pots and on trees, including this vanda orchid.
		I want to take this one home with me, but we settle for a bottle of Cachaca and Cachaca liquor.
	After photographing more parrots...
		and more flowers, Ruy takes us to a plant nursury.
	...where I wish I had more battery juice in my camera!
		The next morning, we head out to the museum to discover the agricultural history of Brazil, and Assuncao is our best guide.
	...and I find more flowers to photograph like the Sibipiruna tree flower
		That night we are taken out to one of the finest barbecue restaurants in Belo Horizonte by the family of Zizinha.
	We meet again with Vania's two daughters Rafaela and Ana...
		and Luis...
	an intensely serious young man...
		...who is not afraid to have fun. We are very impressed with both Rafaela and Luis, two young lawyers, the future of Brazil.
	We have also grown fond of Margarete and Wagner both construction engineers who later show us one of the luxury apartment towers Margarite had built.
		We all head to the hills to see Belo Horizonte at night, and take more photos
	...and have asked the family to please come and visit with us in America, as we want to keep them in our lives.
	Tomorrow John leaves for New Jersey, and I join Assuncao on a bus trip to her home in Carmo ....