San Diego Belo Horizonte Hotel

Saí do Rio de Janeiro e parti para Belo Horizonte, no estado de Minas Gerais.
Estive no municipio de Formiga, onde nasceu minha mãe e depois fui para BH visitar Rogério e Daiane. Um casal de minissionários amigos meus. Rogério trabalha com um ministério infantil e a Daiane está concluindo a universidade. Ambos estão aguardando o tempo para partir para Moçambique.

... cocktail sensation we invented - essentially a caipharina with fresh passionfruit pulp mixed in - soooo good!), and cook thai curries with the sound of the ocean in the background.

One day we hiked 3 hours to this unbelievable 3km long beach of Playa Lopez Mendes (voted No4 beach in the world), and only 20 or 30 people along its whole length, and then took a schooner back at sunset. Next day we took a speedboat trip (only 6 of us in all) for ...

... with our Aussie 11 on the pitch and immediately the ball was in our defensive half. The boys from CAM have had months of training in the system that the boys were trying to play, together with the benefit of having played and trained together for almost a year. However, with some desperate defence, some good saves, and lots of heart, we were locked at nil all at half time.

CAM had gone to quite a bit of trouble for our match. The training pitch ...

... we find in markets in Australia.

The boys asked to watch the local boys playing futsal and before long it was AFS v a group of local boys aged between about 8 and 14. With AFS resplendant in their uniforms, they looked so much like a team to be reckoned with, but for those of us who have seen Brazilian street soccer before, our money was always going to be on the local boys in their simple yellow bibs, being ...

... the state had dreamed of a capital that would open a new historical chapter. The initiative to wipe the slate clean of Portuguese influence came at the end of the 19th century with the proclamation of the
republic. The first planned modern city in Brazil modeled its streets on the wide avenues of Paris and Washington, and on their circular city centers. In 1893 the head of the state, Afonso Pena, proclaimed the site for the new ...

... green oasis with huge trees, kiddie rides, clowns and musicians and a pond where you can rent a rowing boat and create havoc colliding with other sunday rowers. Belo Horizonte is a city of 2.5 million people and is the capital of the landlocked state of Minas Gerais, just inland of Rio de Janeiro. It is rather a modern city and not really a tourist attraction, but pleasant enough for a day or two.

... about 10 minutes before being let in, the women who answered the door was so unfriendly and rude, I decided that I would spend my money elsewhere, and that anyone hostel so unfriendly did not deserve guests. There were not so many hostels, in the local area, so I sought help in a local cafe, one of the customers, a young guy could speak English and directed me to a hostel in the centre and showed me how to get there on the bus. The part of town, that ...

... walked all around the town in the dark with my backpack advertising to the world I was a lost tourist and I still didn´t once feel threatened or scared! Tough fearless Melanie is back! Yes! As soon as I got to the hostel I crashed but when I woke up I was drenched in sweat and had a headache! Damn it, I was sick! Grrr! I hate being sick! But I refused to believe I was sick so headed out to walk the 4km Avenue Paulista one of the richest streets in the world ...

... Usually the trip back seems to go quicker for some reason. But not with this journey and with every turn up ahead I say, I`m pretty sure that after this bend we`ll be back, but every time I`m ****ing wrong. I figure I`ll just keep saying it as one of these times I`ll be right. I`m more tired than Rip Van Winkle and would love nothing more than to lay down and watch some So You Think You Can Dance reruns. Finally we arrive at the car and I ...

Wednesday November 14th Belo Horizonte The tourist place at the bus station offered an excellent 'What's On' booklet, a decent map, and help in English. Are we still in Brazil ? A hotel a stone's throw from the bus station had a room with a balcony and a radio, at our price. We got rid of 2 days and 2 nights grime in the shower then set off on the hunt for a laundry. The music conservatorium puts on free concerts on Wednesday lunchtimes. Alas ...