Brazil: Belo Horizonte

03.09.2013

• Today, like many on this trip, begins with goodbyes as I leave my lovely friends at the El Misty Copacabana hostel. This is the longest I have been in one city continuously since I left Seattle and I am genuinely sad to be leaving, even getting a little misty on the cab ride to the bus station. Thank you, Rio, for an amazing 11 days.  
• The bus ride was much like most. Highlights through the windows included massive termite mounds, and another Christ statue hoovering above a small city (there are many of these scattered through Brazil, Corcovado being the largest and best known). When we finally arrived in Belo Horizonte, my final destination for the day, I was struck by another structure in the distance: the Alta Vila Tower which looks remarkably like the Space Needle back home in Seattle. A taxi ride from the bus station landed me at my new home, All Bags Hostel, where I was greeted by Leo who just opened the space two months ago. He proves my assumptions that owner-managed hostels are the best, cleanest places to stay. I was quickly impressed with my new accommodations (literally, very new) and settled in quickly. 
• After a while resting I was picked up by Priscilla, Poppy, Isadora, and Leo. It was a wellspring of love and hugs that I was happy to dive into - my dear, sweet friends. We took a short driving tour around my new neighborhood and then made our way downtown for food and drinks. We arrived at a chill artists' hangout, the second story of an industrial feeling shopping complex with a row of urban-hip bars and restaurants with balcony seating that overlooks the city's Centro do Referecia da Moda (fashion museum) which looks more like an old cathedral. We were joined by Mariah, a fellow fashion student who had lived in Miami for one year to study English. She's charming and mature and carries herself like a true cosmopolitan woman. She is also in long distance relationship right now, for the third time with the same man with whom she has been physically separated from for nearly four of the six years they have been together. We talked about boys and fashion and life in Brasil. We also talked about social issues in Brasil including child sexual exploitation, differences in poverty between different regions and urban/rural divides, and government funding for health care and social development. We enjoyed our chat over a basket of mini empanadas and a bottle of Xingu, baking in the light of a fashion museum. Thank you, Belo Horizonte, for such a wonderful welcome. 

04.09.2013

• Today was mostly spent at home catching up on my blog and listening to the rain fall outside my window. My roommates were at their congress for the day and other guests had checked out or braved the weather for some sightseeing so I have a great deal of privacy to appreciate my new hostel home. 
• Eventually it was time to meet my friends and I bundled up (in my flip flops) and waited 30 minutes for a bus which took another hour to deliver me downtown. I arrived at a cinema/cafe where a nice man behind the counter asked if I was there to meet Poppy. "Sim! (Yes!)" I said, and he told me to please have a seat and await her return. In no time at all, my adorable firefly of a friend came bounding through the door shirking my apologies for being late. 
• A bit hungry, we stopped to get me a snack. Tonight is a "who cares that my body doesn't like wheat" night and I ordered a tasty little pastel de frango (chicken pastry) which perked me up for our walk to the Praca de Liberadade (Liberation Park) to meet our friends under the premiere Oscar Niemeyer building in town. Oscar is the preeminent and prolific architect of Brasilian history who died only five years ago at the age of 104. He was the primary designer for the significant structures in the capital city of Brasilia, but you´ll have to read about that in my next post. He also designed the Administrative City in Belo Horizonte (the capital of the state of Minas Gerais) which relocated the government functions of the state to a newly built center outside of the city (all previously located on the Praca de Liberadade in the city center). The new "city" has been criticized for its high price tag (especially given the economic climate), lack of public transport options, and design quality (very dark and modern). But, as usual, I digress. 
• We walked to Momo, a restaurant with all-you-can-eat pizza before 9 pm. I ordered a salad - enough wheat for one night already. The whole gang was there and I delighted in the comfort of my pals. We talked about art and music. I sang requests. I learned that Beyonce would be coming to Belo Horizonte next week with Lana Del Ray visiting next month! Of course, talk about music turned to conversation about political divides between the "right" and "left" camps, relativism in the use of violence in activism, the role of education in community organizing, and the responsibility of organizers to be both agitators and peacemakers. These are the things that I want to do with my life. These are the people I want to do it with: socially conscious artists. Cab ride home with a smile on my face and love in my heart. 

05.09.2013 

• Another lazy morning at the where I had late breakfast and talked with Leo, the owner of All Bags Hostel. He shared his story of leaving his work as a biologist in Amazonia to be closer to his family and finding his path toward being a hostel owner after traveling through Asia. A big change in lifestyle but part of the process of finding a balance between professional passion and being near the people we love. I can relate. It was lovely to connect with him in the open courtyard of what was once his grandfather´s home. A sweet morning. 
• Today it was time to finally get out and tour a bit before meeting my pals. My first stop was at Dona Lucinha, a popular lunch spot recommended by Leo for their fine offerings of traditional Minas food. I was happy to find a large spread of buffet style food from two kitchens (each with a different style) where I carefully picked out small portions of many (most) items in two rounds of dining bliss; three if you count dessert. After asking if it was ok if I spent some time hoovering over the dishes jotting down food names I was even offered a book to peruse: Art History of the Minas Kitchen, which is a beautiful blend of recipes, history, culture, and art that bakes up to a delicious coffee table cookbook. For the sake of ease and my ability to quickly reference items later, I will revert to list form now:

• Lambo (pork loin)
• Feijao Tropeiro (cowboy beans)
• Abobora con Carne de Sol (pumpkin dish)
• Tutu de Feijao (squashed beans)
• Vaca Atulada (ox rib with manioc flour)
• Carne de Panela (stewed steak)
• Quiabo (okra)
• Frango com Quiabo (chicken with okra)
• Dbradinha com Feijao Branco (ox stomach with white beans)
• Moela (chicken guille)
• Frango ao Molho Pardo (chicken in brown sauce)
• Angu (cornmeal mush)
• Linguica de Porco (pork sausage)
• Molhs de Rapadura (sugar cane sauce)
• DESSERT TABLE:
• Queijo Minas (Minas cheese)
• Goiabade Cascao (sweet guava)
• Espera Esposa Laranja e Ovos (orange eggs)
• Ambrosia Leite e Ovos (ambrosia eggs)
• Figo (candied figs)

• After lunch I walked through the Praca de Liberadade with a better view of Niemeyer building and arrived at the Memorial Minas Gerais Vale museum which the brochure touts as "a museum of experience... [using] technology with traditional objects and scenarios to create a rich an futuristic space." I am going to say right now that this was one of the most beautiful museums I have ever been too (and at this point I am well on my way to becoming something of a novice expert on museums around the world). It was creative and inventive with room and exhibits that enveloped you in an experience in spaces that turned history into expressions of art. The whole museum is presented in Portuguese but the curators have made it a fascinating and educational experience for even the non- Portuguese speaker. Here´s a quick tour of museum highlights: 

• The first floor is a collection of mediums to showcase the works of symbolic artists of Minas Gerais including Guimaraes Rosa, Carlos Drummond de Andrade (the beloved poet of Brasil), Lygia Clark, and Sebastiao Salgado. I found Salgado´s work particularly moving with rich black and white images of social landscapes that in a single frame tell the story of economic oppression, the fragility of life, the human capacity for survival and resilience, and the beauty of our sometimes cruel world. 
• The second floor leads the visitor "the elements which constitute the identity of Minas: The cities of Minas, lives of people from the past, their families and statesmen of Minas." It contained videos with interviews of the people of Minas Gerais talking about the people and history of Minas Gerais. It had an exhibit on the "sacred and profane Baroque" and a space dedicated to agriculture with a monochromatic menagerie of artifacts of farm life and labour affixed to the floors, walls, and ceiling. 
• The third floor show elements of Minas culture including popular and folk manifestations, arts, and architecture. It includes a room on celebrations, another for the crafts of the Jequitinhonha Valley with beautiful ceramics and statuettes, and another room on modernism with a futuristic, interactive projected tabletop. 
• Downstairs I also took some time to appreciate the library, cafe, and a media room with documentary video viewing areas and music listening stations where I watched a film about children in rural areas at play with some acting as hunter and others as hunted. 

• After being swept away by Vale, I still had time before my friends were to meet me. No too interested in the topic I still decided that free day at the Museu das Minas e do Metal (Metal Museum of Minas) next door could be a good way to kill some time. Again, blown away. I cannot believe that I lost track of time and was almost late to meet my friends because I was so enthralled with an all-Portuguese language museum dedicate to metal. But, in a state named for its mining history (Minas), the museum gave a beautiful, insightful, inspiring, and educational insight to the history and development of the area Minas and my own relationship to metal spanning every sphere from economic to biological. The brochure (English version available) explains: "Besides putting metallurgy into historical perspective, the Museum unveils the role of metal in human life, illustrating their diversity, characteristics, production process and their integration into the collective imaginary. ... [with] technologist language to communicate and instigate the memory into an immersive experience. This choice indicates the mutation of the museum´s interface platform and the twenty-first century people, which, its interaction nature, makes the access to culture more inclusive and educational." Some rooms displayed precious gems, minerals, and stones. Other rooms had interactive games with ways to explore the metal content in your body or play with creating compounds. The top floor, which combined information on the use of metal in our everyday lives from production to transportation to technology with art and poetry and words of social justice and freedom, actually brought me to tears. Yes, I cried viewing a display about industrial material extraction. Belo Horizonte, all cities will henceforth be compared to you as a benchmark for quality museums. I wish I had time to see a dozen others on the tourist list, but alas, next trip. 
• I went back to Vale to wait for my friends. I ordered a small cinnamon pasty and was gifted a second one - one of those, "darn it/thank you" moments. Eventually I met with Poppy and Leo and Priscilla near the park where a children´s choir was performing. I took in the moment before we walked to Urban Arts, a new gallery/store that was throwing a massive grand opening party that was packed wall to wall and flooding the sidewalks with visitors by the time we arrived. Mariah joined us, as did Isadora and Tassio, and I met a few new friends as well! We spent a little perusing the art and commercial items, all very hip, all very Seattle. 
• We left that party to create our own at a bar/restaurant a few blocks away in the art-trendy Savassi neighborhood. Grandma, I thought of you as I ate my order of bacon wrapped okra. We chatted, told stories, bought cookies and truffles and brigadeiros (which I am told are best when you let the mixture burn a bit in the pan before completing the final steps in the recipe). I met someone who is living in Seattle and home for the summer on break from school. I promised to try to make some connections for him back home. Small world. 
• We lingered a while and then walked to a bar but did not go in. Instead we bought drinks at a quick-mart and drank them outside on the sidewalk while loudly singing songs and dancing and making a raucous. My new pal, Rafo, told me about his multi-year long distance relationship with the boy he still loves; feelings of empathy and hope. It was all merriment and heart-smiles till the moment we got in a cab to go home. Tonight, instead of going back to the hostel, I was invited for a sleepover at Leo's home along with Poppy and Tassio! We ate lasagna and grilled sandwiches and watched TV and talked about boys and stayed up until well after 3am when we all slept on the floor in Leo´s room which looked like one giant mattress. After so many days with my new friends and I still can´t believe sometimes how incredibly warm and generous they are to me. I am ever so blessed.  

06.09.2013

• Going to bed late is only a problem when you have to be up early. For example, waking up at 9am so I can get a cab home to check out of my hostel by 11. Times like these make me wonder how many years my adrenal glads really have left with what I put them through. After a shower I was feeling better and relaxed into a morning on my computer. Belo Horizonte has been nice for both work and pleasure. 
• Eventually I got a call at the hostel from Poppy with directions to meet at her parents' store, Vila 211. I took a cab over the hill into a favela with an amazing view over the city and back down into town and to the shop. The old brick building had been given a modern face-lift but retained its rustic charm. The manifestation of a career change for two architects, the store is a treasure trove of art, decor, home wares, gifts, textiles, and other precious things. I was able to narrow down my list of must-haves to the top 11 items which included a blanket from India, a tablecloth made by Poppy's aunt, and an amazing pewter bowl with yellow enamel on the inside. Poppy and Isadora arrived and we played around in the store for a while picking through items and talking about design and environmental psychology - beauty in our everyday lives. I feel that interior design, like all art forms, is for everyone, not just the wealthy. It is a natural instinct for people to incorporate art into their home where they have the most intimate and personal relationship to it on daily basis.  
• We played around in the courtyard for a while, went for lunch, and then we walked Poppy up to her class at FUMEC (The Mining Foundation of Education and Culture University) where all of my new friends attend. They were successful in sneaking me through security (act like a student who lost your ID and don't blink) and was then provided a short tour of some of the buildings and classrooms are art displays. Poppy told me about her professor, Euclides Guimarães, who does a lot of work relating to art in the work of social justice and about a design show she was going to submit work for which is asks participants to blend the disciplines of art and sociology. I have decided I want to be a professor in a department of social work with appointments in schools of public health, education, and fine arts. I want to co-facilitate a course on the history of art in social activism. I also want to start an interdisciplinary center for social justice education that offers classes, seminars, resources, research opportunities, community salons, independent study projects, teacher training, study abroad courses, and which serves as a resource to the broader community because, after all, academia should be a public service. So many things to do and, yet, still traveling. Sigh. 
• We gathered back in the courtyard where I hugged Poppy goodbye before her class. Trying to think of this as a "see you again, not goodbye" moment but I am sad none the less to be leaving behind my friends until who knows when. Tassio met Isador and I and they took me on a short walk near the school up to a municipal utility building with grounds that double as a park with an incredible deck overlooking the city. It was such a tranquil spot above the bustle and I was thankful for the quiet moments to share with my pals before leaving tonight. We took many photos. We met a sweet dog. Tassio made bird calls to the Rufous Hornero birds which make nests of mud in the trees, like little huts along the branches. 
• They walked me to a grocery store to get snacks for my bus ride. I found Snyder's gluten free pretzels in snack packs; I bought nine of them. I had stalled long enough. The clock kept moving and it was time for me to be moving too. More hugs, smiles, and hopes for quick returns, and I was in a cab on my way back to the hostel. I grabbed my things and sent last minute emails and talked with Leo who would try to meet me at the bus terminal though timing would prove too difficult and this would be our time for goodbyes. He has taken to calling me his Best American Friend for which I have developed a short jingle as it sounds to me like the title of a sitcom (or a line of children's dolls). I did not get an extra goodbye moment with Priscilla so I am saying it here: "I adore you and I will miss you and I look forward to fashion updates from Sao Paulo. XO"
• A metro ride later I was waiting for my bus, making conversation with my fellow riders who spoke no English but were still great to chat with. I leave Belo Horizonte with such a full heart that it could not all fit in my backpack - some had to be left behind. I trust it will be well taken care of until I can return for it, although I expect it to grow and I am not sure that this part of me will ever make it home. Thank you, my friends. Ciao Ciao.