Centuries ago, minas Gerais attracted the Portuguese with gold, diamonds, topaz and tourmaline, as one of the richest ore reserves in all of Brazil. Following in the footsteps of the Portuguese, Marcia de Santice shows us the region's colorful nature reserves and romantic colonial towns.
Ouro Preto is one of the best-preserved colonial towns in Brazil.
A mining tribute to the new world's largest and richest city. Much of the local wealth comes from diamonds, gemstones, and then iron ore, and these shiny minerals make the dirt around my sneakers sparkle. However, in all the treasures of this mine, it was the greed for gold and the immeasurable human cost of mining gold that contributed to the rise and fall of OuroPreto.
On my first day in Minas Gerais, before 10 a.m., I was already immersed in the history of the region. The night before, I had driven from the airport in Belo Horizonte into Ouro Preto. The dark surroundings and unfamiliarity with the local area triggered my claustrophobia, but when I woke up at the solar do rosário hotel in the city center, the scent of eucalyptus trees in the air and the sight of a bell tower in the distance rejuvenated me.
The hall of the solar do rosário in the town of Ouro Preto, Brazil
I set off for the hotel lobby, where I breezed through the labyrinthine courtyard and rows of floor-to-ceiling windows. On the horizon, the sun shines behind itacolomi peak. For breakfast there are thick mango slices, papaya slices and watermelon slices, as well as a variety of cakes: coconut cake, three different corn cakes, concentrated milk cakes, carrot cakes, and chocolate cakes. The rich breakfast bodes well for my subsequent trip.
Ouro Preto was my first stop in Minas Gerais, one of the least valued regions in South America. I was in my 20s in Brazil and I only had a bikini and a pair of flip flops with me. But this tour is not about going to the sand beaches of Copacabana. This time I was immersed in the glory and sadness of Brazil's colonial past, and over the weekend I came to ibitipoca State Park in southern Minas Gerais to reflect on it all in an eco-resort in the nearby jungle.
It's a time of political turmoil, and the newly inaugurated far-right president, Jar Bolsonaro, was sworn in just weeks before I arrived in Brazil. Brazil has been in turmoil for decades, and its current situation is frustrating: the country has the highest murder rate in the world; both of Bolsonaro's former presidents have been embroiled in corruption scandals; The Zika virus and the economic crisis cast a shadow over the 2016 Rio Olympics. These news stories can cast a shadow over Brazil's renowned hospitality, the excitement of carnivals, and the beauty of Brazil's rich landscape. And, of course, the gold here.
Brazilian schoolchildren know that Ouro Preto is a melting pot in the country's history. In the 1690s, mestizo pioneers known as "bandeirante" began exploring the Brazilian interior from São Paulo and the coast. Along the way, thousands of natives were killed, captured, and displaced. Today, most of the surviving indigenous people live in northern Minas Gerais. Gold diggers found black iron ore in Ouro Pretu (meaning "black gold") and extracted gold from it. Since then, immigrants have poured into the town, and the town's population has grown rapidly to 120,000, equivalent to twice the population of New York City at that time.
At the height of the Brazilian gold rush in the late 17th century, there were more than 2,000 mining pits throughout the city, and slaves toiled through airless tunnels. An estimated 4.5 million African slaves were sent to work in Brazil, more than ten times as many as they were sent to North America.
In 1888, Emperor Pedro II abolished slavery, and he was the last leader in the Western world to abolish slavery. Today, Ouro Preto is a holy place, dedicated to many gilded statues of the slaves who built the city and their slave owners. In the mid-19th century, when the gold rush declined, Ouro Preto lost its status as the capital. "It became a ghost town," said my guide, João Blanc. Battista de Suza explains, "People don't want the colonial history here to be brought up again. But in the 1920s, Brazilian artists and writers searched for it, and finally found a symbol of Brazilian national identity in Ouro Preto. In 1932, the government designated the town a National Monument, and in 1980 it was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site. The architecture here is a footprint of time: 95% of the local buildings are very old, including 13 magnificent churches and 9 chapels. The grande hotel was designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1938, 20 years before the brasília was built. It is the only surviving modernist building in the heart of the city.
The Portuguese design of Ouro Preto makes it a representative of the native elegance of the city, but there is a key difference: the churches in the town were all built by slaves, much more decadent than those in Europe. One-fifth of all the gold that was once mined in this region was controlled by the king, but in Brazil everything used to serve the Lord could be handed over. Thus, the most famous artists of the time were recruited to decorate the temples with gold and local wood. Together they created the barroco mineiro, a unique luxury style that would only be found in the region. About 900 pounds of gold and silver powder were used in one of the most luxurious buildings, the basílica nossa senhora do pilar. The feeling when I entered this sanctuary was completely different from what I felt in a magnificent stone cathedral in France. There, I felt humble, and here, I was a little dazzled by these gilded little angels, shells, and garlands.
João took me to the praçatiradentes, which is not only accessible, but also an open space worth lingering in. The square is named after a local dentist who later became an insurgent, inspired by the American and French revolutions, and led an uprising against royal rule. After his execution in 1792, his head was displayed in the middle of the square. Today, his deeds are celebrated in the Museu da inconfidência. Higher across the street is the site of the former palácio dos governadores, surrounded by fortifications and watchtowers, which today is a mineralogical museum. Today, gemstones are the essence of Ouro Preto. At the upscale shop ita gemas, owner Rasmir Varlarini shows off his collection: a pile of garnets and a large string of tourmalines, including a watermelon tourmaline that is half pink and half green. I was ecstatic and bought one for each. Valarini said: "Everyone who comes to Ouro Preto always finds something beautiful.
Sculpt soapstone in Ouro Pretu
As I drove with João and Marcio Macedo to the town of tiradentes, the sun was pouring down on the fields and cornfields. Macedo is an expert in the area and he accompanied me on this journey. On the way, we stopped in congonhas, and I was stunned to admire the masterpiece of the Brazilian Rococo style , santuário do bom jesus de matosinhos, one of the greatest sculptors and architects, Antonio Francisco Lisbon. Lisbon's father was a Portuguese, while his mother was a slave. Despite the disease in his arm, he carved out 12 saponite statues of the Prophet at the entrance of the church with chisels and hammers. His illness gave him a famous nickname: aleijadinho, meaning "hiccup."
Back in the car, we continued south along the estrada real, built during the Gold Rush to connect the inland mines with paraty. Marcio broke the silence in the car and asked, "Do you know what a slave is?" While teaching me phonics, he explained that the concept is ingrained in Brazilian culture and cannot be interpreted by a simple translation. "When you lose something or someone, you feel hurt, but it's remembered in a positive way," he said.
The snacks for solar da ponte afternoon tea were first found only in Minas Gerais, but are now widely available in Brazil, like baguettes in France. Located under the ridge of the Serra de Sao Jose, Tiradentes feels completely different and is a place to draw energy from the environment.
Solar da Ponte's owner, Ted Dirickson, was the original owner of the hotel — the son of a Brazilian woman and her English husband — whose parents converted the unfinished country estate into an elegant hotel in 1971. The air is fresh, and although the halls and landings are filled with locally made wooden furniture, they look neat and pleasant. The first floor is surrounded by a dense, orchid-filled tropical garden, where I can smell orange blossoms and hear little marmoset monkeys chirping in the trees. "This hotel is an organic mix of tradition and cosmopolitanism." Dirickson told me that the hotel and the town's development were due to the local revival in his parents' view. They preached to the "old fritters" of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo about the light-colored houses and Rococo-style churches of Tiradentes, which were built in the 18th century but neglected for the next 200 years. Dirickson told me, "People who come here are very concerned about the local culture, and you can feel it on the street. ”
As I tried to smoothly walk through the uneven stone walkway of the main square, largo das forres, I heard a guitarist playing Bach's Brie. Then I came to entrepôt du vin, a bar that fills the pavement. The waiter poured me a glass of crimson Mineiro wine and I ordered guava jam and soft cheese. I watched the jacaranda and crane orchid bloom against the backdrop of rows of white houses. A horse walked in the middle of the street, but I couldn't see where its owner was.
Church of Our Lady of Camu (igreja de nossa senhora do carmo)
A strong cultural atmosphere exists in the area's well-designed furniture, linen shops and department stores filled with pepper cans and french cookies. Wherever I go, the city advises me to look up at wonders like the towering Notre Dame de Santo antonio (igreja matriz de santo antonio). Another masterpiece of the Hiccup, the interior of the building is decorated in ornate gold, including an organ shipped from Portugal in 1798.
The most unexpected pleasure for me was Mineiro's cuisine, a combination of Portuguese, Indigenous and African influences. The town is the gastronomic capital of Minas Gerais, and some say it is also the gastronomic capital of the whole of Brazil. At tragaluz, a Parisian restaurant that felt like authenticity, I ate duck foie gras, polenta, and tender Guinean hen sauce.
Only on Saturdays, The Brazilian suckling pig king Luis Ni de Assis von Serca serves his signature dish in the courtyard of a hotel he owns called villa paolucci. He prepared his "pururuca" (an onomatopoeia, roughly translated as "pop, crack, snap", meaning the sound of the pork skin crisp), and after marinating a whole pig for 7 days, he placed a device similar to a heater directly on the pig and baked it for 7 hours. The tender meat, the crunchy crust, and the "Mineiro All-Stars" made by Luis Ni's grandmother, which included farofa (baked tapioca flour) and butter mashed potatoes, made up the whole of my meal. As LouisNey watched happily as his guests were fed, a warm mist began to drift down. He said, "For me, food is a celebration!"
Equally fascinating is the caipirinhas made with Brazil's national spirit cachaça mixed with juice and sugar. In Minas Gerais, small-volume production of Brazilian rum is booming. After visiting the sugar cane fields and copper stills in Mazuma mineira, I tasted a Brazilian rum aged in American oak barrels. The sweetness of coconut, vanilla and bananas still lingers back to lunch.
During an afternoon car trip, we learned of a fatal dam collapse in the town of Brumadinho, 90 miles away. Mining continued centuries after the end of the gold rush, and today Minas Gerais is the world's second largest producer of iron ore. As I read the news reports about the worst mining disaster in Brazil's history, it became clear to me that Brazil's "tradition" of exploiting workers still exists. Diorida Alice dos Santos, a cultural historian I met in Uropreto, explains: "Nothing has changed. In fact, the situation has gotten worse, with mine owners now becoming more greedy and placing less emphasis on safety. ”
When I arrived at reserva do ibitipoca, a charming eco-hotel in a nature reserve, I felt stiff from the distance and frustrated when I heard the news of the mining disaster. I walked to the nearest waterfall, Renato Machado, who owns 12,000 acres of private property, and this hotel belongs to him as well as the waterfall. Along the way, cherries and wild pineapples were everywhere, and the scent of white lilies came to my nose, like the perfume my boyfriend bought me. My tour guide, Daniel Vicente, picked a bouquet of flowers for my room.
Reserva do ibitipoca is an eco-lodge in a 12,000-acre nature reserve pictured here for the toucan;
The canary chirping in the woods outside the window, and the hotel manager, Naja Hoffman, told us a somewhat mysterious thing inside the house: the water here is rich in wholesome minerals, and each time I soak in the waterfall, I live for 20 minutes longer. The next day, Junior took me on an 8-mile hike so I could experience six different waterfall "baptisms." The cold water is so pure that there are metal cups for drinking hanging from the branches next to it.
Later that day, Junior took me up a hillside and handed me two ripe guavas. I eat it like an apple with the skin. I admired the metal statue from Renato's collection, created by Auckland-based artist Karen Cusolito, with yellow light casting a shadow on the back of the statue. I could see God, and I didn't even know that the juice was dripping down my arm. Renato, a wealthy Mineiro native, bought a piece of land near Ibidipoca State Park in 1981 and has been enthusiastically expanding his social and environmental experiments on these hills ever since.
A path in the reserva do ibitipoca
The hotel itself has three parts – the main house, a private villa, and the engenho lodge with 11 rooms that I stayed in. Renato opened the art-rich engenho lodge in 2009 and designed it to his own taste as a traveler. "I hate big hotels," he said, "and I like small rooms that feel grounded and traditional." "The recycled wooden floors in the hotel are wide and the ceilings are high, which helps with the circulation of indoor air when the weather is sweltering. The sheets were made with cool Egyptian cotton. The service is meticulous but impeccable, and this hotel is the kind of place that feels luxurious.
Renato has achieved his vision of creating opportunities and livelihoods for nearby communities, with his ultimate goal of achieving sustainability of food, water and energy on his land. Currently, 60% of the food in the hotel is grown on this land. Renato, together with his team of botanists and biologists, is restoring the local forest and reintroducing animals like the villous spider monkey. "It's not about protecting the living species, it's about getting them back to nature," he explains.
Imperial topaz crystals unearthed from a pit in Ouro Preto
I did yoga in the hotel and rode an e-bike, but I still prefer to take a walk around the hut, drink a glass of watermelon juice, and enjoy music woven by the sounds of 350 different birds. The tranquility of the environment was so intoxicating that I seemed to feel very unwell when I left the hotel. I sat in the car and listened to the songs that the new driver liked. He asked me, "Do you know Gilberto Gil?" He is Brazil's iconic musician. By the way, do you know what 'saudade' is?"
I thought about the snowy New England I was thinking about, the topaz that would bring me good luck, the dark stories of the bright cathedral, the waterfall that had saved me two more hours, and finally the chocolate cake for breakfast.
"Yes," I said, "of course I know. ”