More than 100 years before Australia or the US was having its crazy Gold Rush, Minas Gerais was well ahead of the curve. In fact, until the last order of the 18th Century, Minas’ mines were producing half the world’s gold. According to many, Ouro Preto is the crown jewel in the often overlooked former gold mining state of Minas Gerais.…
A thirty minute ($1.25) local bus ride from Ouro Preto’s main station will take you to Mariana, the oldest city in Minas Gerais founded in 1696 in a picturesque mountain setting. Despite this, it was far less hilly and less busy than Ouro Preto, and didn’t offer the same opulence. However this former state capital, offered a simple charm we…
Arriving to Belo Horizonte, we were supposed to be at a Couchsurf for these two nights but unfortunately it didn’t work out due to the host’s schedule and distance from the center. Instead, we settled into a hostel called Home Center for $21 a night. We were grateful to have a private room because it was crawling with college students.…
In a country 300,000 square miles bigger than the contiguous US, it’s no surprise we barely scratched the surface of Brazil in just over two months. However, our timing was impeccable…because beginning January, 2024, citizens of the US, Australia and Canada will again be required to attain a visa with a hefty fee of $160. This said, we won’t be making…
Getting There After two weeks, we were a bit knackered of being Clammy in the Ammy ™️ So, we were off to seek more pleasant skies in the form of winter in Southern Brazil for the seven weeks. Our 4.5 hour total flight to get there took us through the capital city of Brasília for a night. Rather than sleep…
Most people know that we are not really city people. We much prefer quiet villages or getting out into nature on the trail. And although we like Rio de Janiero, the real reason we LOVE it is that it melds so flawlessly with the mountains, and the sea, much the same as another favorite of Istanbul. Because of this, there…
Rio de Janiero is loaded with things to see and do. And in a month, we hardly cracked the shell on its offerings. But we saved the best for last…yes, our most fun day trips and favorite activities in Rio unintentionally occurred on our last few days in the city. Unsurprisingly, they were both adventures we hadn’t read much about…
Getting There (Is Half the fun?!) Flashing us back to India or Nepal, getting to Ilha Grande was the complete backpacker package to welcome us back to our fast travel month of August 2023. We don’t have days like this very often (anymore), so it’s always good to have a reminder of why we don’t. 🤣 It was complete with sweat-on-sweat…
