Brazil : 3 Ouro Preto

(This text was originally written on Mar. 14, 2003. Click [] for pictures.)

Open your map of Brasil as we will start with a geography lesson.

Minas Gerais (in English: General Mines) is a state in southeastern Brasil, just north of Rio De Janeiro and east of São Paulo states. It is a landlocked state, and from its name you can probably guess its main industry is mining. But what minerals?

Since the early 20th century, its rich reserves of iron ore has been driving Minas’ industrial economy centered in Belo Horizonte (Belo), the state capital. Belo is currently the third largest city in Brasil with a population of four million.

But we didn’t come to Minas Gerais to see Belo. Belo is a planned city that is just over 100 years old, with little in way of historical splendor. We came for a town called Ouro Preto.

To talk about the history of Minas Gerais before its reliance on iron ores, we must start with Ouro Preto. But to talk about Ouro Preto, we must start with the term bandeirantes.

Bandeirantes were explorers that roamed in the interiors of Brasil during the 17th century, in search of Indian slaves to support the sugar plantation economy. Bandeirantes were mostly based in and around São Paulo, which was just a little town then. (Evidently, the people of São Paulo are quite proud of this particular heritage: today there is a Bandeirantes Hospital in Liberdade section of São Paulo, as well as a Bandeirante Bank, Bandeirante TV channel and a highway named Bandeirante. There is even a Toyota Land Cruiser-like truck sold in Brasil called Bandeirantes.)

In the late 1600s, a bandeirante named Antonio Dias discovered gold in a mountain stream about 100km southeast of Belo that started more than a century of gold rush and literally created the town of Ouro Preto overnight as its fame spread and seekers of gold came rushing into town.

The height of Ouro Preto’s gold rush was in the 1700s, and many churches were built during that period funded by rich families of Ouro Preto that commissioned both European and local-born artisans and sculptors to decorate the interiors and exteriors. The resulting architectural style of these marvelous buildings have been coined baroco minas (Minas Baroque), and it is amazing to think that there are thirteen colonial churches in the old town which is an extremely compact area that can be circled by a car in probably ten minutes.

The best of these churches were built after mid 1700s by a local-born called Aleijadinho, a self-taught sculptor nothing short of a genius. Today this hilly town’s gold rush days are long gone but it thrives on tourists’ money, as many flock here to admire the well preserved churches and houses.

* * *

We took a bus from Belo to Ouro Preto. It was my first time taking a long distance bus in Brasil and I found it quite comfortable. This particular long distance bus, run by Passaro Verde, has more legroom than the buses in Japan and the cushy incline seat is quite good for a nice nap. Best of all, the two hour ride cost R$10 (US$3.)

Our bus climbed slowly up the mountain of south Belo on BR-040 (which goes all the way to Rio) passing slums on one side and luxurious condotels on the other.

Roadside items: Motel Las Vegas, and next to it Motel Hawaii, and next to it Opium Motel. The entrance of all these motel parking lots are covered to ensure privacy. Opium motel looks the newest and most posh, while Las Vegas and Hawaii looks equally shabby. Once upon a time the image of USA was used to create “the” mood for Brasilian couples, but now it seems that drugs do the job better.

Traces of Belo city gradually disappeared along the highway, replaced by rolling hills and small towns. Exiting BR-040, the bus turned east, and soon the town of Alphaville appeared with a lake called Lagoa das Ingles (The English Lake.) Looked like some condo development in California and the shopping center along the highway looks new yet vacant: the entire town a possible weekend resort development for the rich of Belo?

After Alphaville the road became an undivided two lane scenic highway: rolling hills, though still the prominent member of this south Minas landscape, were occasionally interrupted by the view of taller mountains in the distance.

I am imagining how much trouble Antonio Dias the bandierante must have had riding his horse through these hills. And then what luck that while he was camping on a hillside that would become Ouro Preto, Dias discovered a golden nugget in a stream nearby in the late 1600s.

While I know I will never have Dias’ luck, my heart was somewhat pounding as I got off the bus at Ouro Preto’s Rodoviaria (bus stop) with the old town laid out on the hills below. The bird’s eye view from there was stunning[]: thanks to vigorous preservation of the old town’s architecture, churches of whitewashed walls and double-bell towers dot the landscape in a sea of rococo houses of bright-orange roof tiles. Had there not been sightings of parabolic TV antennas and automobiles, I might think that I was transported back 200 years to a town in Spain or France.

Back to reality. At the tourist info desk in the rodoviaria, we were recommended a nice pousada (inn) for R$80 (US$22) a night, which we accepted. Pousada Ouro Preto is about a 20 minute walk downhill from the rodoviaria. I wanted to walk but the Ouro Preto tourist guide suggested that we take a taxi.

It turned out to be a good idea. Imagine for a moment the old town of Ouro Preto is basically a hill with the center of town affairs - Tridentes Plaza - on the top of the hill. The western side of the hill is more or less the commercial district with lots of banks, restaurants and bars, while the eastern side is a quieter residential district. Since the town is built on the hill, the curvy town roads can be quite daunting to navigate for the Ouro Preto beginner. Furthermore, the rough cobblestone surface would have been quite hard on the wheels of my borrowed Samsonite suitcase. Not good when the luggage belongs to my mother-in-law.

Our taxi driver got us there in less than 5 minutes (and indeed we would have gotten lost had we walked.) The room looked nice, so we checked in right away. There was no air conditioning, but then it wasn’t necessary as summer nights here are fairly cool. The window in our room opens up to a nice view of an impressive church on the east side of the hill.

I would learn later the name of the church is the Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição. The building of the church was funded by Antonio Dias when he was old and rich, and he chose the site because it was where he pitched his camp when he discovered his first gold.

* * *

Later, when Si and I went to check out the interior of the Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição (I will refer it to as N.S. Conceição church), we found out that the doors were locked. We were dumbfounded because our Ouro Preto brochure said the church would be open at that hour. As we loitered around the little square before the church, an old, bespectacled gentleman dressed neatly in a hat, white long sleeve shirt and pressed trousers came over and started speaking to us.

He was a soft-spoken man, and his story went like this: it was just after 5pm, and he had been waiting in front of a church for a wedding. The funny thing was, he thought the wedding would begin at 5pm, but the church was locked and no other guests had arrived (except for two odd-looking people: us). He explained that since he did not want to be late, he had hired a taxi to take him to the church from the other side of town, where he lived. But, it has been such a long time since he had taken a taxi he didn’t know it would cost more than R$2, which was what he had in his wallet. Still the taxi driver did not complain and took only what the gentleman could offer him.

At this point we realized that he was a simple, small-town man of few luxuries. Still we could not help him with his problem: was he wrong about the time of the wedding, or the place? (With at least 13 churches in Ouro Preto, the latter seemed possible.) The gentleman offered the solution himself: he would go talk to his friend - the father of the bride - who lived just down the street from the church. Small town indeed.

We stayed around the church after he left, hoping that he was wrong about the time, then we would be able to check out the interior of the church during a local wedding. Sure enough our prayers were answered. Well-dressed guests started showing up after 6pm, and the church doors opened up shortly after. (Our elderly gentleman also made it back to the church in time for the ceremony.)

Most churches in Ouro Preto are open to tourists, but usually with the lights off during the limited visiting hours and picture-taking is forbidden. So we were extremely luck to be able to see the inside of the church. It was gorgeous: on the sides were elaborately sculpted saints framed by elaborately sculpted pillars - impressive examples of boroco minas. Like most of the other churches of Ouro Preto, N. S. Conceição church does not seem huge externally, but once inside one acquires the impression that is is larger.

Inside N. S. Conceição church also lies the body of Aleijadinho, the aforementioned sculptor, a native son of Ouro Preto. He was buried in the church he attended, yet he had not been involved with its construction.

However, Aleijadinho was involved with at least three churches in Ouro Preto and in other towns in the Minas Gerais state. Working in the baroque tradition, Aleijadinho was equally talented in both wood and stone carvings of human figures and abstract decoration. But what makes his story all the more incredible is that many of his masterpieces have been carried out after he had suffered a mysterious disease - some say it was leprosy - that caused the functional loss of his hands and lower limbs when he was about 40. For an ordinary sculptor it would have spelt the end of a career, but Aleijadinho would continue working for at least 20 more years with hammer and chisels strapped to his wrists.

Of the churches in Ouro Preto that Aleijadinho was involved with, the Igreja de São Francisco de Assis[] was my favorite. For this church Aleijadinho not only did the beautiful external stone carvings on the facade as well as the human-figure carvings in the side and main altars inside, he was the architect. Externally, the church as a pleasing roundness to it that is lacking in the other churches. Once inside, one’s senses are not blasted by the liberal (and gaudy!) use of gold, plastered on its walls like Igreja da Pilar, another older church in Ouro Preto. Instead the interior walls of this church remain white and simple, elegantly framing Aleijadinho’s highly skilled carvings of human figures in the side altars. To complete this masterpiece of a church, the owners commissioned a master painter to decorate the roof with flying angels. The result: when I look up I see a dizzying sea of angels swarming a sky of blue. Simply astounding.

* * *

When we were not checking out churches, our other favorite Ouro Preto pastime (and one that we do well, I must add) was simply wander around town. What makes this enjoyable is the beautiful and uniform architecture of the houses there. Many of them were built during the colonial period, which makes them over 200 years old. The houses are usually no higher than two stories and have orange-tiled roofs. Uniform as they may look, each one is, in a sense, unique thanks to its windows. There are simple ones of just wooden frame and glass, divided like a chocolate bar; the more intricate ones may have a terrace, complete with metal railing studded with soapstone; the most luxurious windows will include both a terrace and a stone arch that frames it.

Picturesque town that it is, Ouro Preto made me burn at least four or five rolls of film in just a couple days. We always walked when we wandered around town, so at the end of every day we were left with sore calves and thighs, thanks to the steep inclines. During the day, temperature could be quite warm under the sun, so when we got tired we would take refuge in one of the many cafes there. Thanks to a federal university nearby, the town has a vibrant nightlife - quite rare for a small, mountainous town anywhere - and no shortage of bars as well.

Since we were right there before the carnaval, the bateria (percussion group) of the local samba schools were practicing every night we were there. It was quite nice to see drummers belting out samba along the historical streets of town[]. Locals would follow the bateria and display a few steps of the dance (which is made more difficult by the inclined, cobblestone-covered surface). I wanted to join them, but decided to hold off. I came to Ouro Preto to see how gold created this wonderful town, which had nothing to do with samba. Besides, I was going to Rio next for the carnaval, and samba and my team, Mangueira, would be waiting for me there.

(Next: Rio)