My host had prepared a very nice breakfast with a huge assortment of goodies, including a delicious banana cake. Most impressive for me, however, was that she had a box of English Tea Bags! It was so nice to have three big cuppas.
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| Breakfast with Tatiana |
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| Her view of BH |
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| Lift to the Museum |
I wanted to fit in a bit of culture around the football, so Tatiana drove me to the Metals and Minerals museum and we had about 40 minutes to get a glimpse of what was there. It's a highly impressive museum, funded by the local mining industry, and you could easily spend a whole day there. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time but this was another example, for me, of better to see something, than nothing.
Tatiana's boyfriend, Gustavo, came to meet us after the museum and they went to have lunch after dropping me off at the Backer place we'd looked at the day before, where I sat at the bar to watch Holland v Mexico. The beer was as nice as I remembered from Ouro Preto. A table soon became free so I moved there and ordered some food - a meal with a few of those little burgers and chips.
As usual, they arrived with stacks of chips (actually these were more like crisps) and meat and cheese and no greens and no salad. I took a bite of my first one and it tasted a bit odd, but I thought it was just me not being used to some ingredient so I carried on. The second one tasted better but I soon lost my appetite.
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| Feeling suddenly very rough |
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| The one on the left was dodgy |
The game went Mexico's way and the first half and they looked like they were going to pull off a major surprise. I don't think it was anything to do with the football, though, that caused a bizarre episode mid way through the second half. Watching the game in front of me, I suddenly felt very sleepy and found it difficult to keep my eyes open, moments later I felt dizzy and almost blacked out.
You might want to skip the next paragraph if you're eating!...
Next thing, I threw up, but being in a rather nice restaurant packed with people I somehow managed not to let anyone know and swallowed it back down. (Not nice!) I got up asked where the toilets were and went there instead. Relief. Bizarre incident. I felt ok pretty much straight after that.
So, I returned to my seat, and the match, and within minutes I was feeling absolutely fine, thank you. I wonder what that was. A bit of food poisoning, perhaps? I did a little experiment later and had another Backer Pale Ale to check it wasn't that, so I can only conclude it was a dodgy burger.
Anyway, I started talking to a nice couple about football. The guy was an Atletico Mineiras (current Brasilian champions) fan and his wife followed their local rivals Cruzeiro. Tatiana joined us for a moment before driving me off to do a bit of sight seeing.
She took me to a beautiful look out where you can see where the city got it's name. We watched the sun set before going back to her place to get packed and watch the last half of Greece v Costa Rica. I missed the sending off drama but saw Greece equalise in their typically dogged style and almost win in in extra time.
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| Belo Horizonte |
I didn't have time to watch the penalty shoot out (Costa Rica won it) as it was time to go to the airport. Tatiana and Gustavo drove me there too. It did cost a bit to get chauffeured around like this but I was happy to pay as it was an opportunity to talk with a local Brazilian who spoke English and the rates were the same as I'd have paid with a taxi driver anyway.
The plane boarding, again, went smoothly and the short flight to Brasilia was notable only for the fact that, for the first time ever, I sat in the first row and that the air host guy (what do you call a male air hostess?) had the same cheap Casio watch as me.
In Brasilia I had another frustrating taxi experience. I booked a room in a place that was as close to the airport as possible so I really didn't expect there to be any grief finding it but, again, the taxi driver, had no idea where it was and no GPS to help find it. He called the hotel and got some instructions but somehow missed it. I ended up paying R$35 to get there. Anyway the hotel was basic and my room functional. The worst thing was that the beds had no blankets and it was pretty cold so I had to take the sheets off the two other beds and use them to keep a bit warmer.
So that was another day of travel over.
Algirdo
Brasilia
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