I joined my tour with Dragoman last Friday. It's been bloody great so far. We've been on the road to Brasilia, the inland capital of Brazil.
Our first stop was in the small mountain town of Teresopolis and the drive up there was fantastic. The views were just stunning, gorgeous mountaintops and beautiful forest. Teresopolis is where the rich from Rio have little mountain holiday homes because it's close to Rio and so picturesque.
Our campsite was great, the set up with the tour is pretty slick- great tents, all the supplies and equipment needed, very organised. And the people I'm with are all pretty cool- a couple Brits, Kiwis and Aussies, being led through the countryside by a Scot and Italian. We've been cooking communally, playing Pataki (kind of like hacky sack) going for swims, traipsing around together and if course having a few beers, it's been delightful!
Our second stop was the old mining town Ouro Preto, where a lot of gold was mined early after portuguese colonization. Heaps of wealth was taken out of the place via these mines, which were worked by slaves, many dying young in the process. We visited a few of the mines and swam in an underground lake inside one!
The town if Ouro Preto was lovely and reminded me a bit if Cuba. Cobblestone streets, cute houses, lots of churches all set on the mountainside- a bit of work to walk around but gorgeous.
The night after we camped by a lovely lake on our way to Brasilia, where we are tonight. It's an artificial capital, kind of like Canberra! Yeah so not much to report there, a lot of government buildings...
Tomorrow we head out bush for about a week, taking in several national parks before we arrive back to the coastal city of Salvador, which should be awesome!
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