Every trip has one of those days. They start out no different from any other day and then they transform into something far less pleasant. We refer to these as a Glenorchy day, courtesy of a challenging day our family had in New Zealand many years ago.
Perhaps the mad ornithologist experience from the night before could have been some kind of warning, but Glenorchy days always take you by surprise.
We were picked up at the pousada at 7.30 am, for an 11.30 flight. Two hours drive later we had reached the airport, as planned, but then things started to unravel. We were catching a flight from Campo Grande to Brasilia and then a connecting flight to Belo Horizonte. Now, our first flight was delayed by around 20 minutes, and this meant that the timeframe between the connecting flight was too tight. So, the airline put us on to a two hour later flight out of Belo Horizonte. Oh well, better than missing the connection.
So, at around 12 noon we took off and arrived at Brazilia around 2.30. Now, as we were disembarking the pilot announced that those going on to Belo Horizonte could remain on the plane. What? A few other passengers also looked bemused. As we entered the airport we could see a queue of people waiting to get on to our plane. The sign above the gate said the destination was Belo Horizonte. What !!! The plane we had left Campe Grande on WAS the connecting flight. It didn't matter how late our first flight had been it could never miss the connection. But it was all too late. Our seats had been sold and our luggage booked onto the next flight, so we got to experience the joys of Brazilia airport for two unexpected hours. A number of other people were in the same boat, which made it a little easier to bear. Misery does love company.
Perhaps the mad ornithologist experience from the night before could have been some kind of warning, but Glenorchy days always take you by surprise.
We were picked up at the pousada at 7.30 am, for an 11.30 flight. Two hours drive later we had reached the airport, as planned, but then things started to unravel. We were catching a flight from Campo Grande to Brasilia and then a connecting flight to Belo Horizonte. Now, our first flight was delayed by around 20 minutes, and this meant that the timeframe between the connecting flight was too tight. So, the airline put us on to a two hour later flight out of Belo Horizonte. Oh well, better than missing the connection.
So, at around 12 noon we took off and arrived at Brazilia around 2.30. Now, as we were disembarking the pilot announced that those going on to Belo Horizonte could remain on the plane. What? A few other passengers also looked bemused. As we entered the airport we could see a queue of people waiting to get on to our plane. The sign above the gate said the destination was Belo Horizonte. What !!! The plane we had left Campe Grande on WAS the connecting flight. It didn't matter how late our first flight had been it could never miss the connection. But it was all too late. Our seats had been sold and our luggage booked onto the next flight, so we got to experience the joys of Brazilia airport for two unexpected hours. A number of other people were in the same boat, which made it a little easier to bear. Misery does love company.
Finally we got on board and arrived at Belo Horizonte at 8 p.m. More than 12 hours of travelling, but it hadn't finished yet. We were met at their airport by our guide, Jose and the driver. We found out we had a two hour drive ahead of us, which was bad enough, but it was the nature of the drive that would really take the breath away.
Despite his mild exterior our driver was a maniac and I struggle to recall a more hair raising car trip. Speed limits were ignored, as we're yellow lines. We weaved in and out of traffic, all done in darkness. Kate held my hand tightly for most of the trip and we practiced a fair amount of rapid, shallow breathing. The drive actually became quite surreal, with the most absurd moment occurring when we had to brake to a halt on a busy city street for a family of capybara to cross the road. That's right - capybara. The animals we had scoured the Pantanal for, seen in numbers in the middle of the city. Kind of ironic.
Somehow or other we survived and arrived at Ouro Preto at 10 pm. But the day held one more twist for us. Ouro Preto may be best known for its amazing historic buildings but what we didn't know was that it is also a student town. We had arrived in the city on Saturday night, and it was party time. The streets were crawling with intoxicated students and the one night we really would have appreciated some quiet (we'd been travelling for 15 hours) was not to be. Our accommodation was in a wonderful historic hotel, that had no soundproofing at all. It felt like the party was going off in our backyard, accompanied by loud bursts of music and people roaring around on motorbikes with noisy motors. This went on until around 6 am.
The final twist of the knife - the next morning was Sunday, and the church bells began ringing loudly from 7.30. Fortunately, we'd been woken up even early by a bird tapping on our window chasing insects. Glenorchy had arrived with a vengeance.
All I can say is that, despite the less than joyful trip, it was actually worth it. Ouro Preto is a remarkable city. A unesco world heritage site, the city is an incredibly well preserved example of 19th century architecture. The streets are outrageously cobbled, steep and narrow. The churches have that classically overembellished interiors and the whole town just exudes vitality. I should be on everybody's tour destinations in brazil. We were fortunate to have an excellent guide who took us on a six hour walking tour.
Now all we had to do was survive the car trip back.
Despite his mild exterior our driver was a maniac and I struggle to recall a more hair raising car trip. Speed limits were ignored, as we're yellow lines. We weaved in and out of traffic, all done in darkness. Kate held my hand tightly for most of the trip and we practiced a fair amount of rapid, shallow breathing. The drive actually became quite surreal, with the most absurd moment occurring when we had to brake to a halt on a busy city street for a family of capybara to cross the road. That's right - capybara. The animals we had scoured the Pantanal for, seen in numbers in the middle of the city. Kind of ironic.
Somehow or other we survived and arrived at Ouro Preto at 10 pm. But the day held one more twist for us. Ouro Preto may be best known for its amazing historic buildings but what we didn't know was that it is also a student town. We had arrived in the city on Saturday night, and it was party time. The streets were crawling with intoxicated students and the one night we really would have appreciated some quiet (we'd been travelling for 15 hours) was not to be. Our accommodation was in a wonderful historic hotel, that had no soundproofing at all. It felt like the party was going off in our backyard, accompanied by loud bursts of music and people roaring around on motorbikes with noisy motors. This went on until around 6 am.
The final twist of the knife - the next morning was Sunday, and the church bells began ringing loudly from 7.30. Fortunately, we'd been woken up even early by a bird tapping on our window chasing insects. Glenorchy had arrived with a vengeance.
All I can say is that, despite the less than joyful trip, it was actually worth it. Ouro Preto is a remarkable city. A unesco world heritage site, the city is an incredibly well preserved example of 19th century architecture. The streets are outrageously cobbled, steep and narrow. The churches have that classically overembellished interiors and the whole town just exudes vitality. I should be on everybody's tour destinations in brazil. We were fortunate to have an excellent guide who took us on a six hour walking tour.
Now all we had to do was survive the car trip back.
RSS Feed
