Finally I hit the road today. When I left my friend's place in the capital it was already around 1pm. The sun was really strong. Within the first steps I gave on the streets of Belo Horizonte I started wondering: Leo, are you SURE you want to start hitchhiking at this time of the day when the sun is this strong and your backpack is as heavy as it was never before? I wasn't really in the mood.
But I've decided to go for it anyways. Just passed by a store and bought sunscreen and a bottle of water. 1h30min of ride on a local bus and I got to the exit of the city.
All was good, the first ride stopped in within 30min and the woman in the car was a student of journalism who lives in the city of Marina. Mariana is a neighbor city of Ouro Preto, which is my destination for today. I don't know if you people from outside Brazil got to know, but recently we've had a huge tragedy near the city of Mariana where some mineral waste have mixed in the water of rivers polluting and killing animal lives for over 500km til the coast. It also destroyed a small town within Mariana's area. I haven't been reading much news lately, but because I was coming to this area I did my job as a hitchhiker and talked about that disaster. Actually my intentions were to ask her if she've heard about groups of volunteers around here that I could possibly join to help somehow. Unfortunately she didn't know about any group, but she was nice enough to inform me a bit more about the accident from her points of view as a local person and an almost-journalist.
The second ride didn't take longer to stop either. The driver now was an old man from the countryside called Geraldo. Geraldo said he likes to pick up hitchhikers because it's always nice to have someone to talk to while driving, and it helps on keeping himself awake through the long distances of this country. Geraldo told me some stories of police abuse, some stories that made me feel a bit sad probably because I'm still a bit used to how things were like in Denmark. This old and kind man decided later on to take a little detour just to drive me all the way to the city center of Ouro Preto.
I'm glad I have decided to hitchhike anyways besides my wonders. I'm glad I wasn't hitchhiking when a scaring heavy hail rain fell down and I was safe and dry inside Geraldo's car. And I was super happy when I arrived to Ouro Preto and the weather was great to walk up and down these steep hills looking for my host's address.
I'll try to post later a short video I've made when that crazy rain started and Geraldo was driving his old car with almost no visibility of the road. Adventurous but all ended up good :)
But I've decided to go for it anyways. Just passed by a store and bought sunscreen and a bottle of water. 1h30min of ride on a local bus and I got to the exit of the city.
All was good, the first ride stopped in within 30min and the woman in the car was a student of journalism who lives in the city of Marina. Mariana is a neighbor city of Ouro Preto, which is my destination for today. I don't know if you people from outside Brazil got to know, but recently we've had a huge tragedy near the city of Mariana where some mineral waste have mixed in the water of rivers polluting and killing animal lives for over 500km til the coast. It also destroyed a small town within Mariana's area. I haven't been reading much news lately, but because I was coming to this area I did my job as a hitchhiker and talked about that disaster. Actually my intentions were to ask her if she've heard about groups of volunteers around here that I could possibly join to help somehow. Unfortunately she didn't know about any group, but she was nice enough to inform me a bit more about the accident from her points of view as a local person and an almost-journalist.
The second ride didn't take longer to stop either. The driver now was an old man from the countryside called Geraldo. Geraldo said he likes to pick up hitchhikers because it's always nice to have someone to talk to while driving, and it helps on keeping himself awake through the long distances of this country. Geraldo told me some stories of police abuse, some stories that made me feel a bit sad probably because I'm still a bit used to how things were like in Denmark. This old and kind man decided later on to take a little detour just to drive me all the way to the city center of Ouro Preto.
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| Geraldo picked me up here by this police station that you can't see but it's on the right side of the photo. Here you see a cross - because of course we're in Brazil. And also the flags of Brazil and of Minas Gerais (the state where I am right now). |
I'm glad I have decided to hitchhike anyways besides my wonders. I'm glad I wasn't hitchhiking when a scaring heavy hail rain fell down and I was safe and dry inside Geraldo's car. And I was super happy when I arrived to Ouro Preto and the weather was great to walk up and down these steep hills looking for my host's address.
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| City center of Ouro Preto where Geraldo dropped me off. And the hitchhiking sign I've made and used to get here. |
I'll try to post later a short video I've made when that crazy rain started and Geraldo was driving his old car with almost no visibility of the road. Adventurous but all ended up good :)
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