Day 5 – Last day to an exciting week
Written on August 31, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
I woke to another glorious and much warmer sunrise and went to try to find a cup of coffee. Breakfast isn’t served until 8, but I was lucky to find someone beginning to get organized in the kitchen.
Pousada d'Bro in Lavras Novas
First stop: Pousada d’Bro
She had already made the staff coffee and added the regular Mineiran overdose of sugar to the carafe, but I copped a cup anyway. Ricardo and Lucas materialized before long and we grabbed a few rolls and bananas and headed out for our fifth and final day on the road. Daytime photos of Lavras Novas and two more pousadas. Headed to Pousada d’Bro at the other end of town, Alto do Campo, where probably half of Lavras Nova’s sixty or so pousadas are crammed onto a hillside, pousadas of every style, shape and form, mostly owned by non-natives. Bro was not available for our visit, even though Lucas had scheduled the time slot at his convenience. Maids and gardener were scurrying around getting ready for the weekend onslaught, and they were very helpful getting neatening up rooms for Ricardo and answering my questions, but there was a lot that they left for the boss.
Our parting view of Mariana
Returning to Mariana
Return trip to Mariana for the last of the twelve pousadas, Contos de Minas, the modern iteration of the tradition of hospitality begun by the current owner’s grandparents back in 1938 when they operated a rancho dos tropeiros on the very same spot. Same story, the owner was not available, but the staff was excellent at providing us with the support we needed, to a certain point. I guess Friday is not a good day to interview hoteliers. So my research is not done. A stop at the municipal tourism office to get additional material for the destination articles on Mariana was par for the course. No material, nothing available beyond a small map of Mariana and 4 or 5 postcards, which I eagerly accepted only to find that they were views of Santa Barbara, Ouro Preto, Catas Altas, and Caraça. Now that’s a novel approach to incite tourism in your city – provide interested tourists with information on other destinations.
The three musketeers in their Project Exposure finery
So much in just 5 days, our heads were swimming
Over lunch and on the way back to Belo Horizonte, we revisited our week on the road. Amazing how much we packed into 5 days and we worked well as a team. Our heads are swimming, but we are looking forward to pulling this all together and packaging our work into something that really shows off what we discovered in Mariana, Lavras Novas, and Ouro Preto.
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Day 5 – Last day to an exciting week
Friday, August 20, 2010
I woke to another glorious and much warmer sunrise and went to try to find a cup of coffee. Breakfast isn’t served until 8, but I was lucky to find someone beginning to get organized in the kitchen.
Pousada d'Bro in Lavras Novas
First stop: Pousada d’Bro
She had already made the staff coffee and added the regular Mineiran overdose of sugar to the carafe, but I copped a cup anyway. Ricardo and Lucas materialized before long and we grabbed a few rolls and bananas and headed out for our fifth and final day on the road. Daytime photos of Lavras Novas and two more pousadas. Headed to Pousada d’Bro at the other end of town, Alto do Campo, where probably half of Lavras Nova’s sixty or so pousadas are crammed onto a hillside, pousadas of every style, shape and form, mostly owned by non-natives. Bro was not available for our visit, even though Lucas had scheduled the time slot at his convenience. Maids and gardener were scurrying around getting ready for the weekend onslaught, and they were very helpful getting neatening up rooms for Ricardo and answering my questions, but there was a lot that they left for the boss.
Our parting view of Mariana
Returning to Mariana
Return trip to Mariana for the last of the twelve pousadas, Contos de Minas, the modern iteration of the tradition of hospitality begun by the current owner’s grandparents back in 1938 when they operated a rancho dos tropeiros on the very same spot. Same story, the owner was not available, but the staff was excellent at providing us with the support we needed, to a certain point. I guess Friday is not a good day to interview hoteliers. So my research is not done. A stop at the municipal tourism office to get additional material for the destination articles on Mariana was par for the course. No material, nothing available beyond a small map of Mariana and 4 or 5 postcards, which I eagerly accepted only to find that they were views of Santa Barbara, Ouro Preto, Catas Altas, and Caraça. Now that’s a novel approach to incite tourism in your city – provide interested tourists with information on other destinations.
The three musketeers in their Project Exposure finery
So much in just 5 days, our heads were swimming
Over lunch and on the way back to Belo Horizonte, we revisited our week on the road. Amazing how much we packed into 5 days and we worked well as a team. Our heads are swimming, but we are looking forward to pulling this all together and packaging our work into something that really shows off what we discovered in Mariana, Lavras Novas, and Ouro Preto.
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