Colonial towns

We rose early to join our tour. We were joined by a Brazilian couple who hailed from the south of the country. This meant we were going to an additional town on our tour. After an hour of high speed mini-bus driving we arrived at the town of Conhongas where there are a set of sculptures by a ex-slave who had no hands and was nicknamed 'little cripple'. Apparently he was very important in the furthering of the artistic style. His name is Antonio Francisco Lisboa, or Aleijadinho. He was certainly prolific.


Church, old

After Conhongas, we went to the pretty town on Mariana. Unfortunately, the church was closed, so it was a whistle stop tour.


P and T overlooking Mariana

From Mariana we went to Ouro Preto. Ouro Preto used to be the capital of the state of Minas Gerais until Belo Horizonte was created. It is a pretty, busy town built on a steep hill. There are alot of tourists and churches here. After a while, old churches,inside and out, start looking pretty similar.


Church, also old

A few interesting things we noticed were:

• The extra set of ornate doors inside the churches
  
• The separation of slaves from the free people was enforced for the congregation
  
• The sheer quantity of images of Christ suffering on the cross
  
• The nativity scenes in each church, with baby Jesus missing of course. He gets dropped in at midnight
  
• The quantity of gold, naturally
  

After getting back to the hotel, we got our executive limousine (the same bus we had been in all day) to the airport to fly to Vitoria. The flight was quick and uneventful. The hotel in Vitoria is clean and, apart from the sauna/fridge option of the A/C unit, absolutley fine.