Some of the most breathtaking scenery...

Sorry for the long absence, but our tour took us to the mountain city of Ouro Preto which included limited internet access at our hotel. Plus, we have been on the go almost non-stop since I last blogged.

When last you heard from us, we were on our way to São Paulo and then Belo Horizonte by plane. From Belo Horizonte we took a two hour bus ride into the mountains of Minas Gerais (the home state of our Ilse, one of our tour guides) where we reached the city of our home stays, Ouro Preto (which means Black Gold in Portuguese). We met our home stay families at the Ouro Preto bus terminal and much of the anxiety that had built in anticipation of going off to unknown homes disappeared as we pulled in and saw more than 75 smiling faces waiting to greet and meet us. They welcomed us with open homes and open arms and open hearts. And while the reports back ranged from “they were kind of quiet” to “really nice” to “I wish I could stay there longer,” a complete account of what home stays were like is beyond the scope of this blog. So you’ll just have to wait for your student’s return to get all the juicy details. That said, the comments I did hear from kids about their home stay experiences were overwhelmingly positive.

But home stay only accounted for the evenings. During the day on Tuesday, we had a truly spectacular experience exploring the shops and streets of Ouro Preto. This beautiful city is set, quite literally, in the mountains, so getting from one shop to the next frequently requires a climb or a descent along original cobblestone streets. Plus, it is filled with over 13 historic (300 year old) Baroque churches and 9 chapels, so walking (or should I say climbing) tours are almost mandatory. After touring this beautiful city, we each found our own lunch (I can personally vouch for the Bacon Burger and Fries at the “Satelite Lanchonette”) and dug in to shop our feet off.

That evening the choir performed at the Ouro Preto Opera House. Word has it that the OPOH is one of the oldest theaters in the Americas. With three levels of seating along each side and a true raked stage, the Opera House was definitely one of our most interesting venues. The rather loud wood floors and the enthusiastic (some might describe them as raucous) Brazilian crowd made for a less than ideal auditory experience, but our students performed as professionally as always. Following the concert (and what has become the ritual post concert mobbing of our students by their appreciative Brazilian fans begging for photos and autographs), students returned to their home stays for a final night of honest-to-goodness Brazilian life.

Wednesday found us at the D. Veloso School in Ouro Preto where we exchanged national anthems, and performances. Our Ouro Preto hosts performed what seemed to be a Brazilian interpretation of American line dancing to a Brazilian pop song. They followed that with a traditional Brazilian country dance that was very much like square dancing complete with costumes. While we were watching, several of the Ouro Preto students who were not involved in the performance grabbed some of our students and began a conga line through the courtyard. It was not long before the entire schoolyard became one big fiesta of singing and dancing students.

Next it was our turn. Even though we performed a shortened version of our usual concert, the kids at the school just let it all hang out and the energy and appreciation that followed each selection were beyond anything we had experienced thus far. After closing with “Praise His Holy Name,” (who doesn’t love to clap along to that one?) we shared some snacks and drinks offered to us by the school and then said our good-byes. Because the school is located in the one of the lowest sections of Ouro Preto, our walk back to the square in the city center included a vertical ascent of somewhere around 300 feet, some of it on stairs but much of it on the ancient cobblestone streets that wind through this enchanting town. We worked up an appetite with just that walk alone, so we once again lunched independently (the group at the “Satelite” grew even larger on Wednesday) and had time for some shopping and taking photographs. I cannot emphasize enough the incredible beauty of this city’s streets and shops and vistas. It seemed like another amazing photo awaited at the turn of every corner. If you only look at a few of the photos that people have taken when they return, be sure that Ouro Preto photos are among them!

Wednesday afternoon we brought the choir back to the rustic mountain retreat where the chaperones had holed up while the students were on their home stays. After a quick check-in to grab uniforms and shoes, we hopped back on the bus to ride (2 hours) in to Belo Horizonte (Brazil’s third largest city at 2.5 million people) for a concert following a Catholic mass at the beautiful church of Cura D’Ars. Rumor had it that we were brought back to perform at this church by the daughter of the former Governor of Minas Gerais who was now the Vice-President of Brazil after she saw the Shores choir three years ago there. Though they were an older and more reserved audience (we were performing in their house of worship after all), the people from the church treated us wonderfully, plying us with savory and sweet pastries as well as water and Guaraná (our new favorite soft drink and a Brazilian original). After bidding farewell to BH, we stopped along the way for yet one more wonderful Brazilian buffet dinner before returning to our hotel just outside of Ouro Preto.

Thankfully our tour planners set aside Thursday as a kind of free day to choose what you wanted to do. Some students chose to sleep in at the hotel while others were up early, heading into town to explore and shop and take photos. For those who slept in, busses were available later to ferry them into the city. Eventually, all of the group made it into Ouro Preto for one last round of shopping and sightseeing. (For some of us, we’re still not sure how we’ll get all our purchases home, but we’ll cross that bridge once we get to Rio.) Dinner that night was at a quaint restaurant named Casas dos Contos. Located down a small side street of Ouro Preto and set in the side of a mountain, Casas dos Contos had some incredible Minas architecture with low, wood beamed ceilings and lots of copper and iron ornamentation on the walls, plus the view was spectacular. Typically, all of our meals included the first drink for free and subsequent drinks that could be purchased individually. However, Casas dos Contos had pitchers of water and Coke and, you guessed it, Guaraná on the tables for us to drink as much as we wanted. At the end of the meal, we were told that the unlimited drinks came at the price of having to sing for the staff. Never a group to turn down an opportunity to perform, our students serenaded the waiters and cooks with our three opening pieces. The combination of full bellies and the small restaurant completely filled with joyful voices was delicious. It felt as though the music wrapped around us like a soft woolen blanket and brought bitter-sweet tears to the eyes of several of the parents in the room. I can only imagine what passers-by must have thought about the beautiful sounds radiating from the tiny restaurant off a perfectly ordinary side street in Ouro Preto.

Back at the hotel that evening, we hosted a group of students from the D. Veloso school to an evening of fun and games. Between the volleyball and the soccer (on the basketball court) and the Capoiera performances which even some of our kids tried (not to mention the ping pong and billiards and snacks and just sitting and trying to break the language barrier), we made some new friends, learned a few things and had a great time!

As our bus winds through the mountains on the 8 hour bus ride to Rio de Janeiro, our trip is also starting to wind to a close. We have one more concert to perform, one more show to see (Samba in Rio) and one more sightseeing tour before we begin our journey home. But for now I will close so I can go back to watching some of the most breathtaking scenery I have ever seen...