Market Day

6/22/14

We arrived in Belo Horizonte on the perfect day! Our first full day in the city was Sunday and we had no really important games until the U.S. v. Portugal game later that night. So off we went! We grabbed the City bus and headed up to the Central Market. It was huge! Three stories with a parking lot on top – we had a great time just walking around, eyeballing all of the stalls: fruits, toys, supplements, clothes, all kinds of raw meats, kitchen tools, small pets, live birds (so sad), and the ever-present Havaianas flip flops.

Central Market

Lots of fruits

Cat drinking coconut water

Cheese!!!

Market from rooftop parking lot

Fruit stand

Nick's CR Souvenir

The best part was that Nick FINALLY found something with Costa Rica on it! We have no idea what it is and even after asking (in broken Spanish) the little old Portuguese lady who made it what it was (if she even understood what we were trying to ask her), we had no idea what her response in Portuguese was. (Traveling without our personal translators, Fe and Filipe, is hard!) A trash bag for your car, an underwear bag , we have no idea. But it’s embroidered with both the Costa Rican and Brazilian flags, and it says 2014. [Nick: I have no idea what an underwear bag is but that was Fe’s guess. Later in the trip I saw a bag meant to hang in your closet that had two sections. The one on top had a picture of a bra and below of panties, so it may be a real thing. Still, ours is not obviously that, so the mystery is not solved. STILL it was important that we got one.] So we bought it! We’ll figure out a use for it later. J

We spent the rest of the afternoon roaming the city and checking out the Sunday festivities. We walked to the Municipal Park, where we encountered the largest street market I have ever seen! Again, every possible item imaginable, the stalls took up several blocks, and each type of item (jewelry, toys, kid’s clothes, furniture, etc.) had its own giant section in the market.

Sunday Market

Sunday Market

Sunday Market

We caught a glimpse of a free capoeira show and strolled along enjoying all the people watching.

Capoeira

Capoeira

The park itself was huge and really nice. People were picnicking in every open space, canoeing in the lake, and enjoying the carnival rides. It was such a festive atmosphere for just a regular old Sunday. The only bad thing about it being a Sunday was that most businesses were closed, including restaurants. So lunch was hard to find and we finally had to settle on good old Micky D’s. Not the greatest meal by any means but it was worth a visit to see the special “Brasileño” burger they had for sale to celebrate La Copa, with the bun imprinted to look like a soccer ball.

Municipal Park

Random Coca-Cola Train

We headed to the Praça da Liberdade (site of the Governor’s Palace, a big public garden, and many restored 19^th century buildings) to check out the Memorial Minas Gerais Vale Museum. It was INCREDIBLE. If it hadn’t all been in Portuguese, I’m sure it would have been even better. Regardless, it’s probably the most impressive museum I’ve been to other than the Gandhi museum in New Delhi. The museum’s three story building, built in 1897, is the site where the first foundation stone of the city of Belo Horizonte was laid. Every small room had a different theme, with interactive exhibits and 3-D decorations. They had a special fashion exhibit about the #10 jersey. Even though I couldn’t understand 90% of it, it truly was an incredibly remarkable museum! Kudos to the art directors and curators. If you are ever in Belo Horizonte in the future, whether you speak Portuguese or not, you should definitely check it out. 

Governor's Palace

Random Pretty Building

Random Pretty Building

The day’s festivities didn’t stop there. The Praça da Liberdade was also having a weekend festival of live art and music. What a day! We grabbed a slice of pizza and sat down to enjoy the crowd and listen to a solo guitar player cover ‘90’s American rock anthems. (If you think pizza is ubiquitous in the U.S., you should come to Brazil. Close to 50% of the restaurants we’ve seen (and subsequently our meals) have been pizzerias. Not sure if the country loves pizza that much or if it’s just the quickest, cheapest food available.) The sculptures and live graffiti artists were cool, and surprisingly, not all the art was about the World Cup. Nick showed me a soccer board game that he used to play as a kid, where you flick a coin across a wooden soccer field with imbedded nails as the players – kind of like a horizontal plinko game. He even showed some Argentinian kids, standing around watching us, how to play. It was a really great festival atmosphere.  [Nick: The Argentinian kids and their father stopped to watch us play. Basically you flick the coin through the maze of nails in quick, alternating turns until someone scores. Cat cheated by taking two flicks in a row and the Argentinian’s quickly called her out on it, raising their voices like the ref had missed an obvious foul on Messi. I took my penalty kick, scored and then the Argentinian kids took over.]

Our view of Liberty Plaza

Cat Playing Soccer

Nick Playing Soccer

Argentinian kids picking up the game

We headed back to our hotel for a late afternoon nap before the U.S. v. Portugal game. Being a tourist wears you out! ;o) We were lucky enough to stumble upon a per kilo Chinese restaurant – so deliciously dangerous! – and sat down with a young British kid to watch the game. Nick couldn’t help but tease the guy a little bit for England being eliminated, especially since they would be facing Costa Rica in a couple of days. The kid seemed totally resigned to the fact that the upcoming game would be a wash for England (he had bought a ticket to the game ahead of time, hoping it was England that was eliminating Costa Rica and not the other way around) but he wished for a good game, which we all do – and fortunately, the World Cup has not disappointed. We grabbed some ice cream from the McDonald’s ice cream stand (something you don’t see in the U.S. but which is also very prevalent here) and enjoyed the second half of the game back in our hotel room, listening to the sounds of the roaring Savassi crowd below chant “Ticos, Ticos”!

U.S. fans in Savassi