Soccer is religion in Brazil. Yesterday was an important championship game and the local team, Cruzeiro, won. The fans were all over the city honking horns and setting off fireworks. They spent their day at parties drinking and having churrasco, their big BBQs. There was music everywhere and people dancing in the streets. This was all happening during a huge thunderstorm with rain drenching everyone. I will go to a soccer party on Wednesday for another championship game.

Belo Horizonte is huge. There are all apartment buildings and skyscrapers all over the city. This seems different than American or European cities where the tall buildings are only downtown. The roads are crowded. I think this is a common theme all over the world, and everywhere I go, people say the same thing. “The traffic is terrible”, whether it is San Francisco, Vilnius, Honolulu, Delhi or Belo Horizonte.

Instead of watching soccer, I got to see some art. Inhotim is an impressive outdoor art gallery, with beautiful gardens and pavilions featuring international contemporary artists. It is huge and one could easily spend 2 days there. My friends and I were there for most of the day yesterday. The park is about one hour from Belo Horizonte (on a Sunday when everyone is watching soccer). One artist I liked was Geta Brătescu, a Romanian artist who does colorful collages. I always like how Olafur Eliasson plays with light. The landscape is tropical and reminded me of Hawaii. This was truly one of the most beautiful outdoor museums I have visited, and it is worth a trip to Minas Gerais just to see it.  Here are some photos.

I wish I spoke some Portuguese. This is the third time I have been to Brazil in three years, and it seems that by now I should understand something. I don’t watch TV, but it is curious that the television in the hotel room has over 100 channels, but not one in English; not even CNN. I look Brazilian enough that people speak Portuguese to me.   This is different than Vilnius, where I don’t look like I should speak Lithuanian.

I am loving the food. I have been to a great vegetarian Asian restaurant, San Ro, in Belo Horizonte and the restaurant at Inhotim. Brazilians typically have huge buffets with fresh salads, vegetables and lots of mangos. Birds, fruits, flowers and happy people in Belo Horizonte.