this is my home state, minas gerais. it is an absolutely beautiful land of lush valleys and mountains, of old fashioned, conservative types, of cowboys and miners, of great earthy food and cachaca, of stunning nature bathed in waterfalls and immense emerald-green rivers. it is home to gorgeous cities like ouro preto, diamantina, congonhas, all built with the proceeds of vast mineral wealths, as the names imply, gold, diamond, emeralds, and silver. it is home to some of brasils most stunning architectural and artistic gems, ouro preto standing out as a particularly gorgeous and historically important city. ouro preto is a unesco world heritage city, and it is absolutley stunning visually, and has one of the best carnavals in brasil. http://www.ouropreto.com.br/fotografia/
http://www.ouropretotour.com/i_ouropreto_paginas/opreto_03.htm


minas is also home to some awesome nightlife, belo horizonte being the brazilian capital for bars and, i think, beautiful women. interestingly, despite its traditional heritage, it is also home to some of the countries most avant-garde artists and arts, including somewhat incongruously, the great metal rockers sepultura (metalheads will know who i mean ;)). i am from belo horizonte, particularly, no 500 rua bernardo guimaraes, funcionarios. i grew up there and in my familys farm in confins and lagoa santa.

in the interior of the state, nestled inside its lush valleys and low mountains - minas is very hilly - are some gorgeous gems, little towns that hold on to old ways of life, unpaved roads, unimaginably old suits hanging on wire frame old men, hatted and wrinkled by the always present sun. i loved these little villages, the intimacy of the locals, the ease with which they accepted life, even the hardest of lives. i love their settled relationship with the land, for unlike 1st world people, they dont seem to have an endless hunger to control, consume, domain and destroy nature. they do just enough to survive, and in that embrace there is awesome beauty. one of my favourite towns was called milho verde - green corn - a miniscule village about one hour away from diamantina along very hilly roads. i have some fotos of milho verde below, and i hope my descriptions convey the absolute love and respect i developed for it and its people.

in the brasilian context minas is a prosperous state, fortunate in its diverse natural gifts, and blessed, or cursed, by a determendy dogged people and culture. it is a kind of brasilian texas in lore and fact, and similarly self-regarding (i went to undergrad at UT, maybe because i felt so at home in texas :) ). Early on it was minerals which gave it its wealth, laterly it is a combination of minerals (precious stones and heavy metals like magneseum and steel), agriculture - particularly coffee, grains and fruits -, meat - cities like uberlandia and uberaba are global leaders in cattle production-, and industrial products including automobiles and heavy machinery. unfortunately with modernity has come a certain amount of violence and social discord. while growing up in the 70s and early 80s, i used to play football in the streets with kids from the favelas. i used to visit them in their homes in the favelas and never once feared or even knew what fear was. now that would be deemed suicidal behavior, and as a consequence of continuing injustices, racism, elitism, police brutality and many say, drugs, many favelas have become violent no-go areas. despite it all, belo horizonte remains a vibrant and extremely fun city, with great restaurants, bars and night life, and striking views.

these photos cover only a few towns which i visited in 2001, and show only a very small portion of the overall beauty. this first photo is from a roll of negative film which i manage to salvage from a damaged camera. this photo in particular, to me, reflects something essential about the soul of mineiros, something quiet, old, friendly, slow, personal. in the future i will hopefully provide more views. in the meantime, i highly recommend a visit.

theres something disarmingly charming in the combination of cowboy hat, thin mustache and havaiana flip flops sitting on a street curb, accompanied by a lazy dog. minas gerais

a kid, doing what kids do everywhere, in a little town in minas gerais.