São João del Rei

São João del Rei
and area

Photos of the area surrounding the basin of the Rio das Mortes
.

São João del Rei

Ibituruna

São Tiago

Cl. Xavier Chaves

Dores de Campos

Nazareno

Prados

Ritápolis

Barroso

Resende Costa

Tiradentes

Conceição da Barra

FCA Train Line

Hiking in the Highlands

Links

Bio

Contact

Make yourself at home!

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panorama
Photo from video by Cris Carezzato

Interactive Google Map

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português

Dear friends,

The adventure continues.

This website will consist primarily of a photographic study of São João del Rei, the town where I now reside, and of the surrounding area. The town is located on a high plateau (at around 3000 ft. above sea level) between Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte in southern Brazil.

It has a population of around 100,000, is home to an engineering university and a public music conservatory, and is one of the better known tourist attractions of Brazil because of its many baroque churches and its pleasant climate.

The average high temperature in the summer here is around 85° F, average low in the winter around 55° F. It receives a fair amount of rain (15 days a month in the summer), but the result is a very green and clean environment.

The town was once a gold-mining center, and today it is home to modern industry. From a distance, São João del Rei resembles a town in Austria. Up close it is, well, very Brazilian with a nice touch of France, especially in the historic center with its vistas along narrow cobblestone streets lined with small shops opening onto stone bridges and ornate public buildings. Imagine my amazement at coming here and finding Europe, which I have missed all these years, but at half the price.

Perhaps best of all, at least from the point of view of a former bikeracer, it is surrounded by accessible mountains with some interesting climbs. Add to this the town's flourishing cycling culture and relatively patient drivers, and you have a potential cyclist's paradise.

Eventually, I might post some essays about my experiences here, and also about my preceding sojourn in the crucible of Mexico (3 years!) which led to and prepared me for the present adventure.

This comes on top of 20 years of living and surviving in Europe (for details click here) where I, as a hobby and/or under compulsion, immersed myself in the study of history and literatures and dedicated myself to societal observation and analysis. I'm still addicted to it, and maybe I've learned something thereby. For you to judge.

Enjoy.

redmanrt

This website was launched 14 Oct. 2008