BELO HORIZONTE

The third-largest city in Brazil by population, Belo Horizonte, or B.H. (bee-ah-GAH) to the locals, is nestled in the hills of the Serra do Curral, a small mountain range for which the city was originally named Curral D’El Rei (King’s Corral). The city is situated in a triangular position with Rio de Janeiro to the east and São Paulo to the south. Belo Horizonte, while not as evolved as São Paulo or as picturesque as Rio, offers some interesting attractions that will take you off the tourist track for awhile. First and foremost, Belo Horizonte is a shopper’s dream. The garment district, called Barro Preto, offers some of the best deals on clothes in the entire country. The city offers several active street fairs with wonderful handcrafted items at excellent prices, even for Brazil. And the basics of dining, groceries, and accommodations are 10–30 percent less expensive than in the other cities. If you get carried away, you can look around for some good deals on extra luggage.

Belo Horizonte is also home to all kinds of great food products, including sweets, bottled waters, beef, and the famous Brazilian pão de quejo (cheese bread), which was invented here. And while the city may not offer the breadth of international cuisine that São Paulo offers, Comida Mineira is well known and loved throughout Brazil as the best country cookin’ available.

Belo Horizonte, with 3.2 million people is till considered by residents of São Paulo and Rio to be something of a farming town, full of caipiras (country folk) transporting their cattle and chickens to and from the city by mule. Indeed, you can still find, on the outskirts of town, country farmers with mule carts moving their cargo precariously down city streets (taking the right-of-way over the cars). But Belo Horizonte is, in truth, a bustling metropolis with a crowded city center, an international airport, several upscale neighborhoods, and everything you would expect from a major city. Life in B.H. has actually become somewhat stressed and agitated in the past 10 years or so, making these simple, country folk something of a terror behind the wheel. Driving in Belo Horizonte is, to be sure, an exercise in insanity and self-restraint. Combine this pent-up, urbanized stress with the sincere but insufficient attempt at urban planning and you have one of the most challenging and awe-inspiring street scenes in Latin America.