August 11,

We awoke and had our Javas and breakfast of egg sandwiches with a verde mayo. We have found so many different mayos on shelves at grocery stores – it is surprising. Anyway, we set out walking around 1000. As we were out and about we saw men suspended on ropes cleaning one building face or highrise windows on another. It was weird…like a call went out that today was the day to dangle from the sides of twenty story buildings!

At 1045, we arrived at our destination. It was called the Museum of Arts and Crafts. But part of the museum was housed inside of an old railway depot, building “A” – the other part being in building “B.” Building A was the start and the grand restored entrance of the former depot. It was an open two story space with a great skylight. Beautiful, but no references of the depot were given. It is just a building to house the museum. Anyway it was free. The displays were of artifacts and historic tools in this region from the 18th to the 20th centuries in both buildings. There were all manner of objects being shown. Leather goods from saddles to garments; gigantic wooden canoes hewn from one massive tree; big scales that weighed many different things… There were old, nicely-preserved wooden benches from the depot itself also made from single huge pieces of wood; old wooden yokes for oxen and farm implements; all manner of mills, wheels and stills; and lots of various belt driven machinery. There was a setup apothecary, a goods vendor’s shop, and a cobbler setup. It was fun to go through – exploring and seeing. So many objects were familiar but varied for this area.

After we finished, we trekked over to the Mercado Central. On the opposite corner of the intersection from the market’s entrance was a great painted mural. The market was established in 1929 and occupies an entire city block. Inside there were all manner of goods for sale in individual stalls and cafe stalls. It was a maze of sights, sounds, and smells. We ate lunch at a place called Restaurante do Jorge Americano. This cafe was established in 1989 and specialized in Minas Gerais cuisine. I had chicken & stewed okra, with corn polenta, beans, rice and grated greens. Jeff had liver & onions with the same sides. It was very filling and good. The bill came to 112 BRL or $21.45. When we finished we walked through the market. We bought some aged Minas Gerais cheese. This area has a great cheese-making reputation, and we bought a sampler of four kinds. Next we found a stall selling Brazil nuts and dark chocolate covered almonds, plus other such snacks. We bought those two things and skedaddled! Because the lady at this booth kept giving us samples and we would have bought much more if we hadn’t left.

We walked back toward our place stopping at a grocery store. I found a small mint plant, as Jeff rounded up some wine. We arrived at our place and relaxed. Supper was a Watermelon salad which has feta, onions, olives and some mint – off the plant we just bought. What a great day of exploration! The weather had been cool which helped.