black gold

We took Melissa today to Ouro Preto, a city just over an hour from here where so much of Brazil's history began (or at least the part after Portugal got here). I won't bore you with a history lesson but we learned so many interesting things today about the history of the slaves in Brazil and about the group of men who plotted Brazil's separation from Portugal. We even climbed down into a gold mine (tons of gold was mined from Ouro Preto). The mine was worked by an African tribe from the Congo which was captured and enslaved, including their king - nicknamed Chico Rei. He later purchased his freedom and later freed 43 other slaves. We visited the church they built themselves and saw the basins were they brought back the gold powder in their hair and teeth. [the humor in the picture is because Melissa slipped a little as she was taking our picture... Amy, Simon and Lucy had to turn back because the path got too tight... one more interesting fact, back in the day the population of Ouro Preto doubled that of New York and rivaled many other booming towns]