Day 18: Belo Horizonte

Finally, weather I'm prepared for; it was a lovely sunny day in Belo Horizonte (which literally means "beautiful horizon" :) Here in Belo I'm staying with my tita's friend Mona and her family. In the morning we went to Praça do Papa, a huge park in the Mangabeiras barrio. The first thing I noticed about Belo was how hilly it is. As we were driving we would go up and down all over the city. The Praça do Papa is located up near the mountains, and from there you get a beautiful view of the city. It was such a beautiful day out, there were lots of people in the park playing with their dogs, jogging, and flying kites .

Praça do Papa

People flying kites + view of the city

From there we went further up to a mirante (a viewpoint).

Belo Horizonte

In the afternoon I picked up my match tickets at the mall. The World Cup starts in 3 days! So excited :)

In the evening, I went to a small party at a nearby street where people were wearing their Brasil jerseys and dancing and singing to samba. It was such a lively and fun atmosphere. Pre-World Cup samba party? Yup, I'm definitely in Brasil!

Samba musicians somewhere in the middle