Excursion

This wednesday I started my trip to the state of Minas Gerais to search for my orchids. It was a very, very nice trip!

Day one. This day we (Chris and me) went all the way to Diamantina. We started at 8 in the morning and arrived at 19:30 in the evening. It was a long ride but the way was truly remarkable. The landscape was soooo beautiful and almost every view was like a picture. We had dinner at a small nice restaurant in town.

Diamantina is an old time and the name comes from the finding of diamants in the region. The whole town has a wonderful atmosphere and it was just great!

Day two. Early in the morning we traveled to the mountain regions around Diamantina equiped with our snake bite protection leggings... Chris search and collect a flower genus called Lycnophyra. Its an asteraceae that looks like small pine. We found alot and I helped him with collecting them. And of course I searched for my Hoffmannseggella orchids to, and I found them. They grow right on the mountains. They dont need any soil to grow... This area was very beautiful with mountaintops and really beautiful views.
In the evening I was soo hungry and felt for a pizza. This was unfortunately a very bad idea. After we went to the pizza place and ordered the pizza Chris told med that in Minas Gerais people can't make good pizza. And it was really, really true. I couldn't finnish it. Just crazy lots of really bad cheese and almost no tomato sause at all. If you ever go to Minas Gerais: Dont eat pizza!!

Day three. This day we went to other regions around Diamantina. We passed the old road that used to take the slaves from Diamantian to another city. The view from there was really spectacular. But the thought of the slaves brings the feeling down a bit.. We found alot of plants for Chris and I searched for a flowering Hoffmannseggella, but no luck. This day we also went to a region with a nice waterfall and I took a refreshing swim. Very nice!!
Well back in Diamantina we went for dinner at a more traditional place. The food is made over an open fire and tastes really good. After dinner we went to another very nice café where I had the best lime cake ever! After this we went for a walk in the city and then there was this super nice evening market with a lot of nice things to by. Some gifts were bought here to you guys at home...

Day four. Of to another city, Serra. Again the way was remarkably beautiful. We passed through this really big nice national park. Chris took some plants from there aswell and I garded to warn him if the police came... In Brazil you can get up to 3 years for collecting plants like tihs in the park, but he needed the species... We saw the sunset from a mountain top and the day was just perfect. In the evening we tried to find a hotel, but they were all rather expensive. We finaly found one. When I went for a shower I had company, a really big hairy spider tried to get away from the water.. I called for Chris and he told me it was really poisonous and I was lucky I didnt step on it... After the shower we went to a very nice place with live music.

Day five. Had to go back to Campinas. The way again very beautiful, but it felt bad to go back to (compared to Minas Gerais) boring Campinas....

Pictures will come in a bit! So long