Ouro Preto - Gold Miner

It was raining the whole day, when the bus climbed up the steep road to Ouro Preto. The vehicle was packed until burst while the luggage of my fellow travellers was strapped on the roof. Tomorrow was market day and since ever the people living in the villages of the highlands were looking for their fortune in Ouro Preto, the old gold mining town of Minas Gerais. In the centre of town around Praça Tiradentes the streets were bustling with fortune seekers: men selling gems, women laying cards and cowboys providing security to those, who already made it. Ouro Preto was once the riches town of the New World and money from the gold rush brought architects, artists and all kind of business men to town, who built huge palaces, churches and a unique city layout for this part of the world. After the gold rush the town got forgotten and therefore most of the old buildings are still here. The rain was over and I was ready for a walk to the hills, from where the town unfolded in a sea of red tiles. Back in town, sitting on Praça Tiradentes and watching the people haggling for the best deals set me back to the times of the big gold rush. A time which never seemed to be over here in the hills full of fortune seeking gold miners.