Sao Joao del Rei to Ouro Preto --- 30 Jan 2006
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We relaxed at the hotel until 1:30pm, as all churches and museums in Sao Joao are closed today
because it's Monday. Checked out of the hotel, leaving our bags with the desk clerk.
Had lunch and then explored parts of Sao Joao del Rei that we had not previously visited.
About 4:30pm got a taxi and picked up our bags at the hotel and drove to the bus terminal to get our
"5:30pm" bus to Ouro Preto. Our bus did not arrive in Sao Joao for boarding until about 7:30pm, so
our ride to Ouro Preto was entirely in the dark. We finally arrived in Ouro Preto about 11:30pm
From the Ouro Preto bus station we took a taxi to the "Hotel Colonial" (same name as our hotel in Sao
Joao, but no connection between the two). The exterior of the hotel retains its colonial appearance
but the interior has been decorated in a completely in a minimalist modern style. Our "room" was on
two levels: the entrance was on the lower level and the very small room there contained mainly a
couch and had an attached modern bath; a stairway without railing (which we thought to be
dangerous) led to a small upper loft which held a large bed and left space for little else. It did not
take us long to find that when we were at the lower level anything we needed was likely on the upper
level, and vice versa. Very modern, very high-tech-looking, very new-looking, very
modern-minimalist-looking --- probably fine for some people, but not to our liking. We decided to
look into changing hotels the following morning.