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We started the day with a buffet breakfast. So far, all the meals have been buffet-style. All you can eat and lots of variety. We've got two buses to go around, 28-passenger buses provided for us by the city of Ouro Preto. At first, I thought we had two buses because our group is so big, but once you drive around Ouro Preto, you see why you can't have a big, 55-passenger bus. The streets are all cobblestone, some very narrow, and lots of steep hills. The hills are as steep as any in SF, but narrow and with cobblestones.
Ouro Preto was originally a mining town, gold in particular, though minerals of all sorts are mined in the state of Minas Gerais (sp?). Once in Ouro Preto, we got a tour of the Church of St Francis of Assisi, where our concert was. Many consider it the most ornate, beautiful church in Brasil. It has baroque frescoes and a nice balcony that we put to use in the concert. After our tour of the church, we had some shopping time in chaperone groups. St Francis church has a lots of soapstone in its decoration, and the local artisans seemingly can carve just about anything out of soapstone, and often very quickly. They've got chess sets, treble clefs, various containers and figurines. Family members will no doubt be receiving soapstone gifts.
After some shopping time,
we had lunch at a nice restaurant on a steep hill. It was buffet, of course,
with lots of new things to try, and some more "regular" things like
mashed potatoes that were suprisingly good. There was a group of Brazilian teengagers
outside that maybe had just eaten there themselves, and they were very interested
in hearing what the boys do. Following
lunch we headed to the minerology museum in the center of town which they call
the "White House." They had lots of security on hand with various
precious gems and minerals on display. (No photos allowed) From the museum we
headed to St Francis to rehearse from 4-5. At 5pm, we headed back to Dom Bosco
to change into our concert clothes.
Our concert was supposed to start at 7pm, and we were told to start at 7:10.
People were rolling in as late as 7:30, which was only a slight problem since
we started the concert from the back of the church where people were trying
to come in. It was an excellent first concert. The audience reaction was not
entirely what I expected; they liked different songs than our American audiences.
They really liked O Vos Omnes, and not Hear My Prayer so much. I guess you need
to understand the words for that one. Hampton was brilliant as always, and the
Brasilians loved the spirituals. We got a standing ovation and some people bought
CDs and wanted them signed.
We returned to Dom Bosco for a late dinner (buffet!), and then to bed.
This part of Brasil looks like Europe, but the tress are wrong for Europe. Factor in the language and the people, and it continues to be clear this is like no place we've ever been. I'm also personally not used to having this many adults around on tour. I remember our last tour to the southern hemisphere, we had four adults I think. We're very efficient, but on this tour I'm not having to move cases around and do a lot of the logistical things. We have a whole entourage of people when we go place. We've got two buses with drivers, Page our tour escort, Christina our concert manager, Joao our translator, Herculano our escort from the mayor's office, and Sammy Davis Jr (not sure quite what he does), plus our guest singers-slash camp counselors, in addition to our official staff. I don't know Sammy Davis Jr's real name but he looks just like the singer. I think he works at the mayor's office as well.
Tomorrow we go to Mariana for our concert there.
--Mr. Fox
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