Culture Part II and Green Canyons

Welcome back!  So, this time I will be updating the cultural observations that I made back in October during my "Time Passes" post.  If you haven't read that one yet, click on this link: http://avidagringo.blogspot.com.br/2017/10/time-passes-one-month-later.html

I'm also going to discuss visiting Rio Grande do Sul/Santa Catarina's amazing "Green Canyons".

*DISCLAIMER:  When I discuss Brazilian (Rio Grande do Sul) culture, this is based on MY observations, experiences and discussions with people I meet in Brazil*

* When discussing work culture, this is based on observations at my company, so your experiences may be different*

*Also, when discussing culture, keep in mind these will be generalizations and won't be true for every person*

Food Culture:

During my last cultural post, I described Churrasco and what it means in this reason.  After attending a few of these gatherings I can confirm a few things.  The meat is usually prepared during the gathering, with a healthy portion of salt covering the meat as it roasts over the open flame.  The meats used can be pretty much anything; beef, chicken, pork, etc., but occasionally you will see things like cheese and pineapple used.  At the gatherings I have been to, beef is usually the meat of choice.  The two common cuts I saw were something that was similar to roast beef, and whatever you would call the rib cuts of meat.

Once the meat is done, it is usually cut into small pieces or portions, and can be accompanied by a dish called farofa, which is usually made from a fried mandioca flour.  If you don't know what mandioca is, then another name for it is cassava.  Cassava is a type of root that you will also see in some West African dishes.  The root itself is usually flavorless, though the greens can be fairly bitter.  When it comes to farofa though, it is used to accompany meat.  You pick up a piece of meat and roll it in the farofa before eating it.  And this is how the meal portion goes.  Depending on what the people around you are doing, it can be fine to use your hands, but be sure of what others are doing.  When in doubt just use a fork and knife.

Drinking Culture:

Since Brazilians seem to be fairly social people, it can be important to be present in social situations in order to make friends with people here.  There seems to be a few different types of places that people in Porto Alegre seem to frequent.  The first are called boteco(s).  These are pretty much normal bars that will have cheap food and good happy hours where you can get choppe, which are smaller glasses of beer served here in Brazil.   Another is a typical club.  You will find these to be pretty similar to clubs that you will find in the US.  The third is one that doesn't seem as common here in Porto Alegre, and it is an informal spot where you stand outside and mingle with friends and strangers.

So, there are a few "must-do's" when it comes to drinking in Porto Alegre.  The biggest is that the beer must ALWAYS be cold.  You cannot drink or serve beer that is warm and most people will request bottles that are so cold that there is frost on the outside of the bottle.  Another is that it is typical to buy larger, 1-liter bottles when you're drinking in a group.  The major beer brands in Porto Alegre (Bohemia, Polar, Skol, Antarctica, etc.) all make these larger bottles and it is normal to split it between the members of your group, or the people around you.  When doing this, it is typical to rotates who buys the bottle, which will normally be between 13 and 20 reais depending on the brand and location.

Craft beer isn't very big in Brazil yet.  It is getting more popular, but it isn't close to the US's culture surrounding it.  Because of this, it can be hard to find craft beer outside restaurants and breweries (at least here in RS).  In RS, the best place I have found to try craft beer is in Gramado.  Santa Catarina (the state to the North of RS) seems to have the most out of the states I have been to so far, so Florianopolis or Blumenau will be good spots to see craft brewing culture here.  Also, don't expect to find a lot of high alcohol content beer.  It is typical to see beer anywhere from 4-9%, and anything over 10% seems to be hard to find.

When it comes to spirits, I haven't really noticed anything different I have noticed with these.  The main thing is that Brazil has a special type of alcohol called cachaça (pronounced caw-sha-sa).  This is a spirit that is distilled from sugar cane and is used in the "national" drink, caipirinha (cachaça mixed with sugar and lime).  There are two types of cachaça that you will find; one that is good for mixing and one for drinking straight.  Depending on your tastes it is easy to find both, though if you decide to buy bottles, you might want to ask for recommendations.  Cachaça’s strength is usually on the same level as vodka and tequila, so if you don't have a high tolerance, maybe stick with the caipirinha.

Working Culture:

Now this is the area that I have struggled with trying to understand.  Since I have only been to my company, it is incredibly difficult to say whether what I am seeing is GKN's overall culture or if it is truly representative of the working culture here in Brazil.  Since I still have some more time here to observe this, I will be providing a simple overview and update this in my final post for Brazil.

One thing that I have noticed is that despite the stereotype of Latino's and Latina's being late to everything, here in Brazil the business world seems to run similar to the US.  Meetings will usually start on time, and people accomplish tasks on time.  These meetings also tend to focus solely on the required business.  It doesn't seem like people spend a lot of time making small talk before-hand.

Another element is that people here can become emotional during meetings or conversations.  Now, I cannot speak to the content of these conversations since they are in Portuguese and I don't understand a lot of the language (that and I try to avoid eavesdropping).  I have heard a few where the tone definitely turns a little aggressive or hostile.  This is short lived though, and within a short time after this happening, people go back to normal.

Probably the easiest thing to observe is how people greet each other here.  It is considered good form to tell everyone in the room you enter "bom dia, boa tarde, boa noite" based on the time of day.  It is also considered polite to ask "tudo bem?" (which is basically "how are you").  This is usually accompanied by handshakes between men and sometimes a kiss on the cheek between men and women.  

Brazilians are also "touchy" people.  The handshakes/cheek kissing is one example, but don't be alarmed when someone pats you on the back, grabs your shoulder, or sometimes, patting you on the stomach.  This is pretty normal where I work, so if you have personal space issues, you might want to mentally prepare yourself.

That pretty much covers everything I have noticed since my last post.  Next up is tackling the canyons.

Green Canyons:

Rio Grande has a lot of beautiful green mountains throughout the state, but once you get closer to the north-eastern border with Santa Catarina, you will find what is usually called the "Green Canyons" in English.  These canyons are split between the two national parks: Aparados da Serra and Serra Geral, which are also split between the two states.  There are some small towns nearby, but this is a trip that requires a little bit of planning.

I was able to visit the Aparados National Park yesterday with my coworker from GRAD Mexico, Mario.  We stayed in Santa Catarina in a small town called Praia Grande.  It took about 2 and a half hours to get there from Porto Alegre, and is a good base of operations for exploring the Aparados side of the canyons.  There is another town on the RS side called Cambara do Sul.  This is another small town, but this one gives access to both Aparados and Serra Geral. 

Inside the parks, there are two main areas to see the canyons: Itaimbezinho (Aparados) and Fortaleza (Serra Geral).  I only visited the former, so I will only be covering that one.

With Praia Grande, there isn't much to say about the town itself.  It is a typical small city in the South of the country.  There are a decent number of pousadas and hotels, with the central square containing most of the restaurants and shops in the town.  Praia Grande is unique in that its tap water IS safe to drink.  One recommendation for staying the night here though, bring bug spray.  Mario booked us an Air B&B in the city, which was a really nice place to spend the night, but I got devoured by the gnats and mosquitoes.  While yellow fever and other mosquito born illnesses aren't generally an issue for the South of Brazil, you don't want to have to deal with the insanity that comes from the itchiness of 10 bites scattered over your body.

I would also recommend using a car/SUV with AWD, since the only road that connects Cambara and Praia (which runs through the national parks) is a dirt road with some asphalt sections scattered around the entrance and exits of the road.  The road is very, very bumpy, so be prepared for that.

If you are visiting Aparados, Praia Grande is the better place to stay.  While Cambara is technically closer, Praia gives you an amazing view as you drive to the top of the canyons.  Mario and I wanted to see the sunrise from the top, so we got up at 4:30 A.M and were able to find a good spot near the top to watch the sunrise over the valley.  

Sunrise from Itaimbezinho

After appreciating the sunrise, we continued on the road, heading to the entrance of Aparados, which took about an hour.  The park opens at 8am, and it’s worth it to be one of the first people in.  Inside the park there are three trails to observe Itaimbezinho.  The first is fairly short (1-2 km) and gives you views of the few waterfalls that dot the canyons.  The second trail is longer (around 3 km), but gives you a much better view of Itaimbezinho.  We weren’t able to do the third trail, as you need to have a guide arranged (which I am not sure how to do), but it lasts 8 hours and takes you into the canyon.

Entrance to the main trail

Itaimbezinho Canyons

Itaimbezinho from the shorter trail.

After spending about 4 hours in the park, Mario and I decided to pack up and head back to Porto Alegre, and I think visiting these parks is something that you have to do if you're in the area.  If you don't I think you are really missing out.

Now since I didn't visit the Serra Geral park and see the Fortaleza canyon, I can't tell you how to get there (besides a small road that goes from Cambara), but the following is what I recommend you bring with you for a trip to the canyons:

-Water (the afternoon can heat up very quickly and there isn't really an option to buy things inside the Aparados park)

-Sun-screen

-Bug-spray (seriously, don't skip this)

-Snacks

-Good walking shoes

-Small bills/coins to donate after your visit

-Good weather (yeah you can't bring this, but I would try to only visit when there won't be rain, thanks to the dirt road possibly being dangerous to use in the rain)

-AWD SUV or other large cars

That will do it for this update.  Thank you all so much for reading, and if you have any questions or comments, be sure to leave one down below.  In the next post, I will go over my process on planning trips like what I have written about already, as well as my tips for being a solo traveler.

Until then, boa noite!

Waterfalls and Black Gold

Welcome back to "A Vida Gringo" everyone.  Apologies for taking another long break since my last post, to make up for it, I will be doing a double header this weekend.  This post will cover the trips I did in December, while the 2nd post for this weekend will cover some cultural observations I've had since my last post.

Now, based on my title, some of you may already know one of the locations.  Many of us in the US have heard of or been to Niagara Falls, and I have had a lot of friends who have been to Victoria Falls in Africa, but the one that trumps them all (or at least Niagara)?  Iguazu Falls, which is shared between Brazil and Argentina.

Foz do Iguacu:

There isn't any history to discuss here, so I will just jump right into the trip itself.  Foz do Iguacu is the name of the town located in the state of Parana, on the border with Argentina and Paraguay.  Foz is also the base for people to visit the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls.  

There is a small airport (code IGU) that is about 20-30 minutes from downtown Foz.  The easiest way to get there is by flying into Brazil's major airports, as that will yield better flight times.  There is a direct connection from Lima though.  For myself, I flew from Porto Alegre, which is normally a direct flight, but if you want to save money, you can add a few connections, just be careful not to lose your credit card on a plane, like I did.

So, there isn't much to say about the town itself, it's a smaller city (at least compared to Porto Alegre), but it does have a lot of tourist infrastructure.  You can find a lot of hostels scattered through the town, and as per the norm in Brazil, most of them are only 15 USD a night at the most.  I stayed at one called Che Legarto, which is a chain of South American hostels.  Outside of the falls, there are a lot of religious temples including Christian churches, Muslim mosques and a Buddhist temple.  There is also a small zoo, but I didn't have time to visit, so I don't know anything about it.  As far as food goes, you can find the standard fare of Southern Brazil.  Most importantly, you can find churrascaria, which if you didn't know, is Brazilian barbecue and it is something you should try if you are in the region.  The town is small enough to walk around downtown, but you won't find many Ubers here.  You can find plenty of taxi waiting areas around the city.  Foz is a very safe place to visit, so there aren't any worries to taking a taxi off the street.  If you are feeling unsafe, you can ask your hotel/hostel to call one for you.

If you have already visited the falls or for some reason don't want to visit them (hey, you do you, you rebel), there are some other sites to check out.  One such site is the Itaipu Dam, which was initiative sponsored by the governments of Brazil and Paraguay.  The dam is located in Brazil, but it supplies a decent amount of power for Paraguay, but Brazil keeps a small portion of the power as payment.  It is considered as a modern world wonder, so any engineering fans should check it out.  Also, if you work in the automotive industry, some of the big OEM's (GM, FCA, Ford, etc.) use the dam to research new batteries for their cars.

There is a minor site in Foz where you can see all three countries (Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay) from the spot.  The other non-waterfall site you can visit is Ciudad del Este.  The city is located in Paraguay and is considered one of the best places for electronics shopping.  To get there, you can either drive, take a bus or walk across the Friendship Bridge.  Supposedly there aren't any immigration/passport control checkpoints so you can visit for a day without any issues.  However, you do need a tourist visa to remain in Paraguay, so be aware of that if you plan on going outside Ciudad del Este.

Now onto the waterfalls.  There are two parks; one on the Brazilian side and one on the Argentinian side.  The normal way that most people visit is that they devote one day to Argentina, and a half day for Brazil.  If you are short on time, it is possible to visit both sides in a day, but it's going to make for a very long day, and if you visit during the summer season, it can get extremely hot, so take precautions.  Due to my lack of time, I only had 1 day to visit the falls, so I booked a tour starting in Foz do Iguacu.  It is important to note that you really should visit both sides.  Each one offers a very different perspective and has its own attractions in the parks.

Iguazu Falls (Argentina):

Entrance to the Argentinian park

Due to the fact that the Argentinian park opens earlier, and the Brazilian park closes later, my tour started at the park in Argentina.  Getting across the border is easy, since Americans don't need a tourist visa to get into the country.  However, there can be a long line on either side of the border for private vehicles, so if you are driving, you need to allow extra time.  My tour arrived at the park about an hour before it opened and we were the first ones there.  There is a fee to get into the park, but if you need Argentinian pesos, there is an ATM from one of the national banks next to the ticket office.  I believe that the cost to enter the park is around 500 pesos.  Inside the park, you can use USD, Brazilian reais, and pesos to pay for things (they will have signs with the conversions posted).  Once you enter the park, you have to take a short train ride to the main area of the park.

Once you are inside the park, there are three main trails; the Devil's Throat, Upper Falls and Lower Falls trails.  Since the Devil's Throat is one of the most iconic locations, it is a good idea to see this one first.  The walk doesn't take long, and along the trail you can see some of the old walkways and paths that were used before the river washed them away.  As you get closer, you can start hearing the thunderous sound of the falls and see the mist that rises from the falls.  If you don't want to get wet, you should bring a poncho, and be sure to keep your electronics somewhere dry!  

The Devil's Throat

After visiting the Throat, my tour went over to the Upper Trail.  This takes you along the tops of some of the more well-known falls.  This is a longer trail, but it isn't difficult at all, so you can do it at your leisure.

The main bulk of the Argentina falls

Now before I show some photos of the Lower Trail, there is an option to do a boat ride that takes you up close to one of the bigger falls.  It costs around 60 bucks and they will provide a bag or dry place to store electronics.  I think it’s supposed to take between 1-2 hours for the boat ride.  There is small ferry near the bottom of the Lower Trail that can take you to the large island in front of the falls, but due to some environmental problems, this was closed when I was there (the ferry, not the main boat ride).

Now the Lower Trail will take you along the bottom of the falls, and let you get a view of some of the smaller falls.  If you plan to visit, there is a difference between the dry season (summer) and the wet season (Winter).  If you go during the dry season, the falls won’t be as powerful, and the smaller falls will not be as present.  If you go during the wet season, it’s possible that the larger falls will combine into one giant waterfall.

One of the falls that you can get close up to on the Lower Trail

Iguazu Falls (Brazil):

After visiting the main bulk of the falls in Argentina, my tour left the park and went towards the park in Brazil.  On the way back, before you get to the border, you have to pay a small tax of the equivalent of a few bucks, so make sure that you keep some small bills with you.  Also, if you are going from Puerto Iguazu to the Brazilian side, make sure that you have a valid visa to get into Brazil.  If you have questions about getting a visa, I have a post on this blog describing the process for a few kinds of visas.

The reason that you only need around half a day for this side is because Brazil only owns around 25 percent of the falls.  However, this doesn't mean that it isn't worth visiting.  It is, and has a lot of views, including a view into the Devil's Throat that you won't find in Argentina.

Once you get to the park, there is another entrance fee that you have to pay, but there are kiosks that take credit cards if you don't have reais.  To get into the park there are only two options:  the park will provide a bus ride to the start of the trail or if you are on a tour and they are certified, they will take your tour vehicle to the start.  It is not allowed to drive a personal vehicle into the park.  This is due to the park trying to protect the local animal populations.

There is really only one trail on this side, and these are some of the views that you'll get:

View of the inside of the Devil's Throat

Just like the trails on the Argentina side, the Brazil trail isn't difficult, so you can take it at your leisure.

Overall, if you are in Brazil and have the chance to visit Iguazu Falls, you need to do it.  You are not allowed to skip it.

Costs:

-Flight: 190 USD (Azul Airlines)

-Transportation: around 40 USD total

-Waterfall Tour: 137 USD (this includes everything; transportation, entrance fees, etc.)

-Food: around 40 USD

-Hostel: around 30 USD for 2 nights (Che Legarto)

-Shopping: 0 USD

Now I've explained the waterfall portion of the title, but what about the "black gold" part?  Well, spoilers, I didn't find any oil and become rich or anything.  Black Gold is the English name for an amazing colonial town in Brazil: Ouro Preto.

Ouro Preto:

For New Year's, I decided to travel to this hidden gem in the mountains of Minas Gerais state.  The nearest airport is all the way over in Belo Horizonte (the state capital).

I flew into the Confins airport (CNF), which is the main international airport in Belo Horizonte, and it is an hour outside of the city.  To get to Ouro Preto, you need to go to the main bus terminal of BH (Belo Horizonte as I will use from now on), which is called the Rodoviaria.  There are ticket stands for the buses just outside the check-in area at the airport.  The ticket is about 13 reais and the ride lasts around one hour.  If you can get a flight into the other BH airport, Pampulha (PLU or BHZ), the trip will be shorter.

Once you get to the Rodoviaria, you need to go upstairs to the departure area.  As far as I know, the only company that runs between BH to Ouro Preto is Passaro Verde.  The ticket costs around 30 reais each way and the bus leaves once an hour.  The trip itself lasts around 2 hours and is fairly pleasant.  Both the airport and Passaro Verde bus are more like charter buses, with AC, decent legroom and luggage storage under them.  These buses are very safe, and you shouldn't have any issues.

The bus arrives to the Ouro Preto bus station, which is about 10 minutes from the downtown area.  You can either walk or take a taxi.  Now, Ouro Preto is extremely hilly and some of the street can have steep inclines, so you need to be in decent shape.  Before I get into those details though; take a seat and let Old Man Evan give you a history lesson.

Ouro Preto History:

Ouro Preto was found towards the start of the 18th century under the name "Vila Rica".  Due to the abundance of natural resources, including gold, Vila Rica became one of the most important settlements in the colony and at the peak of its power, had over 100,000 citizens (which is twice the size of New York City at the time).  The city served as the capital of Minas Gerais from 1720 until the 1890's when the capital was moved to the city of Belo Horizonte.

Ouro Preto is the site of the first independence movement in Brazil.  In 1789, a group of local elites, led by a local dentist, nicknamed Tiradentes, began meeting in secret to design their plans.  Inspired by the American Revolution along with other Enlightenment era philosophies.  The goal of the movement was to make the state of Minas Gerais its own independent country from Portugal.  The "Inconfidencia Mineira", as the movement was called, was ultimately unsuccessful due to the betrayal of a few of the conspirators before the revolt occurred.  This resulted in the trial and execution of the other members of the movement.  While the movement itself was crushed, it allowed Tiradentes to become a symbol of other separatist movements that came after it.  

Today, you can see the legacy of the Inconfidencia at a museum that sits in the Tiradentes Square of Ouro Preto.

Ouro Preto, The City:

I was able to spend around a day and a half in the city, and while the city is an amazing example of Portuguese colonial architecture, there is not a lot to do.  It’s a great place to visit if you are already in Brazil, but I would not make it the main destination of your trip.

When I turned the corner at the bus station, I was immediately greeted by the sight of winding cobblestone streets with small one and two-story colonial buildings winding with streets and large white, yellow accented, baroque churches decorating the skyline.

The main spot for anyone to start their journey through this gem of a city is at the Tiradentes Square.  Like I said above, you can find the Inconfidencia Museum here, along with a number of shops and cafes.  Across from the Inconfidencia Museum, you can see the main university of Ouro Preto, which also has a mineralogy museum attached to it.

One of my favorite things about the city is that they have a lot more signs and explanations in English than I have seen in other parts of Brazil.  Outside most of the major churches, you can find a sign that explains the history of the church in both Portuguese and English.  The Inconfidencia Museum also has English on all of the exhibits except for a few works of art.  So, if you don't speak a lot of Portuguese, this a great place to visit.

I spent the morning of my first day exploring some of the local churches.  Unfortunately, none of the churches allowed photos inside, but when you talk about something being baroque or rococo (which is essentially just the late period of baroque) it is usually characterized by its use of ornamentation and light colors.  Most of the churches are white on the inside, with large wooden panel murals on ceilings depicting different events from the Bible.  One of the most notable churches in the cities is Sao Francisco de Assis, which also has a nice market in front of it.  Most of the churches in the city had most of the sculpture work completed by a local artist known as Aleijandinho.  Sao Francisco is the best place to see these sculpture, as most of his other works are now in the second floor of the Inconfidencia Museum.

The second church that you have to see is called Basilica Nossa Senhora do Pilar.  This is one of the most gilded churches in Brazil.  When you walk inside, you are greeted to one of the largest collections of gold inside of a church anywhere in Brazil (apparently the largest is in Salvador).  I wish I could have taken photos inside, but you'll have to go see it for yourself.

Sao Francisco de Assis

Basilica Nossa Senhora do Pilar

The rest of my time, I spent exploring the various streets of the city, trying to find as many new views and perspectives as I could.  I'm not any kind of athlete, so it was difficult spending the day hiking up and down the streets, but so worth it.

Ouro Preto Shopping:

Ouro Preto has a fairly unique shopping scene when it comes to souvenirs.  One of the cheapest and best places to shop is the Soapstone Market outside the Sao Francisco church.  Soapstone is a softer stone that is native to Ouro Preto, and the market contains numerous figurines and other stone work objects.  This is also the best place to buy local artwork.  For myself, I picked up a painting of a local streetscape, and a set of soapstone coasters.  I don't normally use coasters, but I found a set that I impulse buy.  The artwork was only 35 reais, while the coasters were R$45 for a set of 6 and the holder.

Now, forgive me for going on a nerd rant, but there is something that I have to talk about here.  For some of the people that know me, know that I collect gemstones and minerals.  When I was a little kid, I read an article in a gem and mineral magazine that talked about Minas Gerais.  As it turns out, even though the gold has run out, Minas Gerais is still a hotbed for gemstone production.  One the best minerals that the area produces is called tourmaline.

To best explain this, I need to do a short description of gemstones.  So, you have two main classifications: primary, which are only diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, and then you have secondary gemstones, which are everything else.  There are a lot of subcategories inside each group, i.e. beryl (emeralds), corundum (rubies/sapphires), and others that I won't get into.  Probably the most common secondary group that most people will know is quartz (which includes gems like amethyst, citrine, rose quartz, etc.).  Tourmaline is its own class.  It includes almost every color; red, blue, pink, black, clear, etc.  While you can refer to each of these as [insert color] tourmaline, each color does have a specific name.  Tourmaline is a unique gem though because it is one of the only ones that can have multiple colors in the stone.  The most well know is "watermelon tourmaline", which is usually a stone that contains green, white and red/pink.  There are other color combinations that go by just "bi-color" or "tri-color".  There are some gems though that can change color based on the type of light they are in, so these can go from red indoors to green or blue outside.  These are incredibly hard to find though.  

I could go on, but I'm sure most of you clicked off the post during that so I'll move on.  So, after I read that article, I have wanted to visit Minas Gerais and get a piece of tourmaline.  Once I decided that I was going to visit Ouro Preto, I knew I needed to look into buying a piece or two.  Now Ouro Preto is also know for a gemstone called Topaz, specifically Imperial Topaz.  This is an extremely rare form that is either pink or orange and can go for around 500 dollars a carat (unit of measurement for cut gemstones).  Tourmaline has a wide range of prices, which all depends on the color and quality of what you want.  Greens and reds can go for 70 to a few hundred per carat.  Watermelon and other multi-colored stones have a similar price.  Blue is the most expensive.  Good pieces can range from 300 (indigolite) to 10,000 (Paraiba variety).

Bi-color tourmaline

I paid a visit to a place called Ita Gemas.  The two employees working at the time did not speak a lot of English, but I used the little Portuguese to tell them what I was looking for.  The owner went to the back and got a few envelopes filled with green, red/pink and blue tourmaline.  After examining a few pieces, I decided to buy a beautiful triangle cut piece called Indigolite.  I also managed to buy a few raw (uncut) specimens.  Since these stones can get expensive, I would only buy these if you know what you're looking for.  When buying tourmaline, the biggest thing to look for are the imperfections.  Tourmaline is almost impossible to find without errors inside (called inclusions).  While Ita Gemas is a well-respected place, there is a scam at other stores (in and out of Brazil) where they sell you glass instead of the stone.  If you know Moh's Hardness Scale, then all you need to test this is something weaker and harder than tourmaline.  Tourmaline has a hardness of 7-7.5, while glass has a hardness of 5.  So, if you have a piece of glass, it will NEVER be able to scratch or damage tourmaline if it is real.

Raw watermelon tourmaline

All of my gemstone purchases

Overall, Ouro Preto has been one of my favorite places I have been to in Brazil so far.  One final piece of advice I would give is to not travel in Minas Gerais during New Year's.  Everything in Ouro Preto closed early leading up to New Year's and when I was in BH during New Year's Eve, EVERYTHING was closed (I was there at 3pm for reference).  The reason I won't be talking about BH itself is because I didn't have a chance to really do or see anything.  

Ouro Preto Costs:

-Flight: 328 USD (GOL Airlines), this is because I had to book my ticket the day before, it's normally only 150-200 USD max.

-Transportation: 30 USD (this includes all bus rides)

-Food: 50 USD

-Tours: 20 USD (museum/church admissions)

-Hostel: around 30 USD for two nights (Goiabada com Queijo hostel)

-Shopping: around 700 USD (I’m not entirely proud of that)

I hope you all enjoyed this article.  There will be another tomorrow to discuss some aspects of working culture here in Porto Alegre and other observations in general.  Stayed tuned and thanks for reading!