So I was couchsurfing there with two young
musicians, Leo and Leandro. Ten minutes after I got there, they pulled out a
Brazilian guitar and a violin and started playing. The two of them are in a
Celtic punk band, whatever that is, but they played more traditional music for
me. At around 10pm, the rumbling sounds in my stomach started getting louder
than their music and though they were under no obligation to feed me, they told
me that there was food at home. Bread and butter, cheese and milk. I soon
realised that these students worked hard to make ends meet and yet they invited
me into their home. I bought them drinks and in exchange, they taught me
Brazilian slang. Like ‘Falo’, which is another word for goodbye. It literally
means ‘all has been said’.
The next day I woke up and hurried to catch
the bus for a one hour trip to an art park called Inhotim (pronounced
/inyochee/). The park is spread around 5,000 acres of botanical gardens and you
need a couple of days and the legs of Thor to walk around.
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Inhotim was amazing. It had 300 works of
art either as outdoor installations or indoor pieces. There were massive
galleries that showcased some of the biggest names that I’d never heard of. Of
course, being contemporary art, some of it just went whizzing over my head
without giving me a second look, like a large wooden spiral staircase that led
to a circular room with glass windows and… well, that was it. People sat around
in that room and looked at the centre, contemplating the depth of the art. Or
like me, caught their breath and wondered if they were the only one with cramps.
But there was other art that just took your breath away, like a huge warehouse
with 93 speakers. A lady’s voice narrated a story of a surreal dream during a
war. You just have to close your eyes and let the sounds engulf you as if she
was right next to you. Or the 20-foot tractor holding a wax tree, all encased
in a hexagonal dome. There was another audio installation that I really liked
where the artist had recorded the voices of the members of 5 different choirs
separately. And each voice was played over a separate speaker. Together they
sounded amazing. But if you stand in front of one speaker, you can hear only
one person’s voice.
I walked around for 4 hours but still
didn’t manage to view all the exhibits. But they were closing the park so I had
to scoot. Once I got back, I noticed that Leo’s band members were still around
so I told them that I knew how to play ‘Love is All Around’ on guitar. I played
it to best of my ability but they didn’t look amused, although one of them did
clap. But I suspect he was just happy I finished.
Tomorrow I’m heading to OuroPreto. But for
now, I’m going to sing another song and redeem myself.
