We spent around a week in Minas Gerais, an inland region of south east Brazil. The area has many historic colonial towns built during the rush after gold was discovered in the 1690s. We visited three of them: Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto and Tiradentes.

First stop was Belo Horizonte, aka BH, pronounced Beagá (still struggling to grasp Portuguese sounds!)

We arrived just as the famous Mercado Central was opening – the perfect place for breakfast. We also stocked up on picnic supplies: an enormous, ripe avocado large enough to feed a family, local cheese similar to feta and fresh bread made a memorable feast “to go”.

We decided to leave the caged live animals for sale behind (everything from mice, rabbits, chinchillas to geese and ducks – I’ve never seen or heard anything like it!)

BH is the bar and cachaça capital of the whole of Brazil. We remained sober…