My mom has unfortunately left Brazil last Friday but there are still some adventures we had that I would like to update you on.
Last week on one of my off days, I had the privilege of showing my mom Inhotim. Inhotim is this innovative semi-outdoor park and museum. Let me try my best at explaining it to you because I do not really believe there is anywhere else like it in the world.
My mother and I took an Uber about an hour and a half out of Belo and ended up in the small community of Brumadinho. Once you first enter, it seems like any other small town in Brazil's countryside. However, after passing through the residential community, we ended up in a well-kept resort-like neighborhood which houses Inhotim.
We were left at the parking lot by our Uber driver and we stepped quite literally into a tropical jungle oasis. As we walked along the stone path into the forest, I spotted a sign pointing to the reception - our destination.
We went to the reception and this nice girl, probably in her 20s, introduced us to the park. She took out a gigantic map which mapped out the many different acres of land covered by Inhotim and highlight the different museums, outdoor art exhibitions, and botanical wonders. In addition to this, there were three classy restaurants scattered across the reserve.
She began to explain how some of the exhibits were too far out of the way and that along our journey, we will find golf cart shuttles that will take us to where we need to go.
Armed with our map and the advice from Marina (The girl behind the counter), my mother and I set off into Inhotim ready to explore.
Before long, we started encountering outdoor exhibitions. These were works of art, mostly contemporary, that were situated strategically throughout the gardens of Inhotim. Here is me posing in front of one pretending I am on an album cover or something.
Some other outdoor works of art were Chinese obelisks with ancient legends written on them, an artificial igloo with strobe lights (no idea what this signifies), and ponds filled with large metallic spheres. It felt like I was in some strange contemporary utopia - in the best sense of the term. The natural beauty was also unparalleled.
In addition to this, there were indoor art galleries, which we normally had to take golf carts too, that exhibited issues such as Native American realities, prostitution issues in Salvador, and child soldiers. I was not necessarily expecting such deep and dark artwork to be contrasted with such a bright and green background but it was very eye-opening and artfully constructed.
Once we were leaving the park, we approached Marina again to pay the entrance fee. We hadn't paid earlier because the credit card machine was not catching a signal (We were far into the boondocks). It turns out, it still was not taking a signal. Marina looked at both of us and whispered to me that we would not have to pay because the machine was broken. I was excited, mostly because the admission to the park isn't necessarily cheap. Then, well, my mother and I headed back into the city with the park's private driver.
You thought I'd end here, right?
Well I'm going to mention my dinner too, because it was amazing. My friend Camila and I organized a dinner with my mom at this new hip restaurant called Paris 6 in the trendy neighborhood of Savassi. We had never gone before but we had always heard great things. The service ended up being great, the food was rich, and they had an entire menu of more than one hundred dessert items. Yes. You heard me. More than 100. Here is what we got (not sorry).
It was basically a spin-off on Petit Gateau, which is everywhere here in Brazil. The change was that, well, this dessert was a lot larger. Although it was amazing, neither of us could finish it because it was also super rich. However, it must've been one of the greatest desserts I have had since I came to Brazil! Camila and I are already planning to come back and sample the other 99 desserts.
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