Juiz de Fora

 

Juiz de Fora is a city with about 500,000 people but it feels much bigger. It has all the big city stuff: tall buildings crowded together, busy sidewalks, taxis, street food, vendors, and just about every kind of shop you can imagine. Interestingly, we haven't been able to find california avocados, triple aaa batteries or Carol's face lotion, but sometimes it's hard to find the trees in the forest. We are here for two main reasons, to drop off the car and to work a couple of days. The work has gone well as our apartment is comfy and well situated for it. The car drop happens in the morning, Carol has already arranged a place for the Ford and reserved a rental, both within walking distance, so we aren't expecting any surprises (she said naively). It has been fun to hang out in a city with very little tourism, filled with regular Brazilians living their lives in a busy city in southeastern Minas Gerais. We aren't getting too misty eyed about leaving though, because we will be back to fetch the car in just three short weeks.