Brazil

Brazil is a promised country for all lovers of minerals and precious stones in particular. And so, after a very short time of thinking where to go, we put our finger on the map to Brazil. Before we left we bought a self-taught Spanish book (with the expectation that we would learn it on the long flight), and we also visited the doctor for vaccinations. Here we learned that Brazil, except for the Amazonas region, is completely free of disease – in short, ideal; we normally fear diseases ranging from malaria to tuberculosis. In another 10 days we were already disembarking at the airport in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. So firstly, they speak Portuguese here or we threw out Spanish straight away, secondly, there was just an epidemic of dengue fever and lots of jaundice and typhoid amongst the stone finders – great. Here we go. We always reassure ourselves that we’re here for the stones, not to catch something. Brazil is an extraordinarily beautiful country with indescribably tasty gastronomy, delicious beer and unbeatable desserts. In between, it is possible to see, and sometimes buy, relatively expensive tourmalines, crystals, gneisses, large natural topazes and, unfortunately, lots of synthetically produced stones.