Belo Horizonte in Brazil

The capital of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, is the third largest city in Brazil. Although moderately attractive it offers little in the way of sights, beyond a handful of museums and parks. Most travellers come here to change bus on the way to Ouro Preto or Tiradentes, or to find work as an English language teacher. The bustling modern skyscraper-filled centre sits in a bowl circled by dramatic mountains, which regularly trap pollution as the city strains under ever-increasing tides of rural migration. The city is pocked with hills that rise and fall in waves of red-tiled houses, tall apartment blocks and jacaranda- and ipe-lined streets. These are clogged with cars, particularly during the rush hour, a situation that has led the municipal government to introduce an efficient integrated public transport system linking the bus and metrô networks, in imitation of Curitiba in Paraná.