Welcome to Ipatinga!

In Brazil, we are located in the southeast...see red states

Minas Gerais



This is a blown up Map of Minas Gerais, where we are located again, in the red.



So to answer the question I get asked most often...we are not close to the ocean. Though there is a very nice lake that we like to go to that I will blog about soon...

Also we are not close to Sao Paulo, Rio de Janiero, or the Amazon. (Please see map above) We are probably a good 8-9 hours in either direction from Sao Paulo or Rio. And I have no clue about the Amazon.

For quite some time, I have been meaning to introduce to you where I live. First here are the wiki stats:
Ipatinga is a city and municipality located in eastern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The city was founded in 1962 and covers a total area of 166.5 km² (or 64.29 sq.mi.). Its population is 240,338 (IBGE 2001). It is part of the Vale do Aço Metropolitan Area (population 430,700).

Ipatinga is located at the site where the Piracicaba River flows into the Doce River, 217 km. (or 135 miles) from the state capital of Belo Horizonte. It is served by highway and railroad connections (Minas-Vitória). There is also a medium sized airport, Usiminas Airport [1] in the area of the neighbor city Santana do Paraíso, that serves the Steel Valley and can receive small and medium sized planes, including jets like the Boeing 737 and the Fokker 100.

Elevation: 220 mts. (or 721 ft.)
Climate: Tropical sub-hot and sub-dry
Average annual temperature: 23º C (or 73.4ºF)



Here is a video put out by Ipatinga's Tourism Board. You can see Ipatinga from an Aerial perspective. (It is only slightly less interesting than those movies they made you watch in biology of microorganisms.)



I am in process of trying to upload pictures that I have taken from where I actually am, to give you a glimpse of the neighborhood. However, I don't know if it is blogger or my Internet connection that doesn't want to play. But I promise they will be up soon!