International Gem Fair will be held!!! FIPP2009, August 25-28, 2009, Teófilo Otoni, Brazil

Boy, am I ever pleased to be able to write this post!!!!

Here is the official site for registering for the 2009 Feira Internacional das Pedras Preciosas (FIPP: International Gemstone Fair)!

In Portuguese and English: http://www.geabrasil.com/inscricao.php

In better times (I am thinking of 2006 and before), the fair was held in the main square (Praça Tiradentes), where you can stand under the trees outside the pavillion and have the birds drop fruit juice from the berries on top of your head or in your eye while watching the tree sloths. Tree sloths are called preguiças in Portuguese (loosely translated, this means "lazy" or "sleepy" ones), and the praça is the only place where I have seen them.

Did you know that "Tiradentes" means tooth puller? Perhaps an archaic word for dentist? No, Tiradentes is a great hero of Minas Gerais who was executed by impalement in Ouro Preto -- Yikes!!!! Don't worry, it was a very long time ago! For more on the history of this Mineiran hero, click here: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Tiradentes

[OK, here it is -- it doesn't matter where you are as a tourist, the tour guides will often tell you the most complete nonsense right off the top of their heads. I visited Ouro Preto in 1998, and the guide actually showed me the very spot where Tiradentes had been executed. I absorbed it all. However, if you go to the above link, you will read that he was executed by hanging in Rio de Janeiro. hmmm]

According to the gem dealers I have talked to over the past few weeks, they expect the show to be held inside the Palmeiras Country Club. In fact, this is a pretty good spot, although without the small town charm of the praça. I prefer the praça because it is close to the offices of the dealers, some of the best cutters, all the banks, and lots of places to eat with good food and good prices.

The Palmeiras Country Club does offer good security, and it is very close to one of the better hotels (more on this later), as well as being within walking distance of the SESC pousada. The SESC pousada does offer wireless Internet (but I will check on this, again, next week, to be sure), and it is very close (5 minutes walking) to the bus station. Almost directly across the street from the pousada is a wonderful place for having lunch with a wide variety of fresh dishes that only Mineiras can cook. I am thinking of going down to Teófilo Otoni early next week, so I will firm up all these little details with business names and addresses.

I am not sure where all of the little stands will be located (another detail to be provided later).

The fair is organized by the GEA (known as the Gem Exporters Association in English, but the Portuguese name is Associação dos Comerciantes e Exportadores de Jóias e Gemas do Brasil, which translates as Association of Business Owners and Exporters of Jewelry and Gems of Brazil). Brazilians are fond of pronouncing the anacronyms as if they were words, so the GEA is called the "gee ah" (that is a hard "g" as in gadfly). I'll tell ya, though, Brazilians talk so fast that even knowing what they are going to say, I find it difficult to catch it all.

That's all for now, folks!

(But I am soooo happy!!!!)

Copyright © 2009 N. Tenney Naumer -- All rights reserved.