Wednesday - Cruising at 31,000 feet, crossing over the Sierras en route from San Francisco to Dallas-Ft. Worth, where I would connect for the long haul to Sao Paulo, I could relax and contemplate my third visit to Brazil. I was flying solo, with plans to get in 9-10 days of field collecting at the pegmatite mines near Governador Valadares, in the mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais (See map, Fig. 1), before joining my wife in Belo Horizante, where a friend's condo would be our base camp for a month's stay. On the first of two prior trips to Brazil, I had been fortunate to meet prominent dealer/collector Luiz Menezes, who had generously introduced me to Eliane Vlcek, a professional guide to the mineral dealers and collectors who come to Brazil to buy directly from the mine owners. Eliane's father came to Brazil from Czechoslovakia, and established a well-respected gem and mineral dealership, later inherited and expanded by his son, Jan "Johnny" Vlcek, who was also a local tennis champion, and a warm, hospitable man with a keen sense of humor. Unfortunately, Johnny died in a tragic traffic accident earlier this year-a great loss to his family and the mineral community. So, I will again be staying at the Vlcek family home in Governador Valadares, from whence we shall visit local mines, where Eliane will explain to the bemused owners that "this eccentric American will pay for specimens, but wants to find and die them himself.
展开▼
