🇬🇧 Tips to live in Montes Claros, Brazil

Today I’m going to give tips to anyone thinking of living in Montes Claros, the city where I was born. Montes Claros is the largest city in the north of Minas Gerais and attracts students and professionals from all over the region, from southern Bahia and also many foreigners. People from the highest social classes have studied English since childhood, at least those who are now forty years old or less, so most upper class people can communicate well in English. The Italian, on the other hand, I don't know any school in the city that teaches. Spanish is also taught in several language schools.

The city is horizontal, with few buildings. Thus, most of the available residential properties are likely to be houses. There are apartments, but they are not as common as in larger cities.

Cultural and leisure options are relatively limited. The city has several clubs where you can enjoy pleasant hours with family or friends, and in one of them you can even camp. In these clubs, in June there are the June festivals that move the city. Each weekend of the month has a party in one of them. As the elite frequent the same places and June is the “cold” month in the city, they buy new clothes to go to each of these parties. And there is also the agricultural exhibition at about the same time, where you will see the same people, as a good part of the local elite is a cattle rancher or has rancher friends.

The city has two shopping malls, the structure for tourism is very bad, it has relatively few restaurants and nothing super exotic. Last time I went there, I didn't find even Japanese food yet. But there are some good bars and pizzerias on “Avenida”, which is a stretch of Avenida Deputado Esteves Rodrigues between Tupiniquins Street and José Corrêa Machado Avenue. If someone says to you "let's have a (beer) on the avenue", it is to go to a bar on this stretch of avenue. Get ready because going to Avenida is an event. Pretend you're going to Paris Fashion Week, wear your best clothes, because people go there to see and be seen.

The city has some large supermarkets, but a lot of products that we find in capitals will not be found there. This week, an acquaintance of mine said that she doesn't find fresh mushrooms in the city, just pickled ones. But there are also things, such as pequi and carne de sol, which in other regions of the country are difficult to find (pequi is found in all the cities of the cerrado. Carne de sol, no).

The cost of living is low (well, renting a house shouldn't be too cheap, but it's not cheap anywhere) and people are very friendly to outsiders.

The biggest flaw I see in the city is that the tourist structure is ridiculous. There are few daily commercial flights arriving in the city, and by land to Belo Horizonte, the nearest capital, the trip is long and the road is bad. There is apparently no interest from local politicians and businesspeople to change that. The hotels are few and most have websites with extremely poor navigation, as well as locations that are not very attractive.

The opportunities for visionary entrepreneurs are many, as the city is large and deserves a lot that no company currently offers.

Currently, it is a big city for those who are used to small towns.

I recommend having a car or motorcycle to get around the city. There are taxis and mototaxis, as well as buses, but bus routes leave many regions out. From my grandmother's house, in an upscale neighborhood, I spent half an hour walking to the center. By bus I had to walk fifteen minutes and the total trip usually took half an hour, including waiting for the bus. If you live near the center, cycling is also a good option. The climate is hot and it rarely rains. And from time to time there are earthquakes in the city.

If you have business in Montes Claros (or anywhere else in the world) and want to post them on the blog, send me a message introducing the company. If you think about opening a company or improving the company you already manage, schedule your consultation with me. And if you have additional tips or doubts about the experience of living in the city, comment. If you appreciate these tips, pay me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/nycka

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Nycka, the nomad