Belo Horizonte

 

There are many LAN Houses and Cyber Cafés throughout the city, even inside Shopping Malls, so checking your e-mails or browsing the internet won't be a problem. Rates go from R$2 to R$5 per hour.

When crossing the street, watch for motorcycles, which can appear out of nowhere and sometimes ignore stop signs. At some intersections with divided streets, you can cross only one side at once.

Minas has both the military police polícia militar who are the enforcers of the law at street level, however not linked to the Brazilian Military and the civilian police polícia civil who conduct further investigations like the British CID. Note, though, that most officers don't even have a knowledge of basic English. The uniform of the Minas Gerais state military police is brown.

The emergency number by which you can reach the military police is 190.

The city has its own police, the Municipal Guard, the uniform is blue and officers are found in parks, near monuments, schools, hospitals.

The city has seen a recent surge on crime related to drugs. It is wise to avoid walking alone at night or carrying expensive electronics such as cameras, notebooks, iPods or jewelry. It is not uncommon to be mugged at traffic lights or walking during the day or night. Despite Brazil's huge ethnic diversity, tourists can be easily identified by bad guys as people who carry electronics carelessly and seem to be always wondering where are they going. Be discreet.

If someone mugs you, don't react. Your life is worth more than a hundred dollars.

free rescue and ambulance service

This can be requested by a free call to one of two instituitions: SAMU the acronym for the health emergency service - Phone: 192 or Fire Department - Phone: 193 (http://www.bombeiros.mg.g...).

cope

Belo Horizonte has a good network of hospitals. The main hospital area of the city is located downtown, close to the Municipal Park, where it is possible to find lots of healthcare institutions such as hospitals, clinics, and laboratories.

by phone

The area code for Belo Horizonte is 31. The code for Telemar, the phone company that runs most of the phone booths in the city, is also 31. So to call Belo from outside using Telemar, you dial 031 31 and the desired number, for example: from Sao Paulo to Belo, dial 03131 xxxx-xxxx. But to make a local call, you don't have to dial 31 at all, just the eight digits. Sometimes, it depends, because there are many other cities surrounding Belo, with the same area code, so you might be dialling the long distance code, using 31. Dialing from or to Ouro Preto, to or from Belo, you need to dial 03131 xxxx-xxxx. There are other long distance companies codes available, which can be used to make calls, such as Embratel 21, Intelig 23, which provides long distance calls with suitable rates, to or from Brazil, and to other countries.