Qualla: Vazante https://qualla.com/vazante en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:08 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Vazante https://qualla.com/vazante Vazante: Introduction https://qualla.com/vazante/ According to the story that founded this town, someone saw the Virgin Mary in a cave. No one remembers quite who - a rancher, a family member, a traveler passing through - and no official record confirms the vision. But the vision was enough. Around the cave, called Lapa, a chapel went up. Around the chapel, houses. Around the houses, the beginnings of a settlement that would become Vazante, now a town of 20,000 in the cerrado of northern Minas Gerais. Every year on May 1, 2, and 3, thousands of pilgrims make the trip to pray at Lapa Velha - the Old Grotto - where the vision is said to have happened. Beneath the grotto runs something more commercially useful: the largest zinc deposit in Brazil.

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/u/y/9/vazante-wp/6uy9-vazante-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Vazante: The Cave That Became a Town https://qualla.com/vazante/ The settlement of Vazante began on a cattle ranch with the same name - vazante is a Portuguese term describing low ground where a river or lake recedes, the kind of seasonal feature common in the Brazilian interior. On this ranch, according to local tradition, the vision occurred...

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/u/y/9/vazante-wp/6uy9-vazante-the-cave-that-became-a-town.mp3 0:06 2 full Vazante: Zinc Under the Grotto https://qualla.com/vazante/ In 1933, thirteen years after Lapa was separated from the ranch, geologists discovered zinc. The deposit proved enormous. By 1969, the first loads of zinc concentrate were shipping to the metallurgical plant at Três Marias, 200 kilometers south - the same hydroelectric project to...

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/u/y/9/vazante-wp/6uy9-vazante-zinc-under-the-grotto.mp3 0:06 3 full Vazante: The Caves https://qualla.com/vazante/ Lapa Velha is not the only cave in the region. Vazante sits on karstic limestone, and the hills around town are riddled with grottos. Lapa Nova - the New Grotto - ranks as the fourth largest cavern in Brazil. Lapa da Delza, also known as Caçula (Youngest), is smaller but similarl...

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/u/y/9/vazante-wp/6uy9-vazante-the-caves.mp3 0:06 4 full Vazante: Dry Plateau, Three Seasons https://qualla.com/vazante/ Vazante sits at 680 meters elevation in the cerrado of northern Minas Gerais, 496 kilometers from the state capital of Belo Horizonte. The climate is humid subtropical with a rainy summer from October to April and a dry winter from May to September. September and October are the ...

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]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/u/y/9/vazante-wp/6uy9-vazante-dry-plateau-three-seasons.mp3 0:06 5 full