Brasilia, the capital

I am writing from Salvador, where we arrived this morning. I can honestly say I do not think I have ever been hotter in my life! We had a terrible flight here from Brasilia, as the plane kept dropping and didn't seem to keep a constant altitude for the 2 hours we were in the air. Anyway, we got here in one piece and made our way to the hostel we're staying at called Nega Meluca. Trev, great recommendation, thanks!

The hostel is in the old city which is on the hill with great views of the sea (although a bit of a trek to get to the beach). We walked from where the bus dropped us for 15+ minutes in the heat carrying about 20kgs (backpack and day pack) up and down steep cobblestone streets. I honestly looked like a beetroot by the time we got here. If we keep walking like we have been, I am going be running up the Inca Trail I will be so fit! (wishful thinking). Tomorrow I am going to be spending the day in the sea, literally. Oh to be cool! (how red am I in the photo below - it's a combo of the sunburn and the heat!!!)

Anyway, we are here for probably 4 nights and then we are going to head down the coast towards Rio. We are going to stop at one of the beach towns or islands along the way for a few nights.

Right, so to the subject of this blog, Brasilia, the capital.

We arrived in Brasilia on Tuesday, and booked into a Pousada (guest house) near the centre of town. I have never been to a less tourist friendly place in my life. In the 50s the Brazilian government decided to move the capital out of Rio, and so they cleared a piece of land and built a new city - and so Brasilia was born. The city was planned by our architect friend Niemeyer. His buildings are fantastic, but he is clueless when it comes to city planning. Everything is so spaced out, it takes ages to walk between buildings or even across roads (and there are no pedestrian crossings anywhere as the city was built for cars). It is quite something waiting for 6 lanes of traffic to clear before you can cross a road. There is also absolutely no shade in the city centre, so I got completely fried yesterday and I have a lovely sunglasses tan. Anyway, although I had some complaints, the buildings that Niemeyer designed were amazing and it was really interesting day.

We went to the Eixo Monumental (main city centre). The city is divided into sectors, and sectors are numbered North and South, and West and East. The most impressive building was the Catedral Metroplitana - the cathedral is made of a bit of steel and almost entirely of stained glass windows. It's remarkable. We also went into the Congresse Nacional - which is the house of parliament. It's 2 towers standing together, and the two half bowls (one houses the senate and the other the house of representatives). I read something that described the two chambers as 60s as the Beatles, though they haven't aged as well! I can't think of a better way to describe it myself. Anyway, we then went up the TV tower - 75m - and got a great view of the city.

We made dinner at the Pousada and got an early night as we got up early this morning to fly to Salvador. I am happy to say that this is the end of our flights until sometime in April.From now on, we are bussing around.

Anyway, going to sign off now. Apologies for the missing punctuation, this keyboard is so confusing. Also, sorry about the spelling in the last blog post - I could not figure out how to run a spell check in English and time was running out. It's all very confusing!