Brasilia Cathedral
Following a quiet few days in Poconé, during which I recovered considerably, but not enough to face a three day drive and bush camps, we again left the group and made our way to the bus station to jump ahead to Brasilia. Realising we didn’t have anywhere to stay we took a cab to the nearest Internet cafe and booked a very decent hotel with a small kitchenette for a fraction of the rack price, so our $2 cab ride saved over $400.
The bus was up to the usual high standard, this time with far less aggressive air conditioning. The journey was supposed to be an express trip, taking 7 instead of the usual 15 hours, but about half way there we were stopped by the police who searched everyone’s luggage thoroughly, then again with sniffer dogs, which somehow took over 4 hours of just standing around. Painful as this was we at least arrived in Brasilia at midday rather than the planned 7am.
The hotel kitchenette turned out to be a sink and microwave, so not much cooking going on in there, but it was useful for laundry and microwave popcorn to snack on whilst watching a movie on the laptop. More useful was that our hotel was right in the centre of town, situated next to a large shopping mall, so we dropped in there for a quick lunch and somehow came away with a huge amount of new clothes.
The following day we allotted to some sightseeing, and after visiting the tourist office at the base of the TV Tower, decided against a dedicated tour bus and instead took the Grande Circular bus route, which drove round the outskirts of the town, giving us an overview of the bow and arrow shape of the city and the bordering artificial lake, then walked through the centre, looking at the multitude of Oscar Niemeyer designed buildings, most of which looked good from the outside but seemed unfit for purpose, being either too small or overly complicated for the occupants.
None of us really liked Brasilia as a city, so after three days we decided to leave early and head to the Chapada Dos Veadeiros National Park.
