BB: Bonito and Brasilia

Rise and shine, we have to move again. Next track is from the Pantanal to Bonito and after 2 days from Bonito to Brasilia by bus and from Brasilia to Salvador by plane. In Bonito we mainly relaxed, supposedly you can do some fantastic diving and see beautiful fish, but we just went to a park and a cave with stalagtites.

We stayed one day in Brasilia, the Capital, located in the central part of the country. Brasília is the Capital since 1960. Before that, Rio de Janeiro was. The city has been built in just a few years at the end of the fifty's by the initiative of an earlier president Juscelino Kubitschek. It was suppose to develop de economy in that area by being the new, neutral Capital of the country. Brasil, the country, still has enormous debts just because of this hastily built project. It has a population of about 2.3 million and is the seat of the main federal government: the president, the Brazilian Supreme Court and the Brazilian Parliamant. Brasília is listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco. This probably has to do with the form, when seen from above, the city's shape resembles an airplane (the buildings are purposly built like this). I would list it as pretty ugly.
We have seen these architectual wonders from nearby and it felt like walking in space. I felt even smaller than I already am, surrounded by these futuristic buildings in 35º C temperature, big streets on the side like aisles (gangpaden) with rushing cars. No restaurants, no normal loudness of streetlife, nor anything else that you find everywhere in Brasil. Just heat, silence and rush...Moving on very quickly was no punishment.