We finally made it to Brasilia after a gruelling 17 hour bus journey which actually wasnt as bad as we thought it might be. We decided to get a taxi to the hostel which would later prove to be a very wise move as what looked like a short walk took us an hour and that was without our oversized backpack! We were a bit worried when the taxi stopped at what looked more like a deserted army camp than a hostel but apparently we were at the the right place. The hostel was clean and pleasant enough but there werent many people staying there. We went into the centre and had a view over the city from the tv tower. For those of you that dont know, brasilia was an entirely planned city in the heart of Brazil and was made to look like a plane from above, it took away the capital city status from Rio in a contraversial move and a lot of Brazilians dont like it. From the top of the tv tower we could see the outline of the plane with its main body and wings but apparantly you only get the full effect from the sky. It is a bit of an odd place, without the feeling of older capital cities that just grew from nothing. Every single building was planned to go exactly where it is and the city is divided into perfect sections where even all the hotels, hospitals and banks have their own sectors. It is also a city built for cars with 6 lane roads going in every direction which didnt help us two backpackers trying to negotiate all these roads on foot!

We are begining to realise just how helpful and friendly people are out here, one guy came and helped us because we looked lost and a woman on the bus listened to where we got our tickets too and told us when to get off. We spent our second day doing most of the sites, a few churches and lost of government buildings. One of the most impressive churches had walls made entirely out of blue glass which gave the inside this beautiful blue glow. We also got ourselves a tour of the Brazilian Senate and House of Representatives which was unfortunately in portuguese so we didnt learn too much. The hostel filled up a bit more on the second night although unfortunately the new people were mainly 50+ year old women who didnt speak a word of english and after one of them decided to repeatedly sit on Nics legs in the night we decided to check out of Brasilia a day earlier than planned. This did involve a massive trek to the bus station and using our phrasebook to hopefully rebook our tickets but luckily it seemed to be quite a smooth change.

So the next stop was Belo Horizonte which is another planned large town between Brasilia and Rio. After another night bus we decided to check inot a hotel for a small amount of luxury. We stayed for two nights to recharge our batteries, visit a few more churches and do some washing before heading to Ouro Preto. Ouro Preto, meaning black gold, is a small colonial town where there are very few mordern buildings. It used to be at the centre of the gold mining industry producing more gold in the region than anywhere else in Brazil. It is a really beautiful place set in the hillside with winding cobbled streets and 23 (yes 23) churches. We struggled to navigate the cobbled hills in the rain whilst the locals skipped down them in flip flops. The hostel was set at the top of one of the hills and had a really laid back atmosphere. We finally also met some travellers who spoke English. We spent the second day visiting one of the old mines that only stopped mining in the 90s. It was a bit of an interesting ride down on a cart that had seen better days but we survived and even got to see some people scuba-diving in the 2km wide subterranean lake. We then spent the rest of the day browsing the hundreds of gem shops where you can even have your own jewellry set and made for you with hundreds of different gems. As we were walking back to the hostel we could hear the samba drums starting up and later managed to find ourselves samba-ing in the streets as they rehersed for next weeks carnaval parade. We are definitely begining to feel the build up of excitement as carnaval approaches and are now glad to be back in Rio... Let the party begin!