It´s hard to top nude sunbathing in Brazil, so I decided to put my clothes on and head south for some culture. I ended up in Salvador, the third largest city and former capital of the country. It has a fantastically rich history and some great colonial architecture. I spent most of my time indoors reading. Cultural tourism is not my strong suit, but I did spend some time seeing the sights. Salvador is a bit of a hypocrisy in that they have thousands of churches and yet have one of the most hedonisitic histories of any Brazilian city. Their first cardinal left in disgust only to be shipwrecked and eaten by cannibals a few miles up the coast, the list of sexual crimes during the Inquisition (which had little effect this far from Europe) reads like a list of internet chatrooms, and it if that wasn´t enough, it was the cheif recieving port for the slave trade until shortly before the 20th century. That said, the churches they have are quite spectacular. Gold leafed altars, magnificent painted ceilings and porcelain tiled walls adorn some of the more beautiful specimens.

All that city-walking wore me out and I decided I wasn´t quite done with the beach so I headed further south to the relaxing sounding Trancoso. Everyone I´d spoken to referred to it highly, but I was let down. It certainly didn´t have the kitsch and uncontrolled growth of the typical beach towns, but I knew when I saw Club Med stationed nearby on the way in that I wasn´t going to find the undiscovered paradise I´d envisioned. In fact it was a horribly overpriced town. An upscale bed and breakfast community with gourmet restaurants littered about. Admittedly, if I was looking for a one-week break in a relaxed beach town it would fit the bill, but since this was month five of a low-budget backpacker´s trip, Trancoso was not for me. Instead, I spent one night, walked the beach a bit and caught a bus back to the over-developed backpacker haven of Arrial d´Ajuda (literrally "Helping Sands"). Here was the uncontrolled growth and kitsch which spells bargain for my beleagured budget. A bit more beach-walking and some cold bevereages and I was once again prepared to take on big city living. I hopped a bus to the capital, Brasilia, and left the coast which I´d been hugging for over a month.

Every person I´d spoken to, when they heard I was going to Brasilia, expressed surprise and asked the obvious question "Why?". This did not create a good impression of the city in my head, but I was going to meet some friends there and so looked at it as an imperative. Upon arriving (a scant 25 hour bus from Arrial) I found a large, clean capital which immediately reminded me of North America. Brasilia had been created in the ´60´s to serve as a capital closer to the center of the country that Rio. The entire city was designed by an architect with grandiose dreams. It resembles a a bow and arrow from the sky (or a map) and each block is designated for a certain purpose, commerical, residential, hotel, residential, shopping, residential, etc. This seems quite efficient in theory, but in practice is a pain as you can´t just run out to the store or grab a quick bite to eat, you have to grab a taxi or bus or (as in North America) hop in your car to go do anything. Even the tourist attractions are horrendously spread out. The best things to see in Brasilia are the buildings. The architect made some unique stuff (and is still at it today).

The seat of govenment is centered around the Plaza of the Three Powers (legislative, executive and judicial), where one of the defining images of Brazil is the "H" shaped building with its two dome-like accompaniments.

Other unique museums, buildings, and parks line the main road through the city (it forms the arrow of the bow and arrow) and are accessible to the motorist or long-distance walker.



I managed to catch up with some friends from back home who were in Brasilia for a conference. They wanted to see a bit of the countryside, so we spent a day heading out to a local Park with a nice waterfall and swimming hole (winter in Brazil isn´t terribly cold). Unfortunately, we got a late start, had some trouble finding the right bus station, and arrived reasonably late in the day at the town closest to the park. As with so many things Brasilia, a car was needed to get from town to the park itself, so we hefted up the money to take a cab. It was just after 4:30 when we arrived, which in itself was not a great time to start exploring a park, but for this park it was a really bad time as they closed at 4:30. A fact our well-paid cabbie didn´t know. In an attempt to keep their Brazilian nature excursion from ending in utter disaster, we inquired about nearby places where we might get out and at least see the river. The park guard directed us to a nearby camping location. Not exactly what we´d envisioned, it was in fact the Brazilian equivalend of KOA, with nice paved car camping, a large mosquito-infested swimming pool, and access to the very chilly stream which presumably was fed by an attractive waterfall. After twenty minutes of blood letting by the mosquitoes and a bizarre incident where we managed to scare some local girls to death, we hopped back in the taxi and made our way back to Brasilia. We decided for some fool-proof fun, we needed to head to Rio, and so we did.