Manaus and the Rainforest

Our bed and breakfast on the outskirts of town.

The Rio Negro right before it flows into the Amazon.  It was big.

Another boat on the river.

Cool twisty trunk.

We went tree climbing with the tour company Amazon Tree Climbing.  They were amazing guides and we had alot of fun with them.

Laura getting suited up for tree climbing.

And up she goes.

I am following behind.

Up in the tree about a hundred feet off the ground.

Looking back down at the forest floor.

Monkey!

An Ants nest.  Our guide conviced us that they didn't hurt and got Laura to cover her hand in ants.  She reported that they did indeed bite - they just didn't leave welps.

Waterfalls at Presidente Figueiredo

We have clothes on I swear.

Delicious grilled river fish.

Opera house in Manaus

Fish market on the river.

They had some pretty big fish

and alot of shrimp.

Brasilia

Juscelino Kubitschek ran for the presidency of Brazil in 1955 on the promise that he would create a capital city for Brazil from scratch somewhere in the interior of the country.  He won and by the end of his term in office – 1960 – the new capital city of Brasilia was inaugurated.  Niemeyer was the head architect for the new city and was the head designer for all the major government buildings as well as many smaller city projects. 

Luis Costa laid out the city – resembling a bird or an airplane – with two major axis.  The north south curved axis contains the city’s housing and services arranged into superblocks and the east west axis contains all the government buildings and monuments.  

Brazilian National Congress Building



Congress - Senate in the dome on the left, House of Deputies in the Saucer on the right, and administration towers in the center.




Inside the House of Deputies' saucer




Inside the Senate's dome





The other four main government buildings: Presidential offices (Palácio do Planalto) top left, Foreign Affairs (Palácio do Itamaraty) top right, Ministry of Justice (Palácio da Justiça) bottom left, and Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) bottom right. 




Presidential offices (Palácio do Planalto) at night



Supreme court with lady Justice sitting outside



Ministry of Justice on the left and Foreign Affairs on the right



The absolutly amazing staircase in the Palácio do Itamaraty



The entrance to the National Cathedral



Us inside the Cathedral




The Cathedral at night




The contemporary art museum.



Inside the museum

The amazing ramp system that was not open when we visited.

The national library

The memorial to Juscelino Kubitschek

The brotherhood statue in the Plaza of the three powers.

To brag a little I included this picture to show the extent of how much we packed.  2 backpacks, one satchel, and one purse for our two week journey.  We didn't have to check a bag once despite getting on eight planes. 

Pampulha

We made a quick run through Belo Horizonte visiting the Pampulha suburb due to the presence of several Niemeyer buildings that were built around a man made lake.  The most distinctive was a small church dedicated to St. Francis.

The front of the church.

Inside

The large mural on the back side.

An art museum deisgned by Niemeyer - was originally a casino until gambling was outlawed in Brazil.

At the museum we got a great surprize when a herd of Capybara ambled up out of the lake.  Largest rodents in the world - think of them like large beavers without tails and webbed hoof paws.

Laura shows how big they were.

Later they went and played in the museum fountain.

Oh and there was a presidential election while we were in Brazil.  There were ads and supporters everywhere.  Also we learned that it is mandatory to vote in Brazil.

Ouro Preto

One of our favorite stops on the trip was the 17^th century colonial hill town of Ouro Preto.  This town sprang up when gold was discovered here by the Portuguese – its name literally meaning ‘black gold’.  There were baroque churches seemingly on every corner and the whole town was full of college students due to one of Brazil’s few universities being located here.  We stayed in a hotel designed by Niemeyer – one of the only ‘modern’ buildings in town, though it did remarkable job at blending in.



Walking into Ouro Preto from the bus stop we were met with this panoramic.  Our hotel is on the bottom right. 



Lots of cool doors.

Igreja de São Francisco de Assis - built in 1731

Igreja Nossa Senhora do Rosário - built in 1785

A chocolate that was colored  like a gold nugget.

Fruit market

Soapstone Carving market

The Grande hotel in Ouro Preto designed by Niemeyer in 1938.

Another shot of the hotel.

Our room had this amazing spiral staircase to get to the bedroom and bathroom.