Pantanal and Brasilia

Got to the first tour agency to go to Pantanal which is a wet land area full of wild life. It's less knows than the Amazon, but the animals can be seen better, because they don't have the trees to hide in. I knew the prices in advance, so I didn't have to look for multiple agencies (since you know, they're all crooks), I still got it down by $10. In half an hour which I had there before the bus, I booked the tour, booked a flight to Brasilia, got a new cell phone chip, and was ready to pay, but they didn't accept credit cards, so they drove me quick quick quick to a bank, which had a huge line up, so I missed the bus :( I had to go on a next bus which was in 2 hours. The bus went to the location where the lodge people picked me up. I could see so much already through the window, since the bus goes directly through Pantanal. From where the bus stopped, we drove for another hour until we got to the lodge. The activity of that day was piranha fishing, which I missed, but they still took me there, and I had half an hour to fish, and I actually caught 1 piranha !! Yeiii :)) When we caught them, because they can come off the hook quite easily, the guide would come running and kick it like a football ball further away from the shore :) Later on we sacrificed one piranha for sushi, and the rest were deep fried. They are such alive animals like wasps, nothing can kill them !!! Once we caught them, the guide made a deep cut into their brains, and they were out of the water, then he peeled them, and cut them to take the guts out, and they were still alive !!!! The guide took their hearts out, and they were still beating for a good 2 minutes all by themselves. Then he started calling "hey chicken chicken chicken, come here", and whistling meanwhile, and like 4 hawk came in flying, eating the fish remains. One girl took some and went to the river to feed the crocodiles, suddenly more and more kept coming, o well, there was food only for one. They said in the rain season, the water goes up right to the lodge, and there could be some crocodiles right in the kitchen ;S
The lodge was nice, it was fully open with nets instead of windows, and had like 60 hammocks in it. But the first night I was all alone there, because the rest decided to sleep in tents. It had hot showers, nice 3 day meals, a pool table, volleyball net, and was situated right on the river with crocodiles :)
Next day we got up at 7 to have breakfast and went to ride horses. It was nice, very relaxing, although the horses didn't listen to any instructions. It just followed the guide's horse. To make it run would require quite a lot of effort, or to separate it from the group. We didn't see that many animals, just a big hamster (that's what I call it), it's huge like a 1 meter long animal that looks like a hamster. We also saw jaguar footprints, but no jaguar. The guide said he sees it approximately once a year, but he makes presence approximately 2 nights a week in a farm where it kills some baby animal.
Later on we went to a jeep safari, we drove out for 1 hour, saw an armadillo, toucans in trees, of course a bunch of birds. Then we had 1 hour walk where we saw a deer, macaws (they're so loud, I thought they're going to attack us, but nope, they were just flying by), and some wild pigs. Then we stopped to see an amazing sunset. The sun was bright red and a full circle, so pretty. On the way back we drove in the dark with a huge projector. The caimans were cool, they would start moving once the light hit them, and when you take a picture, you can see a bunch of dots, which are their eyes. We spotted a deer and a baby feeding, another macaw, and a fox.
The next day we had a boat ride, which was another very very relaxing activity. Saw a bunch of birds, more hamsters, and that's pretty much it, but the setting was very beautiful. Back at the lodge in the kitchen, suddenly a toucan came flying in. He sat right on the table, like 1 meter away from me. The workers gave him food right away, so he stopped for good 5 minutes, I just kept taking and taking pictures. It's such a beautiful bird. Much more beautiful up close than on the trees, or on TV or on pictures. So colorful, it doesn't even look real, looks like a toy. I was super excited!!
On the way back we got some expensive van to go to a near by city. The driver was an ass. He told us 2 hours, and 5 hours later we were finally there. The seats were uncomfortable, and once we got to the terminal, he didn't even help us take out bags out. I went to the public washroom, which had toilet paper!!! It was sparkling clean, had soap and paper towels, and it was free! I must be in heaven!! :))
It was already late, and I was almost praying for there to be an overnight bus to Brasilia. Yei there was !! At 10:30 pm, a 15 hour bus. The buses are so expensive in here, it's incredible ! That 15 hour bus cost around $90, in Bolivia it would've been about $10. In the bus, it turns off all the lights, and everybody sleeps, well, not one guy. He started playing some music on his phone. I was so annoyed, how disrespectful. Nobody said a thing, and I don't understand why I was the only one who doesn't speak any Portuguese, had to tell him to stop playing the music. In Bolivia it would never happen! There are no these cool guys, with cool phones and cool cloths showing off. There is just first of all no opportunity to be that way, and they grew up differently. The life there consists of survival, and kids at 5 are already grown ups. A lot of them either help their parents, or sell something on the street to help their parents. In the early morning it stopped at some terminal, and told everybody to get out, and then the bus drove away. I asked where did it go? And people told me, that it went to a garage, and will be back in half an hour. Ok, I bought a snack, and sat where it let us off, and waited. Waited, waited, where is the bus? More than half an hour has passed. I walked around the terminal, and didn't see any people who were on the bus. I went to the agency, and tried to explain them that I'm still waiting for it. He said, the bus has already left !!! It's in the middle of nowhere, nobody speaks any English or Spanish, and they don't get it that when people don't understand what you're saying, you should speak slower and use simpler words, for me in was blah blah blah bus, blah blah blah ticket .... I couldn't understand anything !! First he was a bit mad at me, said something like, where did I go? Was I walking around the terminal and not paying attention, I said no, I was waiting where it let us off. And then I just started crying and crying. It's not that I missed the bus, it's just I'm all alone there, in a new country, I don't understand the language at all, and I can't even make it to a freaking bus !! I was trying to calm myself down, like it's not a problem, those things happen, I'll just take another bus, but they didn't stop. The agent was very nice with me after that, he tried to calm me down and said that he's gonna arrange everything. So he bought me a ticket on another bus company, for a 4 hour ride to another city, and they called my bus, and stopped it at that city. When I got there, the driver of my bus waited for me at the exit, and all the people were so happy to see me, I was soo happy to see them too!!! They all surrounded me, and talked and asked, and I had no idea what they were saying, just kept nodding and smiling :)) They weren't even upset with me that they had to wait until I got there. I don't know why, the bus was going very well, but we arrived in Brasilia after 20 hours, not 15.
Brasilia is the capital of Brazil, and it's a future city, and the first planned city and with addresses like SQS 704, and restaurants like ZUU a.Z.d.Z it definitely is. It's design is actually a plane, and everything has it's own location. Residential properties are on the wings, hotels are in the center, monuments and museums are on the actual plane, and the government offices in the cockpit. The addresses are impossible to understand, I got on a subway where I was supposed to be, and needed to go only a few more blocks till the hotel, well ... nobody knew where we are on the map, or where I need to be. I walked around for a bit, and didn't find anything, so I took a taxi, which was a fortune to get to some hostel way out of town. It's an international hostel, but nobody speaks any language except for Portuguese. All I have to say is thank god for Spanish, I could understand maybe 10% of what they're saying. Outside the hostel there is absolutely nothing, it's in the middle of a highway, so I didn't eat for a whole day. The only thing I had was 1 little snack where the bus has left. So a day and a half without food, I was quite drained. In the morning during the breakfast, for some reason, I didn't even have any appetite.
During lunch went on the bus to the terminal. I gave the money to the driver, and he pantomimed something, I tried to figure out what he was trying to show, and thought to myself, poor man, he's deaf. Then he pointed to the sign which says "do not talk to the driver". really??? that is way too beaurocratic for Brazil !
The nice thing about Brazil is that most restaurants have buffets for lunches, so I don't have to understand what they're saying, and just go and grab what looks good. A good size portion which I can barely finish costs around $3, so it's not too bad.
Bought fruits and vegetables in a store that has one price, which is 75 cents/kilo. This is cheap !!! Brazil is expensive, but some things are surprisingly cheap.
Took a tour of the city because the distances are huge, and the tour is supposed to cover all the important points. Saw national museum which looks like Saturn, saw the most amazing cathedral which I fell in love with. It's so bright and open, cause all of its walls are made out of stained glass. People who go there are normal, not some religious fanatics. They have happy music playing from a dvd, and they wave their arms from side to side. After went to a square that has all the statues, some palace; a building that has floating islands, a building from which there are waterfalls, some place where a president is buried, and a cool bridge which goes over an artificial lake. It's all nice, but we stopped to walk around only in 3 places, and I wasn't very satisfied. The next day I wanted to see more of the city, but got only to the national museum, and another incredible church. All the walls are made out of blue stained glass, and when I got in, I had to feeling back of when I was a child, and saw this huge Christmas tree on the main square. Something that's very very special. It was amazing :)
The Brazilian people are the nicest and friendliest people I've ever met in my life. They look normal, but wait until you ask them a question. They'll show you, tell you everything they know about it, give you other options, and are very patient if they see that I don't understand. I went to an office to get a hostel discount card. They didn't have it, and the receptionist gave me an address of another office (which is hell knows where). A girl was standing beside me, and when she saw that, she said that she could give me a ride there. In another office, I asked how to get to that church because it's impossible to find the addresses in here, so I just want to be sure, and she gave me a card with a phone number, and told me to call incase I get lost. Just absolutely every case was eye opening. Do these people actually exist!?!

From guidebook:
Brasilia is a result of an ambitious urban project which was set in motion by heroic President Juscelino Kubitschek, and orchestrated by architect Oscar Niemeyer. The whole thing was built in just 41 months. Dom Bosco, a Salesian priest living in Italy, prophesied a new civilization would emerge in Brazil, somewhere between the 15th and 20th parallels. That caught Brazil's attention and land was allocated in the 1891 for a new capital. Still, it wasn't until 1955 that Brasilia started to become a reality. The capital was officially moved from Rio to Brasilia on April 21, 1960.
Kubitschek made the building of Brasilia a symbol of the country's determination and ability to become a great economic power. He successfully appealed to all Brazilians to put aside their differences and rally to the cause. In doing so, he distracted attention from country's social and economic problems, gained enormous personal popularity, and borrowed heavily from the international banks.
Today, Kubitschek is heralded as a national hero. For some, the city represents the outstanding capabilities of this great and vast nation, a world model fur urban development, architecture and society. On the other hand, some consider the city a wasted opportunity, full of pretty buildings but lacking a soul.
The question remains: does it work? Brasiliense, as locals are referred to, regard the capital as a well-organized Brazilian utopia: roads are well maintained, grass is green, vehicles actually stop for pedestrians in crosswalks and there are no favelas in the city. Large trucks are forbidden from entering the city limits, keeping pollution in check, and there is a height limit to signs and billboards, ensuring the city's big, open skiers remain unobstructed. For Brazil, it's an impressive standard of living. On the other hand, most folks in the rest of the country see the city as a soulless bore, a sterile metropolis full of bureaucratic nonsense. Dig a little deeper and you'll find holes in the city's perfect plan, mostly concerning traffic. If a bus breaks down or there's an accident, it can be snarled for hours. With very few exit points on the city's roadways, a missed turn can be disastrous.

It remains the only city in the world constructed in the 20th century to achieve World Cultural Heritage designation by Unesco.
--------
Addresses for the logical mind.
Brasilias addresses are as futuristic as its architecture, a series of numbers and letters that look baffling at first but are easy to decipher once you know what all the acronyms mean.
For example, the address to Pansao de Zenilda is SQS 704, Bloco Q, Casa 29. That means it's in Super Quadrea South 704, building Q, house 29. The first digit of the address (7) shows the position east or west of the Eixo Rodoviario (the main north-south arterial road) - odd numbers to the west and even to the east, increasing as they move away from the center. The last two digits (04) show the distance north or south of the Eixo Monumental. So Pensao da Zenilda is four bocks to the south of the Eixo Monumental and four blocks east of the Eixo Rodoviario.

pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/PantanalAndBrasilia#