Manaus and Brasilia

From the jungle we headed back to Manaus, the capital city of the state of Amazonas. The city, founded in 1669, is in the middle of the Amazon rainforest and the only way to access the city is mainly by boat or plane.

During the late 1800s, rubber export made Manaus the richest city in South America, earning it the nickname, the "Paris of the Tropics". Many wealthy European families settled here and brought with them their love of  European art, architecture and culture.

From Manaus we flew to the capital, Brasilia. The city is a planned capital, like Canberra, and was founded in April 1960, moving the capital from Rio de Janeiro. The city's design divides it into a number of sectors, i.e. the Hotel sector, the Banking sector and the Embassy sector. Due to its modernist architecture and artistic urban planning, Brasilia was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was built in 41 months.  Oscar Niemeyer was the chief architect of most of the public buildings

 The view from the balcony of our hotel room

The JK Bridge, named after former president Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, crosses Lake Paranoa and was constructed in 2002.  It consists of three 20m (200ft) tall asymmetrical steel arches. It is 1.2km (0.75 miles) long and cost US$56.8m

On Sunday we walked to the huge city park and found there was a drumming festival taking place. It could be heard for miles around, including the other side of the lake.

Tonight we take the overnight bus to Rio (only 17 hours). Let's get this party started...