Andre – U1 – Travel log: Go Center-West

During my last vacation, I went to Goiânia, a city inside Goiás state. Because of work, I needed to choose when my vacation would be long before I could plan anything. But there was a very old trip plan in my family: To visit my cousin in his house, in Goiânia. My mother and my aunt went there once, but my father and I had never been there before. Goiás is located in the central part of Brazil. It’s known for being the home of many famous country music singers and for its farms.
So, because my parents and my aunt are retired and I’m the only one who cares about vacations now, we decided that we should go to my cousin’s house, in Goiânia. Because I like to drive, I convinced my family that we should go by car. The main arguments were that it’s quicker, cheaper and a lot funnier. My father has a ’93 Subaru Legacy, that is a very powerful and comfortable car despite its age (and very cheap if you are interested) so we decided that it was the right car to take this trip. My cousin gave us directions and tips on how to get there through Minas Gerais state. So, on December 8th, we packed our bags and hit the road by 5 am. It was a very rainy day (in fact that day São Paulo had problem with floods). I was the first driver and my father said that he would exchange seats with me if I got tired. After more than 330Km I didn’t feel tired at all… and neither at the 660Km mark. So I drove all the way to Goiânia and we reached my cousin’s house by 7 Pm, after 980Km.
My cousin’s apartment is very big and it’s located in front of the administrative center of Goiânia and Goiás (because Goiânia is the capital). Many governmental buildings are just across the street or just few minutes away on foot. It’s a beautiful city, with lots of trees and plazas distributed around the city. It was founded by Pedro Ludovico Teixeira, a politician that decided to move the capital to a new city during the 1930’s because Cidade de Goiás, the old capital, was starting to get crowded and its geography had limited the expansion of the city. Goiânia was founded on October, 1933.
But we didn’t stick to Goiânia only. We spent a day in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, that is placed 200Km to the Northeast. There we visited the congress, the senate, Paranoá Lake, 3 Poderes plaza, Brasília’s Cathedral and walked past many embassies. And we also spent a day in Cidade de Goiás, the old capital. It’s a small city in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains. We visited the old government headquarters. Every year, on the anniversary of Cidade de Goiás, it is once again proclaimed the capital of Goiás and politicians move from Goiânia to work there. It’s placed 150Km to the Northwest of Goiânia.
We left Goiânia on December 18th. I drove all the way back to our home, and didn’t feel tired. Did I miss anything from home? I think I just missed my beloved baseball and my computer (my cousin’s computer didn’t have any cool games), but I survived. It was a trip that I’ll never forget. And surely it encouraged us to travel more by car. It’s comfortable, cheap and the views you get when driving are fantastic.