BRAZIL II: AGORA E LOUIS
BRASILIA
Flying out of Santos Dumont
Airport to Brasilia is scary. It's a
short runway and nothing larger than a 737 can use it. Apprarently the
airlines don't
like to take any chances.
Brasilia is the home of the Federal
government. With its executive, legislative and
judicial
branches all within a couple blocks of one another, an invading force
could take over rather quickly. An invading tourist force is rewarded
with not having to walk an eternity to get their snapshots.
The Brazilian president has an office building located in the main
square and a personal residence some distance away. By residence, I
really mean a
campus. Shamelessly taking their lead from the British, there is a
24 hour ceremonial
watch over the residence. The current president, Luis Inacio "Lula"
da Silva was the Buffalo Bills of presidential politics. He ran for
office four times. The difference between this man and his NFL
counterpart is that this bridesmaid finally became a bride thanks to
the poor economy that he inherited. The short slogan for his campaign
was "Agora e Lula," from which this travelogue steals its name.
Brasilia was constructed from scratch 30-40 years ago (I don't remember
exactly when and I'm not going to look it up) and was designed to
resemble an airplane from the air. There are government buildings
all clustered together and residential in another. Their street
numbering system is enough to make the typical grid-using Chicagoan
start drinking.
The US Embassy
more resembles Fort
Knox than an ambassador's residence because it was built when were
weren't sure what to think of Brazilians during the cold war. This
unremarkable building with its black windows is not exactly Disney World. The security
people were all business and were ready to kill us all when Cecilia's
sister, Claudia drove around the parking lot in a menacing (read: lost
tourist) manner. By contrast, the French Embassy
seems a little more inviting. It pains me as an American to say that the French have a nicer looking
embassy.
Brasilia has its own National Cathedral
which is actually quite beautiful on the inside, not that I have any
photo evidence to support that claim.. It is also home to what I
am sure is the second
coolest restaurant on the planet. The coolest restaurant is also in
Brasilia. It has soft-porn
pornography in the mens' room (Gee, Bob's been in the bathroom for
a while, hasn't he?).
Somewhere outside of Brasilia is a ranch-like place that we went to for
Andre's
birthday party. They had swimming, a water slide, a petting zoo, horseback riding,
and an impressive spread of food
when you consider it was a kid's birthday party. In the US, kids are
lucky to get hot dogs and potato chips. Most of the stuff they served
was unidentifiable to a close-minded American, so I filled up on snack
foods. I particularly enjoyed getting hit on by 9 year old girls who
were fixated on this person speaking some funny language.
We also stopped by a huge craft fair in Brasilia which is held near
this really
tall tower. It was from here that the aerial photos were taken of
the city. I bought a cool chess set and Cecilia bought a rug. They had
a street
performer who was MUCH better than the one I saw in Grenoble a
few years back.
Despite the obscene amount of rain, I really enjoyed Brasilia. As a
planned city, everything was spread out pretty well and it felt like we
were in the suburbs rather than in a big city. I even got to see
prostitutes (after we went hunting for them a while). Seeing the
hookers was a moral victory for Cecilia and her family because on the
prior trip and on this one I kept asking where they were so I could see
the red light district. They were finally able to shut me up! Since
Brasilia is like a suburb though, the red light district was not all
that impressive.