Ahhhh once again it has been way too long (OVER A MONTH!) since I blogged!! Life has been so so busy and time has been flying by!
The last few weeks have been busy with friend visits, tourism, research/work and two trips to Brasilia.
So, in the middle/end-ish of June (where my last blog left off) I had some friends come and visit, one friend (an American living in Uruguay) and TALENE!! a good friend of mine from the US.
So, we did lots and lots of touristy stuff. We took walking tours of downtown, went to old lovely cafes, went to museums, ate delicious food and uhhh went to Brasilia (but more on that later!) I think the best way to talk about the Rio tourism tour we took, is through some photos! So here we go!
Talene's first sushi cone in Leblon.
Confiteria Colombo in Centro
A lovely breakfast at Confiteria Colombo.
Candelaria Church
A memorial to the street kids who were killed in front of the church.
Some Caricatures of Brazilian futebol players
At Pão de Açucar
Sunset in Rio. Truly a gorgeous city.
At Parque do Flamengo
The MAC in Niteroi
Oscar N. clearly has a thing for Space Ships.
Also, it was closed, because this is after the game where Brasil lost. They closed everything... it was weird.
Typical scene: dog in Ipanema with booties on.
At the Feira Sao Cristovao
At the feira. Look at the guy in ALL Brasil clothes next to me!
Out with my lovely Brazilian friends Mari and Renata!! They're great!
At a building in downtown rio. Talene knows what it is...she's the almost architect.
At the same building with lovely portuguese tiles.
The museum of modern art in Rio.
With landscaping by Burle Marx.
A lovely old soccer couple (before Brasil lost...)
At the Cristo...apparently this guy traveled there straight from the 1980s.
Wrong way!
At the Cristo
At a bar in Ipanema called Emporio! one of my faves!
The day...Brasil lost. that was sad...
But at least we had the gear!
Then, Talene and I went to Brasilia. Since she studies Architecture she was interested in Brasilia since it’s a city that was 100% planned, all the architecture is by Oscar Niermayer and it’s just 50 years old. The city is bizarre, slightly eerie, and impossible to get around on foot. (ie taxis everywhere…annoying and expensive). But we had an excellent tour guide there who gave us a lot of info about the city and it’s history. After being weirded out for an extended period of time, and talking to Talene about it, I think one of the things about Brasilia that was most shocking to me was the almost complete lack of street life there. Considering that is one of the main focuses of my research here in Rio, the fact that there are no pedestrians in Brasilia, and therefore no vendors, little to no informal economy, etc, really strikes me as sad and sterile. I think that’s what contributes to so much of the vibrant character and culture of Rio: the popcorn vendors, the lottery ticket sellers, the door men who talk to each other, the people who sell coat racks (like the one I ran down the street chasing one day, so I could buy it to hang my purses and bags on), the dog walkers and the dogs in little booties, the nannys pushing babies in strollers, the police men, the fruit sellers, the people selling hand held sewing machines, all of it adds SO much life to Rio and helps defines neighborhoods and the people who live in them. So the fact that street life barely exists in Brasilia was just out of this world to me. Business areas and government sectors were separated from hotels which were separated from the “residential blocks” which each had one “commerce street”. Life is so rigidly separate there that it’s impossible for organic street life to exist there. Also, things are so FAR from each other, people drive everywhere and even public transportation is severely limited and mostly goes to the “Satellite cities”. So, that is what bugs me about Brasilia. The fact that Lúcio Costa, the man who designed Brasilia, designed it to be so segmented and separate, blows my mind. The city is SO young, and could have truly been built as a utopian city with parks, sidewalks, metros, rapid transit buses, downtown areas and pedestrian streets. But, it’s just the complete opposite. And it’s frustrating. You have to take cabs everywhere and the cabs are PRICEY. To give the city a little bit of credit, the architecture is REALLY intriguing, but that’s expected from Niermayer. I just wish it was a more liveable city. Another funny thing is that Brasilia as a city, knows that a lot of people don’t like it. So, a ton of their advertising for tourism, is basically just trying to convince people to change their minds. The main tagline is “More than you ever imagined”…except it’s not. There really isn’t much to do there other than take a city tour, visit a few monuments and museums, and go to one of the 2 or 3 big malls. The second trip I took to Brasilia was just this last weekend for BRASA (the Brasilian Studies Association’s Conference). Most of the Brazil Fulbright kids came and we went to some cocktail parties and receptions, went to some different panels and talks and had some fun meals together. I enjoyed the trip because I really like those kids a lot, and it was fun and interesting to go to the conference and be put up in a lovely hotel. But I can officially say that I am donezo with Brasilia. Been there, done that, didn’t buy the t-shirt, but bought a lovely pair of sandals. Random Sidenote: my roommate at the hotel in Brasilia, is actually a Fulbrighter, Stanford grad from my year. We never crossed paths in all our years at Stanford (except we were in a Spanish class together at some point), but we had a blast as roommates. Sometimes it’s just nice to just lay in hotel beds, watch bad tv, eat snacks and marvel at the small world of barely knowing each other at Stanford, and becoming friends while in Brazil. It’s a small world, afterall. Ps. Hi Becky (one of the 4 readers of this blog!)
The Brasilia Photos!:
The little church, first thing Niermayer designed/built (something like that) in Brasilia.
Dom Bosco church--made out of stained glass..really beautiful.
Same Church
The Chandelier
Brasilia, in all it's dry, red dirt "glory"
The Plano Piloto
The cathedral...it's quite nice.
The common religious "Egg" symbol...just kidding, have no idea why it's there...
Inside the Cathedral
Congress
Govt buildings
Congress
Us at Congress
This clothes pin is a pigeon house. Kind of funny. Right by the congress building.
Another govt building
Very reflective
The bridge in Brasilia...recently named one of the most beautiful in the world
Inside our hotel which was designed by Niermayer
At the hotel
The hotel.
Best jumping photo ever.
Fulbright Brasilia Pics:
Most of the Brasil Fulbrighters at Congress
Becky handstanding outside of congress
Becky whispering along the round walls of the Cathedral..it works!
The Museu da Republica at night
At the opening BRASA Reception at the Museu
Three last quick notes!!
1. A place opened up across the street from me called CherryBerry, and it's like Yogurtland in that it's self serve, but it's ALL fruit flavors and mostly Brazilian fruit flavors. It's delicious and amazing.
2. I borrowed some of these photos from Talene! So, many photo credits to her!!
3. I'm working away this week, but on Sunday my parents come, so the next post will probably be about Rio, Bonito and the Pantanal with them woohoo!!! yayay!
Hope you're all Well!
Beijos,
Hannah
