Brasilia: Touristing in a non-touristic town

Whenever I visit a new place, there are a couple of things that I normally look for, in order to best get my bearings. At the top of that list is the free walking tour. I love following a local around as they explain what it is that makes this particular place special. Add to that, being able to ask for recommendations after the tour, you've got yourself a full day right there. 

In this case, I was not exactly in a new place. I had been to Brasilia once-18 years ago- but now there were 7 of us looking to explore and my foggy memories were not going to cut it. We needed a professional. I looked high and low but there were no walking tours, free or otherwise. There are always free walking tours. What gives? Ok, maybe the city is just really spread out. I looked into the possibility of a hop-on/ hop-off bus. Nope. There is one bus tour but not in the open-ended create your own adventure kind of way, plus it was sold out. It was quickly dawning on me that Brazil's capital city has a surprisingly non-existent tourism infrastructure. Plan C, ask the hotel's front desk if they have can find us a driver, preferably one who speaks English, to show us around. He made a couple of calls and sure enough, he found someone willing to do $120 US for a 2 hr tour (or $17 pp). Great. Until it wasn't. Speaking with the guide via Google Translate, no English there, he sent me pdf's of his brochure and declared that the price was now $350 for the same tour. O que?! Some bilingual negotiations later, he brought his price down to $280, more than double the original price and didn't understand why I was still giving him a firm ñao.

It was time to implement Plan D. Pick a spot, call a couple of Ubers, go to said spot. I knew from my prior visit, that Brasilia is a planned city built for the express purpose of being the nation's capital. Designed by the Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer, it was laid out in the shape of an airplane, with the most significant buildings sitting where a cockpit would be. 

We were firmly entrenched on the south wing, in the Aguas Clara neighborhood. The price for the 35 minute Uber ride, $8. Our destination was one of Niemeyer's most iconic structures, the Cathedral of Brasilia. 

Opened to the public in 1970, it dazzles from all angles. Its crown of thorns exterior leads you to an underground passageway that opens onto a riot of color. I remembered that it was known for its perfect acoustics. If you whisper something against the wall, a person standing on the other side also against the wall, could hear you perfectly. The walls have now been cordoned off by ropes preventing the visitor from climbing up the curved flooring. I'm genuinely curious what led to that decision. I refuse to believe it is because I may have whispered "Oye, para de comer mierda"  (or "yo, stop eating shit") just for the joy of watching the delayed reaction as the sound traveled half the length of the church and into the ear of my Cuban co-worker. 

With no actual itinerary or plan to follow, we stepped out of the church and decided to investigate why there was a half model of Saturn next door. Surely it was some kind of science museum. 

Or maybe it had nothing to do with science at all and it was the National Museum of the Republic, a cultural center-slash-art museum, focusing on Brazilian artists. On this day, they were featuring a retrospective of Pedro Ivo Vercosa's work. I had never heard of him but the lovely woman at the information desk took the time to explain that he was a talented albeit tortured young man who was finding artistic success but passed away at the unfathomably young age of 34 during the pandemic. 

His work was powerful and evocative. I found it hard to look away. The idea that Covid had snuffed out so much potential so early was crushing. We later learned that he had actually died by his own hand, which is somehow even sadder but not altogether shocking. For anyone already struggling emotionally to be thrown into the uncertainty and fear that was the pandemic, with all social safety nets upended, it couldn't have been easy. I personally feel that it is madness that, as a society we have been expected to return to "normal" as if nothing happened. This exhibition, particularly his final works, captured a snapshot of the turmoil of that moment in time I had yet to see represented in contemporary art. 

As we were leaving the museum, someone mentioned they wanted to see the I heart Brasilia sign. I personally was happy to learn that it was situated in a park, located alongside Lake Paranoa. A bit of nature would give us all a moment to regroup after that exhibition.

We piled into another couple of Ubers and made our way to Don Bosco Ecological Park. After a short walk, there it was, the mandatory monument to Instagram that all cities must now have. 

Photos were taken by it, under it, atop it, you name it.

But things didn't really get good until we went for a stroll by the water. I'm not sure who was the first to spot the dog sized kibbeh-looking creature waddling towards the water. I do however know who screamed an unhinged "Capybara!!!" and took off running full speed in its direction. That would be me. Did I know whether or not this was a buck-toothed killing machine? Nope. Did I care? Clearly not, this thing was adorable. 

By the time I made it, he had high-tailed it into the water but that did not stop me from pursuing him as he swam perpendicular to the shore-line. The best I was able to get was video of him swimming under a jetty. 

Next time, I bring a swimsuit, a gopro and a foolproof plan to pet a capybara. 

It was Uber driver #3 who suggested our next stop, the Pontao do Lago Sul. It's an entertainment/ restaurant complex set by the water. This would meet all of our sunset, eating and drinking needs. 

It had been a full day, fresh on the heels of a long night, so after dinner it was decided that we would Uber back to the hotel and chill, which is a sound plan...that is, until you realize that your hotel is next door to the best named drinking establishment in the history of drinking establishments. I was so excited I think I may have jumped out of the Uber while it was still moving but this girl was getting a beer at The Drunken CapyBarA!!

We closed out the bar and we could afford to. The drinks were cheap and we had spent maybe $50 in Ubers to see much of what the $350 tour purported to show. Between Google and some English language signage, we had even figured out a good amount of what we were looking at.  Total victory for team Capybara.

Well, at least partial victory. The next morning, I pulled up a list of things to see to make sure we hadn't missed anything. I still had a couple of hours before I had to leave and FOMO's gotta FOMO. There was a church that kept coming up on all the lists, the Santuario Dom Bosco. Uber time. 

From the outside, the church is cool but nothing too special, in a city known for its architecture. It's basically a modernist white box, designed by Niedermeyer's student Carlos Alberto Naves. It's not until you go inside that it's true beauty reveals itself.

Blue stained glass panels illuminated by the no-joke Brazilian sun create a magical effect, making you feel as if you have somehow wandered underneath the surface of the sea.

When I eventually returned to the parking lot, my driver was waiting for me as I had hoped. I had asked him to but my attempts at Portuguese were having mixed results at best. There were a couple of things I had seen in passing the prior day and now I wanted to get up close. 

I had him drop me off by The Warriors, a monument dedicated to the worked who built this unlikely city. It wasn't just that these two figures are most common tchotchke sold by the few wandering souvenir vendors. It was more because they got prime real estate, right in the heart of Three Powers Square, where you find buildings representing the legislative, judicial and executives branches. It's also showcases some of Neidermeyer's coolest work.

My personal favorite was the Pantheon of the Fatherland and Liberty It's a museum dedicated to Tancredo Neves, the first democratically elected president who died before ever taking office, as well as  other Brazilian heroes. Seen from the outside it takes the shape of a dove. 

Also found within the square, the Supreme Court:

The Palacio de Plan Alto, which serves as the President's office: 

And the offices of the Brazilian National Congress: 

Architecturally speaking, it is an embarrassment of riches, all within a comfortable walking distance. I'm more baffled than before as to why there are no free walking tours offered here. I get that Brasilia isn't as sexy as Rio or as busy as Sao Paolo but it is the nation's capital and has a truly unique history. Someone needs to step it up. Until that happens, I advise skipping the overpriced private tours, getting a couple of Ubers and packing a pocketful of capybara kibble, cause you never know…