Brasilia
A conversation with Eder about Brasília.
Eder, let me share what I know about Brasília with you.
It’s a capital of Brazil.
The city is pretty far from the coast.
It takes about 15 hours to get there from Sao Paulo or Rio by car.
Or less than 2 hours on a plane.
The city’s history is quite unique.
It’s only 50 something years old.
Built in the 1950s, as a new capital of the country.
That’s all I know about Brasília at the moment.
That’s a good start.
I am looking at the pictures of the city…
Government buildings… planned city streets… lot’s of parks.
I think that the amount of open space in Brasília is just amazing.
Even in the city center.
Yes, there is a lot of space here.
But the city is getting bigger.
Construction is not allowed in some areas.
This is because of environmental issues.
The sunsets look really impressive.
Yes, they are impressive.
Especially, if you are in Pontão…
looking across the lake.
One thing I noticed from the pictures…
the weather seems to change often during the day.
Yes, the weather can really change.
Sometimes the temperature drops a few degrees during the day.
The weather in the first half of the year is usually colder,
but in the second half it’s warm and rainy.
What is one place in Brasília everyone should visit?
There is a place here called Pontão do Lago Sul.
In Portuguese it means something like “a place right next to the lake”.
And the lake we are talking about is Paranoá lake.
There you have restaurants, sidewalks and a lot of greenery.
You can see boats carrying people from one side to the other,
people are taking photos…
It’s a good place for a getaway.
What are other places to see?
I think you should visit places like Iguatemi shopping mall,
Parque da Cidade, or City Park,
We also have a lot of restaurants here.
La Fonacella is a good one.
I don’t usually go to bars or pubs very often.
What is the best time to visit Brasília?
Well, we have different seasons here.
In the first half of the year, it’s usually colder and it often rains.
So, if you want to go around, visit nearby cities,
you will see plenty of green trees and water.
In the second half, the weather is really dry and hot.
The humidity is low.
Some people can’t stand this kind of weather.
The green vanishes a little bit.
It does rain sometimes, but not as often as in the first half.
What is one place locals know well, but visitors don’t know much about?
I think that most visitors don’t know about “Feira dos Importados”.
It means something like “import fair”.
You can find a lot of different goods.
Almost anything you can imagine…
tools, electronics, glasses, clothes etc.
The locals often go there
to buy something they can’t find in regular shops.
The interesting thing there is that many sellers are Asian immigrants…
I think they are Chinese…
Sometimes I keep thinking how did they get here.
Is it expensive to live in Brasília, compared to other cities?
Talking about the cost of living…
It’s among the most expensive in Brazil.
Big cities like Rio and São Paulo are also expensive,
but they have less expensive areas as well.
In Brasília, there are only a few inexpensive areas, if any.
So it’s expensive everywhere.
We have to consider that the markets in other cities
are more competitive
and this helps reduce the prices of goods and services.
Thanks a lot, Eder, for sharing these impressions with us.
You are welcome.
Images by Flickr users, licenced under CC-BY.
(1) seier+seier, (2) Rafael Bertola, (3) seier+seier, (4) Moisés Nazário,
(5) Mercado Viagens, (6) Arian Zwegers, (7) Mercado Viagens,
(8) Mercado Viagens, (9) Carla Salgueiro, (10) Rafael Bertola.
