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| In Brazil, Santa Claus wears cowboy boots because of course. |
The Christmas adventure of a lifetime moved on to the one destination in my itinerary that my travel agent desperately tried to talk me out of seeing: Brasilia.
He tried to tell me that there was nothing to see here. Oh yeah? Well, if there was nothing to see, explain this cathedral:
Yes, that is a cathedral, Brasilia style,
The travel agent tried to explain that everyone who visits Brasilia leaves disappointed, overwhelmed by the sterility and lifelessness of the place. But I'm not everybody. I was not disappointed. I loved the place.
What's not love about architecture like that? This is the Congresso Nacional.
Brasilia is the city that defines "retrofuturistic." It was what, in 1960, everybody thought the "city of the future" would look like. Instead, to many, Brasilia sits out there in the dry hinterlands of Central Brazil as a cautionary tale. But not me. Throw that caution to the wind and enjoy a place like no other.
Above, outside the cathedral, are the statues of the four evangelists from the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Below, in the cathedral's three angels, suspended from the cathedral's peak.
Of course a place like Brasilia would have no ordinary cathedral.
But the nativity scene inside for the Christmas (or "Natal") season was somewhat traditional. Shockingly, the lambs looked like lambs, and not some once-upon-a-time stylized version of a "lamb."
The Stations of the Cross, however, are more in line with the modern spirit that is Brasilia:
Some of the architecture has an "only in Brasilia" vibe.
While other pieces look like they could fit into Eisenhower-era America.
Is that Brasilia? Or is it the library building on the campus of State U?
Brasilia is an extremely difficult city to walk.
It was a city designed for a universe where the personal automobile is king. For example, there are no at-grade intersections. The city streets are the functional equivalent of interstate highways, with road crossings above and below but not at the road's grade. Which makes crossing the street "challenging."
This is a soldier who was guarding a government building.
Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Paraguay anymore. Compare/contrast with the automatic weapon-wielding (but friendly) soldiers on the other national capital visited on this trip.
The honor guard wields flags, instead,
People claim they want to visit places that are "off the beaten path," and not like any other place anywhere. Well, why aren't they beating a path to Brasilia?
It is like no other place.
Well, the U.S. embassy looks like any other concrete building in Washington, D.C. It wasn't built with the character of Brasilia in mind.
I even got invited to go visit the home of the waiter at the churrascaria style steakhouse I ate it in Brasilia.
That's Jose in the middle, with his sister to the left, and his wife and daughter to the right. When you're in your 30's, you think nothing of taking a bus out to the residential neighborhoods of Brasilia to go visit someone's house. This is something I probably would not do today. I'm glad I did, however.
Feliz Natal in Brasilia, indeed.
I will end with a photo from the airport. This is the only part of Brasilia that I have revisited in the intervening 23 years, when I changed planes here en route home from my World Cup trip to Brazil in 2014. The next stop is the final stop in what truly was a trip of a lifetime: the place where I got to spend Christmas Day on the beach.
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