After two nights in Buenos Aires at the conclusion of our cruise, Mark and I flew to Brasília. We had a flight at the ungodly hour of 3 a.m. with arrival at 6:30. The funny thing was that our flight wasn’t the only one leaving for Brasília around that time; there was a second flight leaving half an hour later.
Instead of booking a third night at our hotel, we checked out on March 2 at 11 a.m., left our bags at the front desk and spent our final afternoon in the city. We visited the Buenos Aires Museo and I hung around a few bookstores. We returned to the hotel, got our suitcases and then walked to the bus stop where we would catch a bus to the airport. It was the same stop we got off at when we first arrived in Buenos Aires. Our flight wasn’t until 3 a.m., with the earliest possible check-in at midnight, yet we were leaving so early in order that Mark could participate in an on-line meeting with his softball league. Buenos Aires was two hours ahead of EST at that time in early March, so Mark had to find a quiet place to sit and log in to his meeting by 8:30 p.m. local time.
The trouble was trying to find a quiet place in Ezeiza International Airport. Good luck. We couldn’t find anyplace and there were no tables to set up my laptop. We asked at the information desk if there was any quiet place and were told that the domestic arrivals area was less busy. That terminal was past the international terminal yet still in the same building. The advice was accurate: the domestic wing was practically empty. The restaurant there had plenty of tables and a small area to sit to recharge your mobile devices. Mark set up my laptop there and I took a table to read and finish my book.
Mark had intermittent periods of peace and quiet. We were located in the arrivals area, after all, and whenever a plane landed the sliding doors opened and a whoosh of passengers swept through, creating a commotion. Since an airport is so spacious and the sound emanating from my laptop could not be contained (as neither Mark nor I had headphones that were compatible) Mark couldn’t hear very well, even with the volume cranked to the maximum. And whenever a rush of passengers swooped in, it was worse. Nevertheless he was able to attend his meeting and we even managed to play one game of Scrabble, our 51st on this trip, in the airport.
We reorganized our suitcases and weighed them. Mine was slightly overweight. Mark convinced me to part with my cheapie black dress shoes, which I had only brought with me in case I needed them on the ship for formal nights. I never wore them, and hadn’t worn them for years even at home, so left them behind. The funny thing was, as we packed again upon leaving Brasília for home, I organized my backpack and laptop bag much better and actually managed to have far less in my suitcase, with enough extra weight allowance to accommodate some of Mark’s stuff. So I realize I didn’t have to part with my shoes, but, I must admit, I never wear them and likely never will, so I shed no tears about leaving them.
With two departures for Brasília in the middle of the night, the GOL Linhas Aéreas check-in area at the airport was busy, even hours before the 3 a.m. flight. With the earliest possible time to check in at midnight (i.e., three hours before the flight) we knew that all the people would rush to line up as soon as staff appeared, even if those passengers had the later flight at 3:30. We really just wanted to check in and get it over with as soon as we could, so we started to line up around 11:30.
We had no problems communicating in English, although GOL charged us extra to check our bags both during our flight to Brasília and then for our GOL flight from Brasília to Miami. As the departure time neared I walked through the empty departure lounges to the washroom in order to remove my contact lenses. It was weird to walk past gate after gate and see no one. I had to be very aware of where I was walking as I didn’t want to get lost shortly before our departure, because I really am helpless without my contact lenses. It wasn’t a matter of simply walking a straight line to the washroom.
In spite of the short flight I did manage to sleep a little, and once we landed in Brasília (after I found a washroom to put my lenses back in) we had to present our tourist visas at passport control. These visas are a new money-grab and we applied for them on-line about a month before our trip. We got a cab to our hotel, the Kubitschek Plaza, and agreed upon the fare of 70 reais before we got in. After the driver dropped us off he gave us some story that the fare he quoted was for one passenger only, and demanded we pay him twice as much, R$140. We both scoffed at him. We weren’t going to fall for this scam. He got angry but we just walked away. As we discussed this incident we realized that we probably should have taken a cab from the designated taxi area in the airport, instead of listening to some guy calling out for customers in the arrivals area. We know that unscrupulous drivers roam around Toronto International Airport trying to hustle customers. And we fell for one such huckster in Brasília…but we didn’t give in. During our stay in the city we asked other taxi drivers who were always waiting by the hotel what their fares were, and none of them charged anything close to what this guy wanted for an airport run. Their fares ranged between R$40 and R$50, and when we left for the airport on the way home, we paid a driver $R60, including the tip.
Since we had arrived at the hotel so early we had no illusions about checking into our room yet. We just wanted to drop off our suitcases and explore the city, and would come back later to check in. We talked to the concierge and asked about the hotel and its services. Breakfast was free to guests but as we were not able to check in yet, we would have to pay an extra charge for it. We were both starving and since the breakfast charge was quite reasonable decided to eat there before we went out to see the city. While we were talking we were informed by a senior member of staff, perhaps a manager who also fortunately spoke English, that our room was now available. What good news! The manager also informed us that we could have breakfast at no extra charge. That was so kind and unexpected. What excellent service! Our room was at the end of the hall, room 501. The room was huge, with two balconies and two mounted TVs (the one in the spacious living room was gigantic). We dropped off our bags and headed down for breakfast. Because we had just checked in only minutes ago our names were not on the printed list of guests, but the staff at the breakfast entrance didn’t give us any problem.
The day had just begun yet we felt as if we had done so much already. That’s what happens when you have a 3 a.m. flight. We left the hotel around 10 a.m. and walked to the BRB TV tower which was right next to our hotel. At 224 m tall the tower was an easy landmark to pinpoint where we were staying. Unfortunately the tower and observation deck were closed for renovations:
I love Brasilia in Portuguese. Maintenance workers were washing down the white letters:
Less than two minutes after the photo above was taken, the fountains came on:
We walked to the Biblioteca Nacional de Brasília. I found the section on language and took photos of interesting book covers and Mark explored the architecture section:
Next to the library was the Anexo Museu Nacional da República:
Inside was a giant central exhibit that combined origami with hundreds of bags filled with coloured water. I had to take a closer look to see what exactly all those gummi crystals actually were:
The igloo-spaceship Museu Nacional da República was next to the smaller disclike annex, obviously, and fortunately it was free admission.
We could see from the sign at the top of the ramp that one exhibit had just ended and another has just opened. Thus when we entered, the entire ground floor was in a state of being wrapped and packed up:
As you can tell by some of these photos, the skies were clouding over and a storm was brewing in the distance:
Every day in the late afternoon and early evening it rained, yet on our last night the sky opened up in a torrent. On the first three days, though, it never rained too hard and it stopped during the evening. Brasília was carved out of the forested interior over 65 years ago, so these rains would have been intended for all the trees. The landscaping around some of the buildings we saw, and others we would later see, was that of a concrete sea. Just look at the photos of the national library and the museum: surrounded by concrete. I wondered if these areas were intended to be used as parking lots but Mark didn’t think so. If they were, then there’d at least be some cars parked in them. This was all the intention of city architect Oscar Niemeyer, who loved his concrete.