Brasilia: Gay Brazil and South America’s Modern City

[TotallyOz]

Brasilia is considered one of the world’s most modern cities – with very good reason. Unlike most modern metropolises, Brasilia is less than 50 years old. The first residents began moving into this planned community in 1960 – and the city has simply kept growing since.

Before Brasilia spread its wings, Rio de Janeiro was the capital city of Brazil. But in the 1950s President Juscelino Kubitschek ordered the government to build a new capital – and so the city was born.

One important warning if you are into partying hard on your vacation – Brasilia has almost no night life at all.

In fact, in a continent full of various American icons, Brasilia has only one McDonald’s and the streets are virtually empty at night.

Because the city was planned as a serious national capital – and an antidote to the fast times of Rio de Janeiro and Saul Paolo there was not a lot of thought put into where to build bars, restaurants or clubs.

That said, Brasilia can be fun for a short excursion. There are wonderful examples of beautiful modern architecture, alternative religions abound and crime is almost non existent.

Brasilia is not a great place for a long term stay – but it can be a great break if you have been partying hard for a long time and want to rest your body before the next round of clubbing in one of the more party friendly cities throughout Brazil.

It took 41 months to plan and build Brasilia – which was originally designed for roughly 500,000 residents. The city proved more popular than expected, however, and today more than 2 million people call Brasilia their home.

The result is one of the most modern cities in the world – and one of the few where less than half the population was born there. Slightly higher than 40 percent of the population moved to Brasilia from other less wealthy sections of Brazil and South America.

This is good news for vacationers and travelers alike – because it means that the local population is used to constantly welcoming new people to Brasilia – after all most of the people you meet were recently new comers themselves.

While you are not likely to find a plethora of gay bars or clubs in Brasilia, the fact that almost the entire population is new to the area means that there is a high level of tolerance for gay and lesbian travelers.

You won’t have to worry about getting gay bashed in Brasilia – provided you can keep from getting bored or stir-crazy.

The bad news is that because Brasilia grew so quickly the government was not able to build as much of an infrastructure as the city needs. In other words public transportation is very crowded and the roads are almost always in some state of perpetual traffic jam.

Brasilia is also one of the most educated cities in South America. Unlike many Third World cites that are plagued by illiteracy and the poverty that accompanies it, almost 94 percent of the Brasilia population can read and write.

This has helped them support a growing arts and culture program, generate good jobs and sustain long term economic growth.

As the city has grown, housing has become a problem. The city is still expanding but construction can not possible keep up with how fast Brasilia is expanding.

While still reasonable by American standards, housing prices are higher in Brasilia than just about any place else in South America.

That means if you are planning to move to South America instead of just travel through, Brasilia will be one of the most expensive places for you to buy a house or condo.

On the other hand, Brasilia is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Unlike cities that have grown up naturally, Brasilia was planned with meticulous care.

There are many beautiful parks. Air pollution is almost non existent and the buildings are literally stunning.

Lucio Costa was given the job in the 1950s to make Brasilia a reality through the Plano Piloto.

He ended up designing a city plan in the shape of a butterfly that was broken down into many different types of architectural and commercial zones – to make living in Brasilia as comfortable as possible.

Despite his butterfly intentions, most modern Brasilia residents describe their city which was eventually architecturally designed by Oscar Niemeyer as looking like an airplane – with the main government buildings in the “fuselage” and the rest of the city radiating out from the wings.

If you are interested in mysticism or alternative religions, Brasilia may be your favorite tourist destination in the world.

When the city was being designed the government offered land to any “spiritual group” that applied and could prove even minimum membership rates.

The result is that while the rest of South America is staunchly Catholic, Brasilia is home to dozens and dozens of new age and old school religious sects.

Many of these groups think that the creation of Brasilia is the dawn of the new age where people will live together in harmony.

Other groups consider Brasilia to be the new Atlantis or the modern reconstruction of Ancient Egypt.

These groups are helped by a prophecy given to a Brazilian monk in 1883. That monk was told by god that, “a grand civilization will appear, a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey."

Many relgious groups now believe that Brasilia is that civilization.

This has spawned of the most intersting tourist sites in Brasilia – the Legion of Goodwill Temple. This structure is a seven story, seven sided pyramid topped by a giant crystal.

Another amusing religious tourist attraction is the Valley of the Dawn. Vistors here can see religous women wearing cone hats, purple dresses, veils and sliber tiaras.

The biggest complaint people have over the city that Niemeyer eventually created is that while many of the buildings are stunning – many are not particularly functional.

In an attempt to make a capital city that would a showcase to the rest of the world, Niemeyer was much more concerned with erecting beautiful buildings than he was in how people would actually live, work and build lives with their families in his new city.

One of the most spectacular places to visit is the Television Tower in the center of the fuselage. From the top of this gorgeous tower you can see spectacular views of Brasilia and the satellite cites that have spawned around its original construction.

One of the problems with the original city design is that the 1950s were the age of the automobile – and the city planners assumed that people would want to drive everywhere. As such, they did not put a lot of thought to how pedestrians might get from place to place in Brasilia.

For that reason, many of the sites and places you will want to go to will be located very far away from each other.

Even with a car the traffic can make going from Point A to Point B a pain in the ass – so we recommend using the new underground train system to get you from place to place.

Be warned however that this subway system is still under construction and will not be able to take you everywhere. Simply be patient and allow a lot of time to make any appointments you may have.

As a tourist, Brasilia will be one of the safest places you will ever visit. Housing prices have caused most of the poor to flee the city to the outlying districts and muggings, break in and thefts occur at a much lower rate than in other South American cities where poor people live near the city centers.

One of the more popular tourist sites is the Brasilia Zoo, located near the airport. It is filled with interesting examples of wildlife native to the region.

For people watching the best place to go is the 'Parque da Cidade', which is a gigantic central park filled with cute guys running, cycling, jogging and playing various games.

The park is a real treat if you have gotten tired of the urban landscape and travelling to and fro in the subway system.

If you like to dance, you will want to be one of the thousands of people who flock every year to the Brasilia Music Festival. Held in early September, this festival brings some of the most talented hip hop and techno musicians and DJs in the world together to play for the people who want to get out and shake their asses to the beat.

Of course, given that the rest of the year Brasilia is a sleepy city, you might want to plan on catching a quick flight to Rio as soon as the festival is over.

If you are able to rent a car, you can have a great sight seeing adventure simply by driving out to the outlying areas and seeing how people live away from the city.

Unlike other cities, it is the suburbs where people tend to spread their wings at night and have fun. If you are patient and keep your eyes open you will find bars and clubs in the towns and villages a few kilometers outside of town.

While Brasilia is a not a 24 hour party town, like many other Brazilian cities, you can see interesting sites and pass a few days here easily. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break during your vacation – and Brasilia is the perfect place.