Week 21: Praca do Cruzeiro

Just across the way from the JK Memorial is the Praca (PRAH-sah) do Cruzeiro, or Plaza of the Cross. The cross marks the spot that was initially surveyed as the highest point in the city of Brasilia. This is a great spot for flying kites, and based on the debris, apparently a good spot to hang out, drink liquor, burn candles and recite peace poetry.

This park also marks the place where the first building constructed in Brasilia stood. It was the construction site operations center. All that is left today are the cement footings. In photos from the construction period, this site also used to be filled with scrubby trees and brush common to this part of the cerrado (say-HAH-do), or the Brazilian savannah.

Week 21: Juscelina Kubitschek's Tomb and Memorial

On New Year's Eve, we decided to go to the tomb and memorial for President Juscelina Kubitschek, also known as JK. He was the president of Brazil who decided to fulfill the professor of the Portuguese Saint Dom Bosco, and establish the capitol city of Brazil in the interior of Brazil. Last year, the city celebrated it's 50th anniversary when the seat of government officially moved here from Rio de Janeiro. Building Brasilia was quite and amazing feat of ingenuity, engineering, and willpower. The core of the city was designed and built in about 6 years. The design of the city also reflects the ideals of the planners in their views of futurism and the ideal society.

This particular monument was also designed by the master architect for Brasilia, Oscar Neimeyer, a native of Rio de Janeiro known for his grand, minimalist designs. Some of the things he and the chief engineer management to pull off with reinforced concrete are pretty amazing.

This building rises out of the earth like a polished stone, and is surrounded by a tiered pools of water. Guests walk down a ramp and through a tunnel lined with large scale images of JK depicting various events in his life.  In glass cases along the path are various artifacts from his life, like his medical kit (he was a doctor).

On the main floor, his library has been reconstructed, and it has sculptures of Rome and Romulus nursing at the teats of a she-wolf, and walls lined with books. Like most other buildings here, the indoors and outdoors are linked, and not much more than a pane of glass separates the two. The kids liked playing hide and seek in this garden just past one of these panes of glass near the library.

Upstairs, there are displays with more artifacts form his career as president, including articles of clothing that he and his wife wore. I really like the inauguration display. Her dresses were pretty fabulous.

These cases contained various medals and plaques given to JK during his presidency by leaders of other nations and organizations. The entire hall was dimly light and sparse. This is also the level that holds JK's coffin.

The coffin is located in a circular room and "floats" on a cushion of light in the center of the room. It is made of a highly polished black granite. Above the coffin is a beautiful stain glass window made of purple, orange, red and yellow panes of glass, and gives the room a red-orange glow.

When one leaves the building on the parking lot side of the building, the Chevrolet Opala that JK was riding in when he died is on display. He died of injuries caused by an automobile accident in 1976, not too many years after returning to Brazil from exile.

Week 34: Butterfly

The butterfly came out of the chrysalis today. Like many of the butterflies here, it has brown coloring and spots. The highlight coloring is orange, with flecks on the body, streaks on the wings, and a patch on the abdomen. It appears to only have four legs, at least only four larger legs it walks on. It's still stuck in the bathroom, and the orange streaks kind of match the paint in there.

Week 21: New Year's Eve in Brasilia

During the Christmas holidays, the buildings in Brasília were covered with lights. This photo is of the CAIXA bank building, one of the federal banks. My kids called this the Tower of Power, and remarked that the light display could have been some sort of UFO landing beacon.

 

On New Year's Eve, we went to a friend's home that has a great view of the lake and Brasília. At midnight, all the clubs and several of the homes that are located along the lakeshore began to set off fireworks. For the next twenty to thirty minutes, the lake was ringed with fire. It was one of the most amazing fireworks displays I had ever seen. 

Week 21: Blind Snake

One evening, Rebecca screamed and yelled stating that there was a snake in the house. This got my attention, and I was very interested in seeing this snake, since it would be the first free-range Brazilian snake that I have seen. It turned out that the snake was a six-inch earthworm-like creature with a very small head, and long thin body. The head and tail were nearly indistinguishable, and the eyes were very tiny. It was a blind snake, one of the smallest species of snakes that lives in the ground eating small insects. It was very wriggly, but I managed to pick it up and return it to the yard outside. About a week later, we found another blind snake in the laundry room.

Week 33: Big Caterpillars and Chrysalids

Rebecca found this chrysalis on the back of the bathroom door new the front entry of the house the other day. A day earlier, she had commented on there being "one of those big caterpillars from the bush out front" in the bathroom. Apparently, the caterpillar crawled away from the bush, across the driveway, and under the front door and found a place safe from birds in order to metamorphose. I am looking forward to seeing what type of butterfly this was changes into.

This might have been the type of large, fuzzy caterpillar that entered the house. One day we noticed a few of these smashed on the driveway, and the next day, a branch of the palm tree near the front door fell, revealing a stash of about 50 of these four-inch long critters. My kids played with them for hours trying to get them off the driveway and back up the tree to safety from the wheels of the cars.

The caterpillar may have also been one of this kind. These bugs have pretty much decimated the foliage on this bush, but I haven't wanted to kill them because I want to know what they become. This photo is actually from a first batch of caterpillars appeared and disappeared about a month ago.

In January, the kids pointed out this mass of caterpillars moving through the yard. We have seen many, many different kinds of larvae here. These photos are just of the largest samples of the bugs.

A green colored chrysalis on the frame of the back door. I am not certain what type of caterpillar formed this one.

Week 20: Hanging Santas

One of our holiday traditions is to drive around during the weeks before Christmas and take a look at Christmas displays in people's yards. In Brasilia, no one really has a front yard since all the homes are essentially fortresses walled in by concrete, electrical wires and very tall hedges. We did find one street near our church building that had a festive spirit, and the entire street had lights, angels, trees, and other things much like displays in the U.S. They call their street "Rua de Amizade" or "Friendship Street."

The funniest thing about the street were the hanging Santas. We saw them in many locations around town, but the concentration and variety was greatest here on this street. We decided that we needed to get one as well, and so I purchased one from one of the men who sell things at intersections.