November 2013

Dunyanin 4. en buyuk ulkesine gidip, yemeyip icmeyip 18 saatlik otobus yolculuguna katlanip Brezilya'nin baskentine gitmekte nereden cikti? Ustelik bizim baskentten bildigimiz Ankara olunca, bilincaltindaki devlet dairesi ve memurlar sehri imaji da cabasi.
Brasillia, '70-'90 doneminde mimarlik/ sehircilik okuyanlarin kitabinda sehircilik tarihinin temel tasi gibidir. Cunku her mimar ya da plancinin dusunu ifade eder.
Bu dus -daha once Niteroi'de Cagdas Sanatlar Muzesini gezerken
andigimiz- yeryuzunde sadece Oscar Niemeyer icin gerceklesti.
Bir milletin baskentini ve icindeki tum binalari tasarlama sansina sahip oldu. 1904 dogumlu Niemeyer 2012'de oldugunde Brezilya'nin baskentini icindeki tum bakanlik binalarini, kulturel ve sosyal donatilarini tasarlayip insa etti, kendi yarattihi makinanin nasil )?!?) isledigini gordu. Donemdaslari Le Corbusier benzer bir sansi Hindistan'da Chandigarh icin elde etse de, basari ve surdurebilirlik orani Niemeyer'in golgesi altinda kaldi.

Kus bakisi bakildiginda kimine gore kartal kimine gore ucak seklinde tasarlanan bu kentte Niemeyer, islevselligi esas aliyor. Sehircilik dilinde 'zoning' dedigimiz islev bolgeleri yaratma islemini, konaklama, turizm, kulturel, ticaret ve yonetim vb. sektorler kurarak uyguluyor. Ucagin kanat, govde, kuruguna denk gelen sektorler ve yapay bir goletle sekillenen bu kent, her biri 3 ila 6 seritten ve yan yollardan olusan dev cadde birbirine baglaniyor. Durum boyle olunca biz yaya/ backpacker toplu tasima ya da taksi/araba disinda secenek kalmiyor. Bir yerden digerine- gorus mesafesinde olsa bile- ulasmak cok zor.
Makinelerin(arabalarin) yaya karsisinda yuceltildigi bu kentte gun icinde insanlar otopark giris sirasi bekliyor. Is giris cikis saatlerindeyse 6 seritlik yollar ilerlemez oluyor. Sektorlere bolunmus bu mekanlarda benzer ihtiyac ya da tipte insanlar toplaniyor ya da digerlerinden ayrisiyor.

Yagmurlu bir tum gunu otelimize yakin olan yegane kamusal nokta = alisveris merkezinde gecirmek zorunda kaldigimizi goz onune alirsak, benzer bir genellemeyi dunyanin her yerindeki AVM insanlari icinde yapmak mumkun.

Oysa bir gun once Niemeyer'in yillar once kivancla dikmis oldugunu varsaydigimiz Televizyon Kulesinin dibi eskici, ivir zivirci ve cesitli tikinma alternatifleri sunan barakalarla dolu acik bir pazar dopdoluydu. Her siniftan renkten ve yasta insan burada takiliyor ve Pazar gununu keyifle olduruyordu.
Traji komik olan bu tek tipliligi renklendirmek ya da karistirmak uzere-
Ozer'in bahsettigi -Afrika kokenli Brezilyalilar festivalinin de bu acik pazarin iki adim otesinde yer almasiydi. Bu tip etkinliklerde recete basit gibi: yilda bir kere yerel kiyafetleri giy, muzigini cal dans et, yemegini ikram edip/ satarken paylas ve kaynas ) Brezilyalilarin yerlilerinin gecmisi hakkinda bilgi veren baska bir acik hava sergisi de Katedral meydanindaydi ...


Oscar Niemeyer'e baskalarinin ( bir halkin) hayatini tepeden bakmaci modernist bir sekile tasarlamasina imkan veren bakis acisi simdi de gundelik hayati festival, senlik vb. tek gunluk etkinliklere sigdirmaya calisiyor. Niemeyer'e yillar once dev aynasini tutan zihniyet, bugun ayni aynaya kendisi bakiyor...

• burada apartmanlara Edifice deniyor. Yani Hisar Palas ya da Hisar Apartmani yerine Edifice Hisar )

We check out from the Bittar Inn and check back in at Shopping Brasilia mall for lunch at the food court with the locals from offices in the area.
After lunch we first head down to The National Museum, which is another one of those infamous architectural "saucers". The vast exhibition space of the museum is impressive in its grandeur alone, and also houses a signature interior curving ramp that leads to the mezzanine level.
There is another panoramic curving ramp that orbits the saucer. (Olloclip fisheye lens proves to be the tool to capture the size and the form of the spaces).
Then off to the cathedral next door. With subterrenean entrances both for pedestrians and car passengers, the cathedral itself is half sunken in to the ground and surrounded by a moat. Stained glass "roof" filters just the right amount of light in to the space. Acoustics of the cathedral to add to the experience.
Fruit stand next door to the Ministry of Agriculture serving up an array of tropical fruits mixed with granola and syrup hits the spot for a mere R$3,50, it's got to be heaven. (By the way last remaining squares of freshly cut mango at the stand are dumped out, deemed "too old" to serve for the next customer!).
We walk by the Foreign Ministry, National Congress and we arrive at the vast plaza called the 3 (federal) Powers Square.
Flat and "treeless" plaza is adorned with a monument, a sculptural bird house, an underground museum, and a half sunken tourist info center. Flanking the plaza are the
Supreme Court and Palacio do Planalto.
We go over the curving JK Bridge, then stop by at the president's house Palacio da Alvorada, to say bye and we head out to the bus station in the suburbs. Despite being a car oriented city, the suburban Brasilia metro still hauls thousands to the city center and back everyday.

A very warm welcome by the local 'quitos, we are kept up all night. Endless conversations on biting, cursing, scrathing, dosing off, on and on and on and on...
Since the city is not meant to be a pedestrian realm, needless to say all the shops are in shopping malls. So we head down to Shopping Brasilia, a local landmark, possibly more popular than, say, the National Museum? Especially true if it's a rainy day.
As we're feeling a little under the weather, we load up on drugs and caffeine, and it's time to go on the Brasilia city tour, but the tour might get cancelled due to heavy rain. At the last minute a few of us adventurers take the chance and get on the bus. Rain or shine, we got to see the sights.

Brasilia as a city, is designed from scratch, to house the Brazilian government. It is the embodiment of the utopian modernist dream, and architect Oscar Niemeyer is the dreamer.
Brasilia extends out on two main axes, Monumental and suburban. Tour takes you on the Monumental axis of the city where most of the architectural gems are located but it's only a visual tour, you're allowed to touch the buildings!
We get a glimpse of what's out there and start planning our second day in the city with focus on specific buildings and sites.

Heading back we get stuck in rush hour traffic, on the Monumental Axis, on a 6 lane road, there is nowhere to go, ironically, in the city that was designed for cars.

The superlativo express to Brasilia...
Even though it is only 18 hours long, it does feel like a day and a half long bus ride.
We get on the bus at night and pass out right away because we are beat from rugby.
Along the way bus stops at several bus stops as the drivers need to change every 3-4 hours or so. This rutine rudely interrupts sleep but there is no need to worry as there is still plenty of time to sleep on this trip.
Overall this bus trip marks the most expensive (think first class), most comfortable (think first class) and the longest (think 1160 Km) bus trip of our lives. We are sure there will be many more like this one in the upcoming days.
It is tricky to get used to the idea of sitting on a bus for so long, but once you're broken in to, fear no more, this is the way to travel in South America.

After 18 long hours we finally get in to Brasilia bus station and take a local bus in to town. Local bus drives thru miles and miles of manucured land and roads flanked by neatly dotted buildings along the main suburban axis.
We get off the bus near our hotel Bittar Inn.
Bitter and sad in every physical aspect, our hotel is an architectural remnant of the last century long gone and its attemp to glorify the machine not the human, where rooms are smaller than a carpark spot.
Trying to figure out how pedestrian unfriendly the city is, we set off to check out a market not so far, but we're homed in by the music festival next door. We are at the Negra Awareness Festival on the Monumental Axis of Brasilia. Music is the cure as everybody's moving and lipsynching to every song, beers flowing as usual...
Awestruck by the pedestrian unfriendliness of the city but content by the initial offerings, we head back to the hotel to watch " T3 - Judgement Day - The Rise of The Machines" on American cable.

• there are 4 types of comfort classes in Brazil: convencional, executivo, leito, and semi-leito. They differ according to distance between seats, size of the seats, leg rests and all you can drink water!

Exciting day ahead of us (or mostly ahead of me!), since I will be playing for Rio Vets at the Rio Golden Oldies Rugby Cidade Meravilhosa 2013.
We head down to the university Campus on an Island in Rio Bay, thinking it'd be a piece of cake to spot the rugby field on campus right? We're wrong.
Nobody, including campus security and police seem to know where the field is, let alone what rugby is: "Sir, you know that funny American game with helmets and pads? Ahh si, "hugby" es como futebol americano, ma no es campo de "hugby" aqui!
After driving around campus and asking 12 people about the field, we manage to find it, and we're an hour late already!
It's gotta be a perfect sub equatorial rugby day with non-stop torrential rain, 99% humidity, shack cum-club house with cheap Brazilian beer (at least there is a club house!) and no one around to play rugby with.
We're told to sit down and wait for the rest of the local crew and the two teams from Argentina, who end up dropping in at random intervals over the period of two hours.

Made up of players from 3 local teams + me, we finally get on the field for kick-off. Here goes the whistle and it's rugby time for the next 3 hours.
Each team ends up playing 2 matches of 2x20 min halves in a round robin format.

I get the honor to score the one and only try (samba try that is!) for Rio Vets at the tournament, or is it the Brazilian hospitality that offered me the honor? It might very well be...

After the matches, third half is in progress with Argentinians cooking and serving the meat from BBQ, Brazilians serving the beers at the bar.

In a land far from home and barely enough common language to speak with others, once again, rugby culture prevails and makes us feel at home as usual. It not only turns out to be a grand rugby day, but also an opportunity to meet fellow ruggers who live with the passion for the game and it's culture.
After the third half we had down to the bus station to catch our day and a half long bus to Brasilia...