Walking around Brasilia is quite a unique experience. Now remember, Brasilia is a pretty new city. It was founded only about 50 years ago and was designed to be the capital. It is very well planed in the shape of an airplane. It has the south wing and the north wing. It has the hotel district, where all the hotels are located, the bank district where all the banks are located, the federal district, the embassy district. It is all very organized and symmetrical, and the main bus/metro station is right in the middle of the “airplane.” Public transportation is obviously quite popular, but many people also own a car, much like anywhere in the world, and driving your own car is usually the preferred method of transportation. Then of course there are pedestrians everywhere. Whether they take the bus, the metro or their car, usually they have to walk as well.
Personally I prefer walking at this point, because I am not the familiar with the city and I feel that I have more control when I walk. Nothing important is more than a 40 minute walk away and I am still a little afraid of the busses because I think that I will end up 10 miles away without the appropriate change for a return ticket or something. Also, as of yet I have not been in any type of a hurry to get anywhere. So I walk.
The thing is…with as much planning as went into this city, I don’t think they thought too much about real pedestrians. I mean, there are really nice cross walks, and the lights tell you when to cross. Also, there are crosswalks with out lights and the rule is that if you stick your hand out the cars have to stop and let you cross, and they do. So it’s really quite convenient. The problem is that there never seems to be a crosswalk when you need it. Or at least the cross walks are there for only about 15% of the roads that I cross.
So, the way that you cross the road at a non-crosswalk, is to wait for a brief clearing in the traffic and then run with shear terror to the other side. This could be for a small one lane alley, or for a 6 lane highway. The same method is used. And, I would like to add, the running in shear terror is not just because we are foreigners, the locals do it to. In heels and skirts, or dress slacks and bags of groceries, when there is a clearing…RUN!!!
Sometimes you can plan it with the lights. You wait until the traffic coming in your direction has a red then you can cross with more peace…but even then, those darn right turners will get you. And let me say, they have no mercy. If you are not at a crosswalk they will just keep coming at you.
So in conclusion….Lance wants to buy a bike, but Kelly thinks it will be too expensive. We’ll see.
Personally I prefer walking at this point, because I am not the familiar with the city and I feel that I have more control when I walk. Nothing important is more than a 40 minute walk away and I am still a little afraid of the busses because I think that I will end up 10 miles away without the appropriate change for a return ticket or something. Also, as of yet I have not been in any type of a hurry to get anywhere. So I walk.
The thing is…with as much planning as went into this city, I don’t think they thought too much about real pedestrians. I mean, there are really nice cross walks, and the lights tell you when to cross. Also, there are crosswalks with out lights and the rule is that if you stick your hand out the cars have to stop and let you cross, and they do. So it’s really quite convenient. The problem is that there never seems to be a crosswalk when you need it. Or at least the cross walks are there for only about 15% of the roads that I cross.So, the way that you cross the road at a non-crosswalk, is to wait for a brief clearing in the traffic and then run with shear terror to the other side. This could be for a small one lane alley, or for a 6 lane highway. The same method is used. And, I would like to add, the running in shear terror is not just because we are foreigners, the locals do it to. In heels and skirts, or dress slacks and bags of groceries, when there is a clearing…RUN!!!
Sometimes you can plan it with the lights. You wait until the traffic coming in your direction has a red then you can cross with more peace…but even then, those darn right turners will get you. And let me say, they have no mercy. If you are not at a crosswalk they will just keep coming at you.
So in conclusion….Lance wants to buy a bike, but Kelly thinks it will be too expensive. We’ll see.
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