A work trip brought me back to Brazil, this time to its capital, Brasilia, to present at a side event as part of an assembly. The city was planned in the 1960's to be seen from above with the future in mind. It's shaped like an airplane with government ministries running along the plane's body, and apartments along the wings. I was staying somewhere off the plane's nose, along the shores of an artificial lake and next door to the president's palace. The hotel's claims to fame, in addition to its unique architecture, was that the German national team stayed there during the World Cup (I was excited, but deemed it too soon to bring up with any Brazilians), and that many of the "Car Wash" corruption deals were executed here. Personally, my favorite parts were their lobby and swimming pool.
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| The Golden Tulip's lobby |
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| view from the lakeside |
The assembly kicked off with an event at the radio tower, placed on the highest point in the city and along the plane's body, suggesting the importance of technology to their future. The football stadium was not far from this importance, naturally.
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| View from the Radio Tower down the "plane's" body |
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| the football stadium |
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| Opening event at the RedLAC Assembly |
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| Remarks by the US Ambassador to Brazil |
RedLAC is a group of climate funds who have the cool/challenging task of generating funds and then distributing them to create and strengthen protected areas, among other things. I was there to present a reporting tool we developed through the Firecast project, taking NASA's satellite date and tailoring the information into a format that the funds could easily use to monitor their portfolios and see how to allocate funds for things like fire suppression. A really useful tool, but at the end of a long day of presentations I think we were equally excited about the appetizers. Hopefully with a few main funds starting to use this, by the next assembly the other funds will start to show interest, too.
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| The main sessions |
The final day of the Assembly was a field trip to the Cerrado, the natural scrubby woodland in the region that's mostly been converted to cropland and pasture. A landowner had decided to create a private reserve so that locals and school groups could see what the land looks like in its natural state. We rode to the trailhead in open trucks before hiking through the area, stopping at a few natural waterfalls to swim in the pools of cool water below and when our guides wanted to point out some of the interesting plants and their traditional uses.
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| view of the Cerrado |
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| At the trailhead |
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| One of the natural swimming spots along our hike |
Back at the main house, I befriended a woman in the group from Guyana named Pat as we waited in line for the buffet lunch. Bonding over our mutual love of mangoes, she talked about how she'd climb the trees when she was younger to pick the fruit and noticed several ripe ones on the large trees around us. Asking our guides if we could harvest a few, I was delighted by the miscommunication with the owner when he came back with a bag full of mangoes he'd picked for us. Mango picking would have to wait,but I learned to eat mangoes Guyana-style--biting into the skin and peeling it off with your teeth. Even messier than usual, but so delicious!
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| Bonding over mangoes |
On our final day I took a last trip to the handicraft market and the mall to pick up some souvenirs, including some nature-inspired Havianas with dragonflies on them that supports one of the funds. Growing up in the land of shopping malls, it was interesting to see how Brazilians do them. Unfortunately, navigating it took a little longer than planned so we didn't make it to the cathedral before it closed, but here's the view from the outside. I believe the design was inspired by the crown of thorns Christ wore on the cross. A little disappointing, because I'm told the view inside with the stained glass is stunning.
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| In front of the catedral |
Next time!
