ZoZo

Peruvian Transport Tales

2009-04-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

In February and March this year I travelled in Peru and Brazil for 3 weeks with my dear friend, Leah. Here is the first of a series of stories that I am writing about our Latin American Adventure!

Absolutely shattered after three straight days of 30th birthday and Brazilian carnival celebrations, Leah and I boarded the flight from São Paulo to Lima looking forward to five hours of rest before we embarked on our two-week tour of Peru. However, as we made our way to aisle seven of the aeroplane and saw a dog (yes, a real live poodle) on my seat, we knew that the adventure had already begun.

Exhausted tears of laughter ran down our cheeks at the ridiculousness of the situation. I couldn’t get a bottle of water onto the plane, how the hell did this dog’s owner manage to get a live animal past the numerous security checks?! The owner of the dog tried to squeeze the dog cage into her leg space (consequently taking up half of my leg room also) and sat with her legs splattered against the wall of the plane, putting on a fake smile and pretending that she was going to be comfortable like this for the next five hours. We knew that we definitely would not be comfortable, so after reassuring my friend who was on her maiden voyage in Latin America that this was not a normal occurrence on Brazilian aircraft, I called the air steward and convinced him that the dog really should travel with the other animals in the under carriage of the plane.

When we landed in Lima we were prepared to go through more bureaucratic security procedures. However we were amused by the “planned randomness” of the customs check. We lined up with the other passengers and had to press a button. When Leah pressed the button a green light flashed and she exited into the airport lounge. When I pressed the button a red light flashed and I had to go and show my suitcase to the customs’ officials.

Our transportation adventures continued during our two week stay in Peru. In the bigger towns like Lima and Cusco, extremely proactive taxi drivers who mistakenly believed that if they followed us beeping their car horns as we walked along the footpath that we would suddenly be inspired to jump in their taxis regularly pursued us. Strangely enough this strategy did not work, however when we did decide to get in a taxi we were surprised to find out that all trips, regardless of destination, cost 3 soles.

In the smaller towns, motorized and manual tricycles are the preferred form of transport. As you can see from the photo, the passengers were not limited by the size of their cargo. In Chivay, in the Colca Valley, we found the hiding place of the Bat-Mobile!

It was not a super-hero vehicle, but we were impressed when we boarded the bus from Arequipa to Puno and found spacious seats, blankets, air-conditioning and TV sets. We were a bit confused though when before leaving the bus terminal, one of the bus employees silently took video footage of all of us. Was it meant be a final message to our loved ones? Or a tool to help identify our bodies should we come to a nasty fate? Luckily we did not have to find out!

Unfortunately the boat that we took for our two-day tour of Lake Titikaka was not of such high quality. The overwhelming smell of fuel fumes filled the cabin of the boat, and combined with the high altitude, made it very difficult to breathe. Not surprisingly most of the passengers decided to sit on the roof of the boat to escape the intoxicating fumes. Smells of a different kind were coming from the toilet onboard the boat that was basic at best. Unlucky passengers whose digestive systems were not yet used to the Peruvian cuisine frantically scooped buckets of water out of the lake to try and flush the only toilet on board.

The facilities on the train from Aguas Calientes to Cusco were of a much higher standard, however we almost missed the chance to appreciate them. After spending several hours at Machu Picchu we returned to Aguas Calientes with five hours to spend until our return train to Cusco departed. We leisurely wiled away this time eating lunch, dessert, having coffee, talking, reading and writing in our journals in several different cafes situated near the train track where our incoming train had left us the day before. As the departure time got closer, I began to wonder why there weren’t more people with backpacks anxiously waiting by the tracks for the train. Then like a bolt of lightning the realization hit me that the return train must leave from a different platform. A platform that was not visible from where we were waiting. In my best Portanhol I asked a policeman from where the train to Cusco left. He lifted his right arm, pointed and said, “Up there”. With our backpacks strapped on, we began running up the mountainous staircase that appeared before us. And we kept on running upwards. I lost site of Leah as I started running through the market that greeted me at the top of the staircase. I yelled at her “Follow my voice!” as I ran in the direction indicated by the amused stall owner.

Finally I arrived at the security gate of the platform, desperately looking to see if there was still a train waiting at the platform. Totally out of breath I tried to talk to the security guard. Huge inhale of air, “Train”, inhale, “to Cusco”, inhale, “already”, inhale, “left?” I managed to ask. He responded no, but that it was due to leave in two minutes. “Friend,” inhale, “still coming”, I sputtered. He told me that she had to hurry, so I turned around and yelled with all of my remaining energy for Leah…and heard a faint yell in reply. Somehow we managed to get on the train before it left. Absolutely and totally breathless. We didn’t even mind that much the group of twenty or so Dutchies who sang old Amsterdam songs during the journey.

There were other transport-based performances that were more annoying however. We went on several bus tours during our two weeks in Peru and we were subjected to several “infomercials” during the many hours we spent on buses. At various stops during the return journeys, several different people would be welcomed onto the bus by the organizers and given the microphone to plug their products. These included several different tourist DVDs with thousands of photos of Peru’s tourist highlights set to traditional panpipe music and even a three-dimensional virtual tour of Machu Picchu; traditional liquorice based liqueur and a live music performance promoting panpipe music CDs. As we already had had to buy an extra bag to carry our souvenirs, we resisted the temptations of the "on-bus" purchases.

Saber Viver // Know How to Live

2008-11-19T11:19:00.001-08:00

A colleague of mine just shared with me this wonderful poem by the Brazilian poet, Cora Coralina.

Saber Viver

Não sei...
Se a vida é curta
Ou longa demais pra nós,
Mas sei que nada do que vivemos
Tem sentido,
se não tocamos o coração das pessoas.

Muitas vezes basta ser:
Colo que acolhe,
Braço que envolve,
Palavra que conforta,
Silêncio que respeita,
Alegria que contagia,
Lágrima que corre,
Olhar que acaricia,
Desejo que sacia,
Amor que promove.

E isso não é coisa de outro mundo,
É o que dá sentido à vida.
É o que faz com que ela
Não seja nem curta,
Nem longa demais,
Mas que seja intensa,
Verdadeira, pura...
Enquanto durar.

English (my translation):
"Know How to Live"
I do not know...if life is too short
Or too long for us.
But I know that nothing that we live
Makes sense, if we don´t touch the hearts of people.

Often it is enough to be:
A lap that welcomes
Am arm that gets involved
A word that comforts
A silence that respects
Happiness that is contagious
A tear that runs
A look that caresses
A desire that satiates
Love that promotes.

And this is not something from another world,
It is what gives life meaning.
It is what we do with it.
May it not be too short
Nor too long.
But maybe it be intense,
True, pure...as long as it lasts.

an outdated update =)

2008-11-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

So what has been happening these two months or so since my last posting....here is an outdated update =)

* Three great friends visited São Paulo - Brenda (Canadian living in Singapore), Maria (Spaniard living in London) and Mel (Aussie living in New York). It was wonderful to reconnect with old friends in a new environment. It somehow seemed surreal as well - sharing great moments and conversations with the same people in such different places. Each of these friends is inspirational in a different way, but with a common spirit of adventure and sense of self - felt like part of the foursome on SATC.

* AIESEC's 60th anniversary - Alumni Congress...what a great coincidence that this momentus occasion was celebrated in São Paulo. It was special to be in such an amazing environment like International Congress again but it was quite a different experience to have the VIP treatment as an alumni instead of a normal old member. The fact that AIESEC is celebrating its 60th anniversary was a great reminder to believe in the power of individuals to create something great. There was a huge open space and I took part in one conversation that I found really motivating...it was hosted by an AIESEC alumni, Henrique Pistilli, and the conversation was based on Aristotle's phrase, "Where my talents and passions and needs of the world collide, therein lies my vocation". It was a great provocation and since the conversation I have been reflecting a lot about these elements...I realised in these reflections that there are several things I am good at and passionate about that I would like to combine somehow into my vocation - homestay experiences, tourism, sustainability, diversity, hosting and facilitation...and I am currently on a search to find ways to connect them...any suggestions welcome =)

* Mostra Film Festival: this year was the 32nd International Film Festival here in São Paulo...I have no idea what the critics loved and hated, but since there is such an overwhelming choice of films from all over the world, I more or less chose my films by their time and location, which had a pretty good success rate (apart from those weird, free short films!)

I saw two great documentaries, "The End of Poverty?" and "The Day after Peace". Both were very moving and about very important issues. "The End of Poverty?" is kind of like a history lesson on how we ended up in this current mess of poverty on the planet, starting back 500 years, and what perpetuates it today. I could feel my blood boiling as they showed statistics like the cost of reducing world poverty by half = 4% of the US annual military budget...and then I thought of how the world is managing to come up with these rescue packages in the hundreds of billions to help save the people who already have money on the stock markets!! Why don't we feel and act that the systemic poverty of most of the world's population is also a financial crisis worthy of such attention??!!? I really liked the film but one thing that was missing for me at the end was some kind of list of suggestions for the ordinary viewer how we can make some kind of difference on this issue. "The Day after Peace" was also really inspirational about one guy's efforts to create at least one day in the year of cease fires...at first it sounds like a bit of a wank, like what difference will one day make? But as he says, if we can't manage one day of peace, how will we ever manage 365 days? And the film showed how much great humanitarian work can be done when the bullets and bombs stop falling.

Triinu and I watched another documentary, "The Children of the Pire" which was quite disturbing...it told the story of young boys who work at one of the famous cremation sites in India, helping to make sure the corpses burn (and stealing the funeral shrouds as a way of making extra cash). Very sad.

* Aryuvedic Health weekend: spent a weekend at the Visão Futuro eco-village, learning about Aryuveda and doing some cool treatments, like face mask, 4 handed-massage, yoga and meditation. Once again was great to get out of the city and back to the beautiful park. I found this holistic Indian science very interesting, but am not sure what I think about Aryuveda yet, trying out some of the recommendations for my body type, but having trouble with some of them (EX not eating cheese!!!!), but as Brenda says, I should focus on what I CAN eat =)

* Internations: there is a social networking site called Internations which has been organizing some cool events here in São Paulo. It is a really nice mixture of gringoes and also Brazilians who have had international experiences and want to maintain their networks. It is really interesting to see the culture shock cycles visibly happening amongst the people who go to the events, and hear of people's experiences and perspectives depending on where they are in the cycle ;)

* Gross National Happiness: there is a global movement which is starting to change the way we measure development. What if instead of using the one-dimensional flawed indicator of only economic development (Gross National Product, which for example increases when a country is at war!) we used a holistic, multi-faceted way of measuring and encouraging development that took into account economic, social and environmental factors? The tiny Kingdom of Bhutan is already doing this and the Visão Futuro eco-park organised the first Latin American Gross National Happiness Congress recently, and I went to one of the lectures where we heard about the Bhutanese and also Canadian experiences with this work. The presentations were all very impressive, but the thing that was most convincing for me was simply to look at the face of one of the Bhutanese delegates who was sitting at the first row in the presentation - I have never seen or felt such a personification of serenity in my life!!! It was amazing!! I was captivated by the happiness that he RADIATED from his every cell!!! It made me start to think about my own GNH and which indicators we use as individuals to measure our "success"!

I did a small surgery a couple of weeks ago which went well and now I am back at work after two weeks of sick leave to recover. Thanks for the well wishes and to my friends here who visited me and kept me company and the friends abroad who sent me positive healing energy =)

2 year anniversary in brazil celebrations =)

2008-08-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

check out the photos:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47395&l=30bed&id=733226679

thanks all for a great time at barnaldo lucrecia celebrating two years in brazil for me and triinu and the approval of my new two year visa...

i hugged an eskimo today...

2008-08-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

and he melted some of the ice around my heart!

tonight i went to an event called "Ice Wisdom", where Angaangaq, an Eskimo-Kalaallit Elder from Greenland, gave a simple yet powerful presentation about climate change. his name means “the man who looks like his uncle”, but he reminded me of "the ideal grandpa".

most of the facts that Uncle told were not new to the audience, but the thing that was new was to hear from someone who lives in the north pole, in a village of 3 homes with 20 people, who has to hunt all his food (polar bears, walruses, seals), including the seaweed, (which are his only vegies because nothing grows there) and hear how the rubber from the tyres of the 6 000 000 cars that drive on the roads every day in São Paulo ends up melting the ice that his life depends on...how the melting of the ice means softer ice which means he cant build igloos when he goes hunting and travelling in his land, and so he has to take a normal tent which weighs a lot more, which means he has to take more dogs with him to carry the weight on his sleigh, which means he has to kill more animals to feed the dogs on the journey, which means more gasoline for the boat to go and catch them and so on and so on...

the theme of his lecture was "melting the ice in the heart of man", and he sees this as the only solution to sustainability and climate change issues...and the message i took away from his speech was that we can melt this ice by humanising this (and any social) issue and showing people how we are all so interconnected, and as he said, there is but one planet, with one country and humankind its only citizen...we are all equal, and that is a beautiful thing...

i think it is great that sustainability and climate change issues have become more main stream and there seems to be more general awareness and action about these issues...but i have noticed within myself that lately i have become kind of cynical and less interested in the theme as it feels somehow to have become cliché and lost a deeper and broader meaning...

Uncle's presentation tonight reminded me of this often missing element - the human interconnectedness....between neighbours of the same city, country, planet and generations...as he said, he lives 17 300 kilometres from São Paulo, but

The greatest distance
in the existence of man

is not from here to there nor from there to here.

Nay, the greatest distance in the existence of man
is from his mind to his heart.

Unless he conquers this distance he can never
learn to soar like an eagle,
and realize the immensity within.

the opposite of fate

2008-07-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

During my holidays I read the autobiography of Amy Tan, American author, "The Opposite of Fate". It is a really great read. Here a couple of passages amongst many that I especially liked...

"(it) forced me to wonder and consider that everything that happens is neither grand plan nor random coincidence. It is a crazy quilt of love, pieced together, torn apart, repaired again and again, and strong enough to protect us all...What are ghosts if not the hope that love continues beyond our ordinary senses? If ghosts are a delusion, then let me be deluded. Let me believe in the limitlessness of love, the beauty of contradictions, the miracle that is an ordinary part of life".

"Writing to me is an act of faith, a hope that I will discover what I mean by truth. But I don't know what that will be until I finish. I can't determine it ahead of time. And more often than not, I can't summarize what it is I've discovered. It's simply a feeling. The feeling is the entire story. To paraphrase the feeling or to analyze the story reduces the feeling for me.

I also think of reading as an act of faith, a hope I will discover something remarkable about ordinary life, about myself. And if the writer and the reader discover the same thing, if they have that connection, the act of faith has resulted in an act of magic. To me, that's the mystery and the wonder of both life and fiction - the connection between two unique individuals who discover in the end that they are more the same than they are different.

And if that doesn't happen, it's noboby's fault. There are still plenty of other books on the shelf to choose from."

three great weeks in brazil with ma and pa

2008-07-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well not exactly sure where to start in describing the amazing three week trip around Brazil that I just took with my parents.

It was the third Fitzy Frolic that we have taken together (first was Singapore in 2003 and then the Netherlands in 2005) but it was the most time I have spent alone with them in at least the last 7 years – without any brothers, sisters or friends to “compete” with!

So here are a few memorable moments:
* Mum and Dad’s flight to São Paulo arriving early, their luggage being one of the first off the conveyer belt and not getting caught in any queues on the way out to arrivals area (then consequently them having to wait for me to get to the arrivals area, hence missing the emotional “here they come” moment.
* Mum’s eternal search in Brazil for a decent cuppa (IE boiling hot water, black tea bag, and cold milk). This hilarious search began at a café near my place where the infamous “cappucha” was invented (IE hot water, frothed up milk like in a cappuccino and a tea bag thrown in).
* Mum and Dad getting to meet my great group of friends here in São Paulo whilst “singing” along to Brazilian country and western music at the Rancho Goiano restaurant. Also the location of Mum’s first (but definitely not last) caipirinha (she soon took up the habit of having two at a time!). Thanks for the spontaneous translations Márcio and Guga!
* Mum and Dad’s pleasant surprise at Brazilian customer service and willingness to round down the price to save having to give over a lot of change to the customer.
* The breath-taking beauty of the Iguassu Falls in the south of Brazil and Argentina, and the breath-taking bargain of a R$7 dinner with a R$30 bottle of wine from the fancy Italian restaurant next door. Literally having our breaths taken away in the boat trip under the falls!
* On the way home after Mum and Dad’s first, and our best, Bahian meal in Foz de Iguaçu, hearing the phrase you never want to hear from a taxi driver in a town that you have only spent 24 hours – “This is my first day on the job. I am borrowing the taxi from my brother. Do you know how to get there?”
* Our stressful daily routine in the Pantanal which went something like this: wake up, breakfast, nap in hammock, activity (horse riding, fishing, boat ride), nap, lunch, nap, activity, nap, dinner.
* Getting up close and personal with the guesthouse’s two “pet” crocodiles, Zico and Pele, as they showed us their jumping ability to catch some fish for dinner.
* Catching 33 piranha fish on the Rio Claro and not losing any fingers (unlike our poor cook, Jacco, who lost a finger a while back to a piranha).
* The reaction of Jacco, who lives in a place where it rains for six months of the year, to the 10-year drought that my relatives have been through in Australia. “We would go louco” was his prediction.
* Watching the beautiful sunrise and sunset on the Rio Claro (and finding the boat that mysteriously floated down river).
* Eating at the Mafia Pizzaria in Cuiabá where they need to bring over an extra table to put your food on because the dishes are soooo big!
* Our wonderful weekend in Brasília with our fantastic hosts, Betina and Marcos, which included an interesting trip to the Temple of Good Will, where Dad had to stop his overt leg showing and put on some good will happy pants.
* Going to the cute old mining town in Goias about 100km from Brasilia called Pirienopolis with Betina, Marcus and his mum and brother, Ivan. We had a wonderful meal at a typical fazenda restaurant with a private beach and then had numerous home-made icecreams from the list of 43 flavours available.
* Mum and Marcos’ mum repeatedly saying the same things at the same time through out the day, just in different languages.
* Hearing the best directions ever in Goias – “Just go straight ahead for the rest of your life”.
* Enjoying the São João (Saint John) festival in Salvador: live concerts in the main square; trying to teach Mum and Dad to dance forro; huddling with the locals under the sponsorship banner when the rain came pouring down during the concert; watching Dumb and Dumber trying for nearly an hour to put aluminum foil on the tray they were trying to sell whisky from; seeing all the little kids dressed up in “rural” clothes, the little boys with drawn-on moustaches and sideburns.
* Observing a candomble ceremony, people going into trances, geeky German tourist very obviously showing his dislike (as if he had tasted a ball of dog vomit) when he ate the acaraje that he was offered during the ceremony.
* The energy packed Afro-Brazilian folklore show in Salvador. If you are in Salvador you HAVE to go!
* Mum’s trauma after using the luxurious toilet facilities on Itapicara Island (off Salvador) – the cistern falling off the wall when Mum tried to flush the floating turd. The antiseptic wipes were even needed for the feet afterwards.
* The amazing work of the Tamar Project in Praia do Forte (80 km from Salvador) where they are rescuing and preserving endangered sea turtles in partnership with local fishermen, who they have taught how to do CPR on turtles when they get caught in their fishing nets.
* The unforgettable ride with the evangelical taxi driver cum real estate agent who gave us an amazing price on the return ride from Praia do Forte to Salvador, but then really made us pay when he played his evangelical music CD three times over during the ride. He also offered us a great real estate investment opportunity in Maceio, which apparently was “quite a steal”. * Meanwhile Dad thought he was setting us up to be robbed and so was thinking of escape strategies. I have never seen three people leave a vehicle so quickly in my life.
* Hearing Midnight Oil playing as we climbed the hills of Ouro Preto to see, that is right, yet another church.
* Catching up on the rebellious history of the people from Minas Gerais at the Inconfidencia museum whilst another historic moment, the first Gay and Lesbian Parade of Ouro Preto, pumped on outside.
* Devising strategies to encourage the shower water to go down the drain and discourage it from leaving the bathroom and entering the room at the Ouro Preto youth hostel. Dad became a squidgy sweeping, dam building champion. He should have been an engineer, not an air traffic controller.
* Testing out my metallurgical vocabulary when I had to translate the tour we took of a gold mine in Ouro Preto.
* After singing the praises of Brazilian long distance buses (blankets, pillows, food, seats that go back 180 degrees etc) to my parents, I had to eat humble pie when we took the line from Ouro Preto to Rio de Janeiro and there were no blankets, pillows or snacks and the grandma behind me complained when I tried to put my seat back. Situation was rectified when we got the bus from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo and all promised services were provided!
* Being driven by the reincarnation of Aryton Senna in a taxi from the bus station to the hotel at Ipanema Beach.
* Seeing senior citizens walking in their budgy smugglers through the city to the beach in Rio.
* Having our nice peaceful breakfast at the botanical gardens in Rio de Janeiro disturbed by screaming school girls and their teachers when they spotted a Brazilian soapy actress snacking beside us.
* Dad’s obsession with Brazilian beer and the stubby coolers they have for tallies. He also became a big fan of the dark chopp.
* Mum frustration with the lack of Brazilian bed sheets that are tucked in under the mattress.
* Our shared frustration with the “entrepreneurial” parking rangers that roam Brazil’s streets looking for customers.
* Realizing that I forgot to give Dad any pocket money when I sent him off for his excursion to the Embraer factory in Sao Jose dos Campos.

As you can see…there were so many memorable moments!!! It was a fantastic trip. Thanks so much Mum and Dad for coming all the way to Brazil. It was wonderful for me to be able to show you my life here and I am so glad that you loved every minute of it. Can’t wait until the next trip!!!

cutest love song ever

2008-06-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and green
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

By Barry Louis Pollisar, from the Juno soundtrack

Sawabona-Shikoba

2008-05-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this beautiful text about love and relationships by Flávio Gikovate, a psychoanalyst. Thanks to my colleague, Elisa, who sent me the original version in Portuguese with more of these lovely African images. It reminded me of a line from an Alanis Morissette song..."I don't want to be your other half cos I believe that one and one make two".

It is not only technological advances that have marked the start of this millenium.

Affectionate relationships are also going through profound transformations and revolutionising the concept of love.

What we search for today is a relationship compatible with the modern times, in which exists individuality, respect, happiness and pleasure to be together, and no longer a relationship of dependence, in which one person is responsible for the well-being of the other.

The idea of one person being the remedy for our happiness, which was born with romanticism, is destined to disappear at the start of this century.

Romantic love is based on the assumtpion that we are a mere fraction and that we need to meet our other half to feel complete.

Often it happens even as a process of depersonalization that historically, has affected women more.

She abandons her characteristics to amalgamate herself with the male project.

The theory of “opposites attract” also comes from the same root: the other has to know what I do not know. If I am gente, he should be aggressive, and so forth.

A practical idea of survival, hardly romantic by the sounds of it.

The word to look out for this century is partnership. We are changing the love of necessity for the love of desire. I like and desire company, but I do not need it - this is very different.

With technological advances, that demand more individual time, people are losing the fear of living alone, and are learning to live better with themselves.

They are starting to realise that they feel a fraction, but are whole.

The other, with whom you create a link, also feels a fraction. He is not the prince or the saviour of anything. He is only a companion on a journey.

Man is an animal who will go on changing the world, and afterwards has to keep reinventing himself to adapt to the world that he created.

We are entering an era of individuality, that has nothing to do with egoism.

The egoist does not have his own energy, he feeds himself on the energy of others, be it financial or moral.

A new form of love, or more love, has a new features and meaning.

It aims for the coming together of two wholes, and not the union of two halves.
And this is only possible for those who manage to work on their individuality.

The more an individual is capable to live alone, the more prepared s/he will be for an affectionate relationship.

Solitude is good, to be alone is not shameful. On the contrary, it gives dignity to a person. Good affectionate relations are great, they are very similar to being alone, nobody demands nothing of nobody and both grow.
Relationships of domination and exagerated concessions are things of last century.

Every brain is unique. Our way of thinking and acting do not serve as a reference to evaluate anyone. Many times, we think that the other is our soul mate and, actually, what we did was to reinvent him/her to our taste.

Everyone should spend some time alone every now and again, to establish an inner dialogue and discover your personal force.

In solitude, the individual understands that harmony and peace of the spirit can only be found inside him/her and not from the other person.

To realise this, s/he becomes less critical and more understanding of differences, respecting the way of each person.

The love of two whole people is more healthy. In this type of connection, there is the coziness, the pleasure of company and the respect of being loved.

It is not always enough to be forgiven by another, sometimes you need to learn to forgive yourself...

In case you are curious to know the meaning of SAWABONA, it is a greeting used in the south of Africa that means: “I respect you, I value you, you are important to me”.

In response, people say SHIKOBA which is: “Therefore, I exist for you”.

wedding #4 of 2008: christel and marcus

2008-05-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

this weekend i was reminded of just how beautiful brazil is, how GREAT it is to get out of the city on the weekend and to trust the universe =)

pablo, henrique, carol and i did a 4-5 hour road trip from são paulo to tarituba beach (around 30 km from paraty, in the state of rio de janeiro) for the wedding of christel and marcus...a canadian-brazilian couple who were officially married in the snow at lake louise last year and this year renewed their vows with their family and friends on a beautiful private island in brazil...

on the way to tarituba beach we stopped in paraty for a look around (and for pablo to buy all the items he forgot to pack in his suitcase)...it is a beautiful portuguese colonial and brazilian imperial town about 330km from são paulo...then we had a great seafood lunch literally on the beach and a bit of a kip before we prettied ourselves up and took the boat to the island for the wedding...

the ceremony was bilingual and relatively brief and included speeches from both mothers...and the reception was informal and filled with champagne, caipirinhas and music! at one point while i was dancing the night away i stopped for a second and realized just how cool it was to be in that moment, on the dance floor, on a tropical island in brazil with friends from around the world, celebrating the love and commitment of christel and marcus - a couple whose story exemplifies surrendering to the universe and trust. it was awesome!

the next day we were awoken by a strange combination of church choir and brazilian country and western music...after a lovely breakfast on the verandah we headed to a nearby beach and enjoyed the brilliant weather...think i got a bit too excited to see the sun and test out my new bikini and ended up getting my white patches very pink! but it was worth it =) it was such a calm and relaxed environment on this beautiful beach (which pablo and henrique chose to ignore and instead SWAM to the island and back!!!)....

i definitely need to make the effort and do more weekend trips out of são paulo - there is so much of this beautiful country to see!!

right words, right moment II

2008-05-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

I made this post a couple of weeks ago, but somehow disappeared...now it is back...

"Someday you're gonna look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of grieving. You'll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was changing..."

"But I really loved him."

"Big deal. So you fell in love with someone. Don't you see what happened? This guy touched a place in your heart deeper than you thought you were capable of reaching I mean you got zapped, kiddo. But that love you felt, that's just the beginning. You just got a taste of love. That's just limited little rinky-dink mortal love. Wait till you see how much more deeply you can love than that....you have the capacity to someday love the whole world. It's your destiny..."

"...but I seriously believed that (he) was my soul mate."

"He probably was. Your problem is you don't understand what that word means. People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so that you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it. Your problem is, you just can't let this one go. It's over....(his) purpose was to shake you up...That was his job, and he did great, but now it's over. Problem is, you can't accept that this relationship had a real short shelf life..."

"But I love him"

"So love him."

"But I miss him."

"So miss him. Send him some love and light every time you think about him, and then drop it. You're just afraid to let go of the last bits of (him) because then you'll really be alone, and (you) are scared...of what will happen if you´re really alone. But here's what you gotta understand...If you clear out all that space in your mind that you're using right now to obsess about this guy, you'll have a vacuum there, an open spot - a doorway. And guess what the universe will do with that doorway? It will rush in - God will rush in - and fill you with more love than you ever dreamed. So stop using (him) to block that door. Let it go."

Did you ever read a passage from a book and think that it was written especially for you, in this moment?? That is how I felt when I read this passage from "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. It was as if the character, Richard from Texas, was speaking directly to me, after Luccas recently broke up with me.

But I am not broken =) I am re-realising the depth of my character and spirit...and the richness of friendships and love that I am blessed to have in my life...expressed through phone calls, texts and e-cards from my parents and sister...mobile phone calls from Shanghai...text messages and emails from London, Singapore, Sarajevo...countless conversations over lunch, brunch, dinner and coffee with friends in São Paulo. I am so grateful for all the wonderful people in my life. Thank you to each and every one of you.

On Saturday I had a wonderful day of conversation, wandering and eating with Carol. After a delicious day in Vila Madalena, we went back to her place and called on the spirits of the Triple Goddess cards. I do not believe that this type of tarot cards predicts our inevitable futures, but they can offer us insights to help us best deal with our present. On Saturday they shared with me that:

- now I am being invited on a "return journey to home", to my spirit, represented traditionally by the car, which opens the way for us to look more deeply at our inner-self and discover the resources we keep there, to realign my relationship between body, soul and spirit.

- in order to shine as a "full moon", I should remember the poem by Marianne Williams, "Our Deepest Fear" ("Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond all measure...") and express my unique truth, talent and criativty more deeply

- the way to realise this potential in the world is to do everything with the passion of surrender...to leave aside my illusions of fear and loss...to trust in the universe, that it knows what it is doing

And trust I will...the universe has already earnt it. With much gratitude. x Zoe

update from the pilgrim lover

2008-04-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

well life has flown by since the wedding in buenos aires...i managed to get a new passport and a transcript of my visa....big congratulations to the brazilian ministry of foreign affairs for being so helpful and not charging anything!!! i have been loving my new job working in an education project at the bank - much more space to be myself and use my talents while still working on something i believe in! have been giving english lessons in a volunteer project in one of the poorer communities in são paulo...which has been testing my english skills!!! i forgot how to conjugate the verb "to sing"!!

i was happy to celebrate the one year anniversary of a great organization, Tekoha, which my friend, henrique, founded with some of his friends...it was really inspiring to see their new vision of sustainable business that promotes communities and cultural connections in practice and with great visions to grow...congratulations guys!

had lots of laughs at the improvisation comedy "Jogando no Quintal" (Playing in the Garden) where we found out that Brazil won the Latin American World Cup of improvisation comedy. judging by the laughs in the audience that night, they deserved it =) it was funny how some of the funniest moments came from the most simple games, like the alphabet game when you have to start and finish your phrases with words that start with a certain letter. hilarious!

just one more class left in my non-violent communication course...so far the basics have been great but it really needs a lot more practice to be able to use it in real-life, real-time situations...hopefully i can be in the practice class next semester....

was also nice to celebrate the birthdays of some dear friends, sabrina, carol and pablo...

we went to the ANZAC Day dinner hosted by the Kiwi and Aussie consulates here in Brazil...we learnt that there are only 70 Aussies in São Paulo and that around 2000 Aussies come to Brazil as tourists each year...it was at the Hyatt so i guess we were expecting the kiwi shiraz to flow for a bit longer, but was at least nice to hang out with cath and greg - the ultimate example of australasian friendship ;)

and yesterday had a great afternoon playing "the hero's game"...a boardgame developed by a group of brazilian friends who wanted to share the wisdom of universal hero characters to help people deal with their real-life challenges and develop more self-awareness...

in the game each player takes on a character or mask from the world of heroes and then through a series of interactions with cards and other players, gains insights into how to deal with your current challenge...the facilitators reminded us that in the past masks were not necessarily a bad thing - people assumed masks not to hide themselves, but to access the wisdom of the mask they were putting on....and this journey through masks and a hero's journey was amazing!! my challenge was how to live in the present...

i was a pilgrim - one who journeys, especially a long distance, to some sacred place, a traveller, a wanderer - with the call of a "lover" - someone with a profound and total self-acceptance who permits the hero to truly integrate herself with the world, living moments lightly and open to the possibilities of life....right from the beginning when i chose this character (or it chose me!) the insights started flowing....if i think of my itinerant life in these last 7 years, pilgrim is the perfect character for me...and the combination with the lover was exactly the inspiration i needed...being on a continuous journey, creating connections, being a catalyst for change and transformation where you go, commitment, having confidence in your values and your mission and always being available for life's possibiliites...

we passed through various challenges and phases on the journey - prison of beliefs, addictions in the shadows, existential crisis (when you get disconnected from your call), the unknown, rites of passage, sanctuary (places where you can mentally and physically connect with your essence)...and we received energies of compassion, courage, confidence and mastery, as well as powers and protections...

the insights were flowing thick and fast - from the cards and the dialogues with the other players.....i received the power of forgiveness: "If you want to connect yourself with power of forgiveness, it is because you want to delight in your existence" - isnt that just beautiful?? I was reminded that we can always access the courage, confidence, compassion and wisdom that we have gained on our journey so far. That mastery is about nurturing every moment with an elevated consciousness. That it is the time for serenity to be present in all of our relationships, and accept everything that comes from these encounters. That we should follow the unknown, because there we find keys to unlock future challenges and opportunities. If we know what is important, what we value, then we wont get trapped by greed.

the four and a half hours flew by as we played the game that is symbolically shaped as infinity...it was a fun and interactive experience in self-awareness...and now hoping to take the insights forward and apply them on the journey! thanks KK!

beautiful (bureaucratic) buenos aires

2008-03-22T16:01:00.001-07:00

well despite the fact that my passport was stolen, we spent about 3 days of our holidays in bureaucratic buenos aires (police station, Aussie and Brazilian consulates), luccas got 3 fake 10 peso notes from a dodgy taxi driver, we got fined on the metro and i got fined leaving buenos aires airport - it was really lovely to spend a week in buenos aires for the wedding of pedro and nicoline, catch up with alot of old friends, meet some new ones and enjoy also beautiful buenos aires.

we were treated to a princess wedding at the sans souci palace, complete with an opera singer and those crazy argentinian wedding hats, made a day trip to Tigre, wandered in the amazing parks of buenos aires, visited book stores in elegant old theatres, went to a great tango show in cafe tortoni and watched nicoline's 94 year old grandpa burning up the dance floor!!!

thanks pedro and nicoline for the wonderful hospitality and to all for a wonderful time in argentina!!

p-party =)

2008-02-25T18:32:00.000-08:00

yesterday i celebrated my 29th birthday with a group of friends in são paulo who wowed me with their creativity for the fancy dress "P" party - which means coming dressed as anything that starts with P in portuguese or english.

i realised a childhood dream and came as a Princess....but i managed to mingle with the likes of pregnant women, beggars (which starts with P in portuguese), pinkness, performers, a pop star, paparazzi, a pantomime act, punk and pirate :)

i totally over-estimated the food and drink required, but we had a pretty p-riffic party =) thanks again guys for the creativity and effort. i appreciated it!!!

happy birthday to me :)

2008-02-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

yesterday i had the privilege and honour to turn 29! =) i started the day with a swim, as i counted the laps remembering what i did on each birthday (fortunately I only did 30 laps)...then mum and dad called. at work there was a "feliz aniversário" sign above my head so I spent most of the day getting birthday hugs from my colleagues. after work luccas came over with a lovely gift and birthday wishes. we went for a lovely dinner which we washed down with a bottle of aussie wine. was so nice to receive birthday wishes from so many friends around the world. just the fact that someone thinks of you during their day is already a wonderful gift. i am not sure exactly why, but at first i was having some difficulties dealing with 29. then i realised how lucky i am to have the gift of life and that there is only one best age - the present!! here's to many more years!! (guga and i have already booked a date for my 58th birthday ;)

carnaval - rio style

2008-02-20T16:41:00.000-08:00

carnaval - rio - what can you say?? sunbaking, drinking caipirinhas and eating bbq'd cheese on ipanema beach in 42 degree heat....dancing in the rain at a block party with bits of my big toes missing...coffees and caipirinhas...hotdogs from the back of cars...when all streets and public spaces become urinals...metro cars filled with african dancers and gas bubbles....more than 15 000 samba dancers in sequins and feathers lighting up the sambódromo with music and dance...till 5am...while the grandmas next door took nanna naps in rotation...playing "spot the gringo" =)

thanks to guga for letting us stay at his apartment, and to "the gang" for a great time in rio during carnaval. if you ever get the chance, make sure you go and experience it!!!

long awaited apology to australia's indigenous people

2008-02-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

An historic day in Australia...finally after 220 years, the Australian government has apologised to the indigenous peoples for the past mistreatment that they suffered. Below the text that the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, read to the Parliament. I know it might seem like an intangible, meaningless thing to apologise, but if I think for myself, it does make a difference on an emotional level to have wrongs that were done to you acknowledged. It helps you to move forward and to trust and respect the other party. I hope that this apology has this kind of impact in Australia too.

"I give notice that, at the next sitting, I will move:

That today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia."

Not So Fast!

2008-01-30T04:00:00.001-08:00

I received this email just now, and it spoke so deeply to me that I didnt want to waste any time in sharing this message to "slow down". Maybe I feel this message so strongly living in a crazy city like São Paulo which seems to go so fast all of the time. This reflection reminded me of a video I was watching yesterday of Toke explaining the Chaordic Stepping Stones (find these videos through www.artofhosting.org) and how most of the time we rush to the "practice/action" part of the flow, without considering all of the deeper components of working together (need, purpose, people, principles, limiting assumptions, concept). As Toke said, "If you want to build a big house, you need to dig a big hole, because you will need a big foundation". But most of the time, we dont make time for the laying of such foundations, and wonder why our houses crumble in strong winds. Thanks to Cris Leal for sharing this story below...

Those of us who think the world needs saving -- from environmental destruction, rapacious greed, decaying morals, drugs, crime, racism, whatever -- keep very busy crusading for our favorite remedies. School vouchers. Carbon taxes. Campaign reform. The Endangered Species Act. A lower capital gains tax. Strong regulation. No regulation.You know. That long list of mutually inconsistent Holy Grails with which we like to hit each other over the head.

There's one solution to the world's problems, however, that I never hear the frenzied activists suggest. Slowing down. Yes, that's what I said. Slowing down. Slowing down could be the single most effective solution to the particular save-the-world struggle I immerse myself in -- the struggle for sustainability, for living harmoniously and well within the limits and laws of the earth.

Suppose we weren't in such a hurry. We could take time to walk instead of drive, to sail instead of fly. To clean up our messes. To discuss our plans throughout the whole community before we send in bulldozers to make irreversible changes. To figure out how many fish the ocean can produce before boats race out to beat other boats to whatever fish are left. Suppose we went at a slow enough pace not only to smell the flowers, but to feel our bodies, play with children, look openly, without agenda or timetable into the faces of loved ones. Suppose we stopped gulping fast food and started savoring slow food, grown, cooked, served, and eaten with care. Suppose we took time each day to sit in silence. I think, if we did those things, the world wouldn't need much saving. We could cut our energy and material use drastically, because we would get the full good out of what we use.We wouldn't have to buy so many things to save time. (Have you ever wondered, with all our time-saving paraphernalia, what happens to the time we save?)

We wouldn't make so many mistakes. We could listen more and hurt each other less. Maybe we could even take time to reason through our favorite solutions, test them, and learn what their actual effects are. Said Thomas Merton, who spent his time in a Trappist monastery: "There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily succumbs: activism and over-work. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many people, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of the activist neutralizes his work for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of his own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful."

A friend in India tells me that the onslaught of Western advertising in his country is a cultural blow, not so much because of the messages of the ads, but because of their pace. The stun-the-senses barrage of all TV programming, especially ads, is antithetical to a thousands-year-old tradition of contemplation. I can imagine that. I have been driven crazy by the somnolent pace at which things get done in India. Don't these people know that time is money? What they know, actually, is that time is life, and to go zooming through it is to miss living.

Psychologist Arno Gruen says our busyness is addictive: "In order to be able to feel alive, we ... need more and more external excitation. The stimuli themselves force us into an addictive mode. Since we think that all we require is more of them in order to fill up the emptiness, our need will grow for what actually increases the void. There are numerous stimuli of this sort: loud music, large cars, glittering colors, gleaming machines. What we finally seek for our feeling of aliveness is simply the speed with which a change in stimuli takes place. The form or content of the stimulus will have scarcely any significance. In fact empty forms will be preferred, since those with content and meaning slow down the tempo of change. To find meaning in an experience requires, after all, an act of mental organization, and that takes time."

Slow. Down. Do that first. Then, quietly, carefully, think about what else might need to be done. The only problem with this cure is that I can't prescribe it forothers, because I have such trouble following it myself. It's so easy to get swept up in the hurtling pace of the world. Like most of the other world-savers I know, I'm way too busy to eat well, sit quietly, take a vacation, or even, some days, think.

Edward Abbey, the great curmudgeon of environmentalism, knew better: "It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for awhile and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over those desk-bound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: You will outlive the bastards."

Good advice. Too bad I don't have time to take it. I have to go save the world.

(Donella H. Meadows was an adjunct professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College.)

musical goosebumps

2008-01-29T16:18:00.000-08:00

on sunday luccas and i saw miss saigon (for his christmas present). we were VIPs, which just meant that we got to sit up close (which was handy since i forgot my glasses). no free champers or popcorn unfortunately.

for those who havent seen it, miss saigon is about a dramatic love story between a US soldier and a vietnamese woman during the vietnam war. of course any time everything is sung there is a sense of over-dramatization, but there were some great performances and awesome production work. i loved that feeling of the musical goosebumps that i got in those symphonic moments between the singers and the live orchestra!!! =)

oz day 2008 in são paulo

2008-01-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

25th january was a public holiday in são paulo - celebrating the 454th anniversary of the city, but on 26th january an international group gathered in parque do aclimação to celebrate australia day!

there were vegemite sandwiches, fairy bread, lamingtons, pavlova, caramello koalas, crunchies, vegemite and cheese crackers, sarsparella and ginger beer cordial and the much coveted tim tams!!

whilst listening to aussie tunes we ate and drunk and were merry, and a few brave souls completed the aussie obstacle course (shot of sarsparella cordial concentrate, dress yourself with a c0rk hat and aussie apron, eat a dry weet-bix with peanut butter, wash it down with a shot of ginger beer cordial, thrown a frisbee through a hole and be the first to grab skippy the inflatable kangaroo!)

much fun was had by all - thank to my fellow aussie day oc members, karl and ruth. cheers mates!!

wedding #1 of 2008: ivo and emily (brazilian & canadian)

2008-01-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

ivo is one of luccas' cousins and last weekend he married emily, a canadian. this was my first brazilian wedding and first time to meet heaps of luccas' relatives. his grandpa had 14 brothers and sisters, so he has 100 first cousins - so there are a lot of rellies to meet! and it was lovely to start the process =) in the photos you can see my hair-do, me with luccas' immediate family, luccas and i and luccas' mum and his grandma. the church was really sweet, and was different to see that all of the "god parents" had to stand up on the altar for the whole ceremony - dont get any ideas for your bridesmaids, kyles! was great that around 20 of emily's friends and family came from canada to brazil for the wedding. at first i think her parents were a bit shocked by all the hugs and kisses they were receiving from complete strangers, but it seemed that they soon warmed to the brazilian warmth and did a great dance routine that wowed the crowd. luccas and i even managed to practice a few dance moves from our first dance class ;)

grad party gatecrashers

2008-01-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

well finally, 11 years after i started uni, i went to a graduation party! =) on saturday i went with luccas to the graduation party of some of his friends from international relations. conveniently the impressive party was held at a shopping centre which is very close to my house. yep, that is right, a shopping centre. brasilians, well at least paulistanas, LOVE shopping malls. they make a hobby out of it, and so shopping malls here not only have heaps of shops, but also art exhibitions, theatres and graduation parties! the party was very cool - live band and open bar with beer, caipirinhas and cocktails (need i say more!). so now i have officially graduated, since we did the "graduation waltz" which is a tradition here at the graduation parties.

last 3 months of 2007: quick sticks retrospective

2008-01-09T06:51:00.000-08:00

happy new year! well i didnt make any formal new year resolutions but one thing i want to do more in 2008 is to share more of what is happening here and keep in touch more with friends and family. i also realised that in 2007 i spent too much time thinking about doing stuff and not enough time DOING stuff - so my blog that i have neglected for 3 months seems like a good place to start!

actually heaps of wonderful things happened in the last three months of last year (not including the bacterial stomach infection - also known as My Month on the Loo)!

community, children, culture, connections and criation in Chapadas Diamantina

in september i spent a week in this breathtakingly beautiful area about 6 hours drive east from salvador in the north-east of brazil, where there is a much stronger african influence . the trip was organized by a wonderful NGO called Projeto Bagagem that aims to develop networks of economic solidarity through community-based tourism that benefits the local population. with our small group we got to know the great work of a local NGO in lençóis, called Grãos de Luz e Griô, that offers development opportunities to local young people, that in turn connected us to local songs, dances, traditions and beliefs, elders (including a traditional mid-wife, ex-diamond miner, accordion player, community leader, candomblé priest) and children. most of the time we stayed in the houses of the local people and they shared with us their food, ways of life and happy spirits.

this is a photo of me at the famous Pai Inácio in the national park of chapadas diamantina and our great group of community-based travellers.

here you can see photos from the NGO, Grãos de Luz e Griô

here you can see photos from the community of Remanso - the flour mill and florest
here you can see photos from our canoe trip in Remanso
here you can see photos from capivara where we stayed at a house of Jaré (african religion)here you can see more photos from our wonderful time in Remanso
here you can see photos from lençóis
here you can see photos of the spectacular chapadas diamantina national park at sunset

meeting a wonderful guy - Luccas =)

didnt really feel like going out that saturday night in late september, but now i am happy that triinu convinced me to go with her to the bar, bom motivo (good reason), cos that is where i met luccas - the sweetest, kindest, spunkiest boyfriend ever!! we have only been together for a few months but judging by the number of our great moments together it feels like we have known each other for a lot longer! whether we are having dinner on the 41st floor of the edifício italia or japanese take away at home, drinking mojitos or coffee, accidentally discovering great french movies or watching classic aussie dvds, going to bars as ourselves or as barbara weiss and rubens nighogossian, sunbaking in the rain at the beach or touring an eco-village in the rain, volunteering cleaning computers at the bank or buying christmas presents for kids we never met - we always have a wonderful time. initially we started chatting because he lived 7 months in australia a couple of years ago, but we are discovering so many more things in common. looking forward to many more wonderful moments together =)

finishing my biopsychology course
through out the year i did an amazing course at the serenely beautiful Visão Futuro eco-park, about 2 hours out of São Paulo. in november i did the final, 8th module of the course, which focuses on a holistic approach to physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. the course creates a bridge between the eastern approach of chakras and the modern western medicine and uses art, theatre, music and dance to engage you in a truly creative and inspiring way. i learnt a lot about myself through out the year at the park which helped to give me strength and daily practices that i had been looking for, like meditation, yoga and mantras. in our final module we went on the search for the holy grail and completed challenges to experience the determination, surrender and balance that we need on the next steps in our journey.

fiona and ernie's wedding in argentina
buenos aires may seem like an unlikely location for an aussie reunion but that is where i got to meet up with a bunch of old aussie and international friends at ernie and fiona's wedding. as my sister said when she saw a video of the wedding "wow! people are having so much fun it looks like argentina won the world cup or something!". even though unfortunately i was not able to sample any of the great argentinian wine or the daquiris it was an awesome party - and i think the crazy hats that appeared around 4am had a large role in that. highly recommend them for any wedding reception. thanks fi and ernie for a great experience in such a cool city.

triinu's birthday
there was much vodka drunk and good times had at triinu's birthday celebration. was great to celebrate the birthday of my wonderful estonian house mate. am very happy that she wowed them at natura and will be in brazil for another two years =)

xmas party in são paulo

since i spent christmas and new years in australia i threw a little party at our place to celebrate the festive season with my friends in são paulo. lots of wine was drunk, cheese was eaten and funny photos taken with this silly santa hat =)

pioneers of change and art of hosting
i have really enjoyed being involved in during the second half of 2007 with the pioneers of change network here in são paulo and helping to organise and host an Art of Hosting Meaningful and Strategic Conversations. through both of these groups i have been able to reconnect with other people who have similar visions and values and practice my hosting and facilitation which i really enjoying doing and am trying to do more of at my paid work also. it was such a great opportunity to be a part of the hosting team for the art of hosting, especially in these challenging times when something the world needs more and more of is meaningful conversation. thanks to thomas, valentine, tamara, christel and toke for all your support and encouragement. I AM TREE. I AM ME =)

christmas and new years in australia
despite an unscheduled hospital stay due to a kidney infection, i had an amazing time in australia over christmas and new years. unfortunately i had to miss out on the "andrew almost got married wine tour" in adelaide due to my hospitalization, but i managed to catch up with a lot of old friends (and lots of new babies!!) and for the first time in nearly 6 years, the Fitzgerald Family was all together!! my brother, sean, came up from melbourne with his girlfriend, michele, and we all spent countless hours together talking, drinking, eating, laughing, discussing and eating and drinking some more. (my sister also announced her upcoming wedding so i also spent several hours trying on bridesmaid dresses, but i think we found THE one. very exciting ;) it was awesome to see everyone with their partners, so grown up!! it was also interesting to see a much higher general environmental consciousness in australia than i previously remember. despite the constant rain during my whole trip (including our camping at the woodford music festival - so proud of leah surviving her first ever camping trip in the mud and rain) there are pretty strict water restrictions in place. but i took it as a fun challenge to beat the 4 minute timer that is in my parents' shower (btw i managed to wash my hair, shave my legs and wash myself in less than 4 minutes!!). was great to see my grandpa again after a long time, who managed to leave his rural property despite the current floods. was also nice to hang out with my country cuz, nichole, who also spent new years eve with us. i even learnt some new aussie slangs during the trip - will have to do some hard core training with luccas before he goes there for the wedding in october!!!

all in all 2007 was a great year, filled with lots of blessings and much to be grateful for. and now i am back in são paulo. ready for a fabulous 2008 which i will try to share!!! wishing you all peace, love and health.

belo horizonte - bela cidade

2007-10-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

for me, a lack of blog postings can mean one of two things - either nothing is happening or too many things are happening - happy to say in this case it is the latter =) so time for an update!

about a month ago on the last public holiday here in brazil, triinu and i went to belo horizonte on the invitation of two aiesec friends, elvio and gabiru. BH (be-agha), as it is affectionately known, is about 8 hours by bus from São Paulo and is the capital of the state of Minas Gerais (which has the historic mining cities of Ouro Preto, Mariana etc). The city has a population of about 2.5 million people and was the first modern Brazilian city to spring from an architect's design board (in the 1940s a young Oscar Niemeyer designed the Pampulha district (the lake where Triinu and I are posing).

BH is known for its wide avenues, large lakes and parks - i just loooooooved all the trees that you can see through out the city!! we checked out various parks through out the city, including one where we bought fresh cane sugar juice (see the photo of the juice being made), and we also had a great time exploring the vibrant Mercardo Municipal (town market), where the locals can be found drinking from at least 10am in their choice of the two rival bars based on the local football teams (we also checked out their stadium). we also got to experience family life in BH with our wonderful host, Elvio and his mum, where we ate home-made pão de queijo in the region that invented those little pieces of heaven! we also went to the home-coming family bbq of Rafa, who did a traineeship in Ukraine. her family was very welcoming and full of life, as demonstrated by her uncle and his tasteful apron ;)

one of the highlights of the weekend was the concert of brothers Zeze di Camargo and Luciano! they are stars of brazilian country and western music whose remarkable life story was told in the film "Dois Filhos do Fransisco" ("Two Sons of Fransisco"). the concert was in the town of Pará de Minas, about 1 hour from BH, with a population of approximately 100 000 people (and I think all of them were there at the show!) we didnt know any of their songs before we went to the show, but there were some key words that we discovered:
* coração (heart)
* paixão (passion)
* amor (love)
* dor (pain)
* saudades (missing you)
* felicidade (happiness)

with these songs you can easily participate in most of the songs they were singing =) was a great night out!

new link for article

2007-09-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

well seems that someone hacked into the site so the old link didnt work, but here is the new link for my first online article - hope you enjoy it

beijos
zoe