Farewell Florida/Hello Brazil
October 19, 2011 by rtwsenior
My next year-long around-the-world journey begins with a single step onto my airplane, leaving Tampa tonight at 8:15 p.m.!
The long-awaited day has finally arrived and I will fly overnight to Brasilia, Brazil, arriving early in the morning where I will be met by a van to ferry me to the Hotel Fazenda for breakfast and a nice catchup on my lost sleep. Surely I’ll get acqainted with some of the others who have flown in from all over the world to dance with the indigenous grandmothers who pray for the healing of our planet.
I can’t even begin to picture what that will be like. What do I wear? My backpack is over there on the sofa very stuffed and about to undergo a serious rethink. It’s apparently cold and wet there on the high central plains of Brazil in their Spring weather (equivalent to our April) and we will be outdoors, or at least, meeting in a peace park. The council fire will be very welcome, but I’m digging out some long johns, just in case. And what do indigenous grandmothers wear, anyway? I have some long skirts and shawls along, just in case.
The last time I spent the summer in South America (during our winter), I would have frozen if it were not for my cozy winter clothes….but then, I was traveling in the high Andes. Now, I’ve packed lots of cottons and lots of white clothes, since that’s what is required at John of God’s healing casa. All of this detail is simply to show you the before condition that I’m in before setting out to become an expert in these things. I’ll share the answer with you as we go along.
Having travel experience does come in handy but there’s always the moment when you bang into the beautiful unknown and you just have to take your chances and guess. I’ve probably over-prepared and will leave items behind as I travel once it becomes obvious that this was a silly choice, indeed. But, that’s the reason for adventure in the first place and if we already knew, why go?
They did tell me to bring Sage! This will be very meaningful and it won’t matter what I’m wearing….just so I’m warm. Right?
Also, I am looking forward to meeting local families in many cities and towns throughout South America because of my membership in Servas, which matches host families with travelers. I’ve emailed two people on my list for Brasilia and hope that I can visit them after the conference ends early next week.
Please sign up for the RSS feed for this site, as it will be my main way of reporting all that is happening to me. But, I can’t promise to write very much during these first four dancing days. We will leave the hotel early and come back late, as the meeting grounds are 45 minutes away by bus. But, I will eventually give you a very detailed and satisfying report. Till then!
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Dear Linda,
I don’t know if you’ll get this email, but I wanted to wish you a wonderful and safe trip! Hopefully we can get together for lunch whenever you return.
Sincerely,
Vivian