This week I present to you, South Africa, a beautiful nation of 55 million people that captivated my heart. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. It’s constitution recognizes 11 official languages. This rich variety of cultures is part of the reason I fell in love with South Africa. I’ll share some of the other reasons with these next two posts.
Today we start with the second half of my Top 10 experiences in South Africa (and the rest of my trip). Without further ado, we start with #10.
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Last week, I went through the second half of my Top 10 Experiences from Brazil. Be sure to check them out here if you haven’t yet. I also updated it with a photo my friend Yannick took of the mayhem that ensued on Copacabana beach on New Year’s Eve.
This week I present to you my top five experiences from Brasil. From hikes to falls to family, these are the moments that will entrench Brazil as a special place in my heart. Without further ado, my top five... Hi y'all! I'm back. I'M BACK! I'm back for a few last installments of this edition of the blog. I apologize for ghosting after my phone was stolen in Ilha Grande, Brazil back in December. After that incident, I never got back into the rhythm of writing and editing. I'm happy to be back and excited to share what's gone down these past five months.
For my last three installments, I'm going to do (1) a recap of rest of my time in Brazil, (2) recap my adventures and experiences in South Africa, and (3) do a final reflection on my eight months spent living and traveling different corners of this beautiful planet. I realized that I still write wayyy too much so I'm going to divide each of the Top 10's into two separate posts. I'm putting dates out there to hold myself accountable and so you know when to expect them.
Alright, here we go… Greetings from the beautiful northeastern coast of Brazil! We've spent much of the past couple of weeks traveling from beach to beach along the coast and they've been stunning! We started the week in Fortaleza and were hoping to head to Jericoacoara Monday afternoon but later realized that the trip was a lot longer than we originally thought. Instead we decided to head out early the next morning and check out Praia do Futuro in Fortaleza with our new Brazilian friend, Warlem (pronounced War-lee). Praia do Futuro is a beautiful stretch of beach with great surf along one of the cities coasts. It had a beach club close by where we had some fresh mango juice and hung out by the pools.
Note: Post was written a few days back on my cell, but took a while to get a stable connection and computer to edit and upload. Apologies again for the length, but hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment any thoughts below. Where to begin?!? So much has changed since my last post. No more Colombia. I've finished the second leg of my trip and am now in Brazil. No more solo travel. I am now traveling with my beautiful sister, Michelle. No more President HRC. We now have President-Elect Donald Trump. There was a gamut of feelings and emotions, several of which, I'm sure many of you shared as well. I'm going to break this post up into each of those and go into a bit more depth for each as I share the corresponding events on this journey. The feelings and emotions were:
Joy & Excitement:I'd just wrapped up my best week in a very long time, having spent the majority of it with my Abuelita Maria and her two sisters on her farm in La Uvita. (If you didn't get a chance to read last week's post, I'm With Her, I'm With Them! check it out. I posted it election night and understand if you would've missed it.) Now, I was on my way to Leticia, the Colombian gateway to the Amazons, with Michelle. Our plan was to explore a bit of the jungle and then take a river boat from Leticia to Manaus, the Brazilian gateway to the Amazons. This part of the trip was a major bucket list item for me and a dream of mine since I was a little kid. Growing up, I wasn't very into video games. They just weren't my thing, but there were two I obsessed over, Age of Empires and Amazon Trail. I guess it was the nerd in me that loved these games with historical context. Amazon Trail, was made by The Learning Company and had similar game play as Oregon Trail. Instead of fighting off dysentery, you've got malaria and yellow fever to watch out for. You start your trip in Belem, Brazil, where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean, and then travel upstream to the source in the Andes Mountains in Peru. In the game you travel across the river but also through time. I particularly remember meeting Henry Ford in Manaus, as he was collecting rubber from rubber trees for his cars back in the states. Some of my other favorite parts were finishing in the river for piracu and piranhas, documenting the wildlife like tapirs, jaguars, and sloths, meeting the historic figures, like Ford and Teddy Roosevelt, along the way. I know, total nerd! But I loved it! Getting a taste of this was going to be a dream come true!
I start this post of by saying this past week was probably my most meaningful and favorite week in a very long time. With that said, this post was written on my phone so pardon any spelling/grammatical errors as well as any long winded ramblings. When I last left, I was on my way to visit my grandma and her two sisters who all live together on my grandma’s farm in La Uvita. I'd visited La Uvita a handful of times when I was younger, but none was as special as this past week. It was me and three beautiful 80-somethings on a farm for a week. As I alluded to in the last post, there was going to be a lot of love and delicious food, and they did not disappoint on either account. The journey from Bogotá to La Uvita is about six to nine hours depending on the bus and traffic. I left early Tuesday morning on a coach bus to Duitama. At around noon, I arrived in Duitama and would have to transfer to another bus heading towards La Uvita. Much of Boyaca, the department La Uvita is located in, is made up of beautiful farmlands high up along the Andes mountains. The majority of the second half of the trip is on curvy, switchback roads along the sides of mountains. The scenery is absolutely stunning. The bus makes a lunch stop in Boavita, the town just before La Uvita, but I knew better than to have lunch on the road.
I arrived in La Uvita a little past two. La Uvita is a small farm town of about 3,000 people nestled in the mountains. The bus drops you off right in the central plaza. It had been four or five years since I last visited, so after a quick walk around the square to orient myself, I recognized the road that leads up to my grandma's house. Bogota, Colombia, my birthplace, my family, my... home. One thing I’m realizing, the more I travel and grow, is my understanding of home is continuously evolving. I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying, “Home is where the heart is.” The longer I live, the longer I love, the longer I explore, the more I realize I have more than one home. As a matter of fact, the more I experience the beauty and incredible people around this world, the more “homes” I seem to acquire, as each place I fall in love with seems to hold a piece of my heart. Bogota is my home. Long Beach is my home. Chapel Hill is my home. Brooklyn is my home. Mebane is my home. Antigua is my home. The list goes on and will continue to go on. By the time this trip is done, I imagine Rio and Cape Town will be homes as well.
My apologies for combining weeks five & six into one post. I didn’t realize how tough it would be to leave a place I’d spent a relatively small amount of time. Then again, any amount of time, fostering and developing friendships and relationships is significant. My time in Antigua and Guatemala has come to an end, for now, but the friends, memories, and experiences I gained, I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
Last Monday was a cool, muggy day in Antigua. To add to it, nine guests/volunteers from Matiox were away on the Acatenango Volcano hike, and there definitely was an eerie feel to the hostel. It’s usually a buzz conversations, giggles, food, movies and bean bags being tossed around. You get used to things being a certain way, until they’re not any more. It’s a bit foreshadowing for the changes that would be unfolding as the week went by. I left for Bogota this past Saturday for some quality time with my extended family. A few other long term guests and volunteers also left Antigua this past week. I’ve really come to appreciate this town’s vibe but most of all it’s people. It was definitely very sad saying goodbye to them, but I find comfort in knowing they will always remain as part of my Guatemalan experience as well as friends I can count on throughout the globe. As most of you know, my stream of consciousness has been flowing the last few weeks, and I appreciate y’all taking the time to read and enjoy it. This week’s post has been a bit more difficult to write than previous ones for some reason. It’s not because there haven’t been new happenings in my life or world, because there have been plenty of those. I’ll get to those soon enough. I wouldn’t say I’m in a funk, because that’s not the case. I’m not quite sure what it is, but something’s just been a bit different the last couple of days. And that’s perfectly okay! I am embracing my feelings and letting myself feel whatever it is I’m feeling. I am going to continue to honor my journey and let the universe unfold as it will.
Last Monday, I had the chance to catch up with my good friend, Kristin, on Google Hangouts, and got to share and hear so many great updates. I miss her and all of my fam back home a whole lot! One of my favorite things to do in downtime these last couple of weeks has been getting a chance to reconnect with my loved ones back home. It is certainly true that distance makes the heart grow fonder. I feel so fortunate to have my family and friends back home supporting me on this journey. Today, more than ever, I am thankful for the unconditional love and support I have from those that matter most in my life. For those of you that don’t know, today is National Coming Out Day, a day where we celebrate coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) or as an ally. Coming out can be an extremely difficult process, while at the same time an equally powerful experience. I know it was for me. Last year, around this time, was the first time I came out to my current students after working in schools for seven years. To this day, it remains one of the proudest moments in my life. Sharing my story allowed others to embrace their own stories. It helps move communities from tolerance, to acceptance, to support. I carry one the letters one of my students wrote me that day as a reminder of the power I have to impact the lives of others. Pedro here! Reporting from behind the reception desk of Matiox Hostal in Antigua, Guatemala. Things have taken a bit of a turn this past week. A turn for the best, I think. I will get to how I got here shortly, but let’s pick up where we last left off. Sheesh! Weeks really seem to be an eternity. I might have to begin doing begin doing biweekly updates. We’ll see.
So last Monday, my German friends and I decided to take it easy and explore the island of Flores. We walked around the cobblestone streets and ventured off to find a cheap shuttle to Tikal for the following day. We ended up walking for a couple hours around town and ultimately to the bus terminal, where Chiara was able to find us a private shuttle that would take us to and from Tikal for 50Q. The hostel we were staying at was charging 110Q so we were able to save a good bit of money. On our walk we stumbled upon a Yo <3 Peten sign and we snapped some photos. Peten in the province Flores and Tikal are found in. |
AuthorColombian-born, Brooklyn educator traveling the world Archives
May 2017
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