Serendipity

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Serendipity is : the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for;

Nothing could represent that to me more than what happened today.

I'm walking around with Liesje and Ana through the streets of Ipanema (yes, like the famous song) and we stop at a big flashy fruit stand. The guy was an excellent salesman, and started giving us little pieces of delicious fruits to taste and be tempted, before quoting exorbitant prices for them. We were busy trying to figure out what to do, if we should buy something or not, when I hear something in the background that catches my attention. It sounded like "mangostino."

For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a fruit from South-east Asia that I am completely obsessed with, and it is without a doubt the best thing I have ever tasted in my life. By far.

A few months ago, I spent a couple of weeks in Colombia looking for it everywhere I went (as somebody had told me you can find them there) but with no success. After I left, a friend of mine was lucky enough to find them, but I wasn't there anymore, so I didn't get to taste heaven.

And then today happened. I wasn't thinking of mangosteens. I had never heard they existed in Brazil. I would've never even dream of looking for them here. Don't know anyone who knows them and hasn't been to south-east Asia (or been told by someone who has.)

So you can imagine my surprise, and my reaction, when I caught that faint "mangostino" and turned around to realize that I was indeed NOT dreaming, and the old man from the fruit stand behind me (which I hadn't given any attention to and would've missed completely) was opening one up and offering me a taste of heaven. I tasted it. I started laughing and hyperventilating and acting like a crazy nut.

Of course, I bought some, at the price of gold, but who cares?? It was cheaper than a plane ticket to Thailand... :)

All of this to say, if you haven't had the chance and happiness of tasting a mangosteen, you don't know what you're missing... but most importantly, sometimes the best things in life we find when we're not looking for them.

Butterflies and decisions...

I like making decisions. I'm usually pretty sure of what I want, and have a somewhat clear idea of how to get there. Of course, that doesn't mean I always get what I want. A lot of the times things are out of my control, and so even when I can see the path, sometimes the door is closed in my face.

But I think an unavoidable part of making decisions is that familiar feeling of butterflies in your stomach, and anxious bursts of impatience, "which one is the best choice? Should I pick A or B? What are the pros and cons of each?" I don't spend too much time in that though... I know that not making a decision usually results in lost opportunities and regrets, so I dive right in. There's the popular saying "I'd rather regret something I've done than wonder forever about the outcome of choices I didn't make."

All of that to say that I made quite a few decisions in the last couple of days, which will be appearing soon in my travel blog .

However, the butterflies don't go away the second you make the decision... and I think that's part of the expectations that follow a decision, no matter what it is about. I guess that's part of the fun... after all, I like butterflies... ;)

The virus of complaining and the art of relaxing

Complaining is something I don't like to do. And I don't like to be around people who complain all the time (I think nobody does...)



For the last month and a half, I was in Brasilia, and around people who complain ALL the time. They're negative. Nothing is ever alright, if it's hot, it's too hot. If it's cold, it should be hot. If it's Monday, they want it to be Tuesday. If it's Tuesday, it's because it's not Monday. It's insane. It drives me nuts! But like I said, it's a virus... so it rubs off on me and I catch myself complaining all the time. (I'm even doing it right now!!!)



But then you go to a different place. A place where people are relaxed and happy. Where the sun shines and the ocean is an incredible hypnotic blue. Where there's a hammock on the balcony, and you can just be, and hear yourself breathe...







All of a sudden, all that complaining goes away, and you remember that life is beautiful... and you walk for half an hour under the pouring rain at night, with a smile on your face and thank God for the rain, cuz it's so refreshing and beautiful.



Yeah, I definitely like the art of relaxing.... ;)

The Butterfly Circus

It's amazing how much our perception of ourselves is formed through the eyes of others. No matter how much we try to avoid being influenced by other people's views, something always reaches us, something always breaks through our defenses and our self-deprecating humor to make us doubt ourselves...

Tonight I watched a short film that made me realize two things: 1- that we should be careful whose opinion we believe or let affect us. 2- that we should have good opinions of others and influence their lives for the better!

"Life and death are in the power of the tongue" is a very underestimated proverb... but it is only too true.

Watch the film The Butterfly Circus and then tell me what you think... :)

Change of perspective in 24hrs

I love Buenos Aires... I love walking around the streets of Buenos Aires, be it early in the morning watching people as they hurry to get to work, or in a lazy sunny afternoon as they sip their coffee, or at 3 in the morning, when the streets are mostly deserted, and the cool breeze makes me feel peaceful and alive.

I just had one of those nights, of walking home alone at 4am and appreciating the quiet empty streets, and the beauty of the city... for some reason I have never felt unsafe in Buenos Aires. Sure I've heard stories of people getting mugged. Sure I have had my ipod pick pocketed out of my backpack without realizing it. But that never translated into fear.

And then, 24hrs after my peaceful walk home, I'm walking at night again, this time with 2 girlfriends, going towards the bus stop, somewhere around 3am, when I see this guy running towards us, grabbing one of my friends, yelling "Give me your cell phone or I'll kill you!" and her screaming and struggling with him. I didn't know what to do. It all happened so fast! My friend screamed and said NO! and the guy pushed her and shoved her to the ground, didn't manage to get the phone from her, and ran away. Her thumb was bleeding, and we thought maybe it was from being pushed to the ground, but later realized he must've had a knife/blade of some sort... and that's pretty scary.

So after the ordeal, we ran to the bus stop, freaked out and totally nervous, and I still have to wait for the bus. The girls waited with me, and then had to walk another few blocks to where they were staying... and I'm thinking that after the bus, I still have a few blocks to walk by myself until I get home. Not cool.

I take the bus, and get off at the same place I did the night before, when I was enjoying the nice walk... except this time I was trying to walk as fast as I could, watching behind my back and afraid someone was going to jump at me from nowhere.

The funny thing is, I wasn't actually afraid. I wanted to enjoy my walk as I did the night before. But I realized that just because I don't think it's dangerous, doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. So now I'm going to be much more careful when walking around alone...

...so much for enjoying peaceful walks in the middle of the night... :(

Watch out--> it's raining!

The rain has a strange effect on me. People who know me well are aware of this... it's weird, but it acts kinda like a drug, it makes me want to do crazy things, and it takes away my inhibition, which results in having the courage to do the crazy things I feel like doing.

Today it's raining... a lot actually. I feel like doing something crazy. I feel that impulse welling up inside of me, and I just want to take off running and GO! DO! FEEL!

...but...

I'm fresh out of ideas... so I think I'll just sit here and have another cup of coffee...

Nomadic life...

I've been "living" in Buenos Aires for about 9 months now... but in those 9 months, I've left to go on trips 3 times, and a few other weekend escapades, so I haven't spent more than 6 months actually in BA.

When I was in France, I used to complain that I didn't have many friends who were crazy travelers like me, and I ended up not going on too many trips as a result (don't get me wrong, I still managed to go to Thailand, India, Nepal and a lot of European countries... I was just traveling alone!). Now it seems all I have are traveler friends, and each time someone says they're going to such-and-such place, if I can, I end up joining them.

But the question of this blog is this: will it ever stop? 

Historically, humans have began as nomads, until they figured out they could transform their environment and have a more settled and secure life. I feel like I'm "stuck" in that nomadic lifestyle, and even though the thought of settling down somewhere appeals to me sometimes (mainly when I get tired of carrying a backpack around), if I really think about settling down, it freaks me out and I immediately see red flashing lights that say NOOOOOO!!!!!

I love traveling, and I love my nomadic life (which is the reason I haven't stopped yet!). But sometimes I wonder if I'm not missing out in some aspects of life, things that you can only do when you have a permanent base, somewhere to call "home."


I hope someday I have logical and simple answer to the question "Where are you from?"

Uncanny Resemblance....

Just heard this song and it sounded SO familiar, it's hard to believe I didn't write it myself.

It's good to know that other people in the world live out of a backpack... but the last part also resonates with me, and maybe it's time to start thinking about that.

(Except every time I think about that, I also think "noooo!! not YET!")

Listen to the song... it's a good one!

Random one-liners...

Some people have a gift. The gift of saying the right thing with very few words. And no, I'm not talking about pick-up lines or cat-calls on the street (although living in Buenos Aires, I could write an encyclopedia full of them...).

No, I'm talking about random, unexpected emails, that are composed of just a few words... but raise your spirits and put a smile on your face and this incredible desire of jumping into the computer screen just to come out on the other side and give a big great bear hug to the person who just sent you that email.

Unfortunately technology isn't that advanced yet...

So for those of you who are skilled in sending those emails, and who have put a smile upon my face countless times---> Consider yourself hugged. :)

Belonging...

All of us, every single one of us, has the need ingrained in our beings, to belong to something, somewhere, someone. We may try to deny it, to others, to ourselves, try to prove our independence, but the truth is--and here I quote someone wiser than me-- no man is an island and I add: no matter how much he tries to fool himself.


Why am I talking about this?

Maybe is because I'm moving out of my house (yes, once again!) and I'm not sure I want to move into my next house (already found it) because I'm thinking it would be a better use of my money to travel instead of pay rent.

But why is it that the simple thought of not having a house terrifies me?

Strange, isn't it?

I guess the whole "leaving/not leaving" story made my heart fly away to someplace new, and now I don't feel like I belong in the old one. It's hard to leave... but it's even harder to come back when you haven't really left. I guess this Brazilian song says it best: "You're the only one who has the cure for my vice of insisting in missing terribly all that I haven't seen yet."

I definitely have that vice... but haven't found the one who has the cure yet.

About giving up...

Some people are quitters. I'm not. That makes giving up on anything a very hard thing to do... but sometimes you just have to weigh the pros and cons of a situation, admit that it's not worth it, and lay down your weapons... and deal with the disappointment that ensues...


That's what I did today.

I don't like it, I'm not happy about it, but I know it's what I have to do...

So I guess it's time for plan B...

Confusion

This is going to sound strange... but I am a firm believer in Law. Without laws, the world would be chaos and it would make our lives a lot more complicated.

However, the whole concept of law also implies that you can't follow it if you do not know it. Of course, it is your responsibility to find out and behave accordingly, but that implies that the authorities themselves know the law and can advise you.

The worse cases of law ignorance I have encountered, for some reason, always have to do with immigration. Example:

Last week I found out that as a Brazilian in Argentina, I could have gone to the immigration department HERE and requested residency, paying the total sum of $300 pesos. However, the Argentinian EMBASSY in Brazil had misinformed me and for that reason I believed that I had to 1) Go to Brazil, 2)Run around like a fool for a week gathering documents, 3) Pay the embassy fee of $850 pesos, to obtain that same residency.

This week I am even more confused. Once again, the immigration authorities of a certain country are not in agreement, the Embassy says one thing, the Foreign Department in the country says another. And I don't know who to believe. This time, what the Embassy says would make my life a WHOLE LOT easier... but what if I get to said country and the immigration authorities I will have to deal with upon arrival tell me something different?

I am confused. I have a headache. For once I don't know the language of said country well enough to call and yell at them directly (which may or may not help), and that annoys me even more. (yes, I'm a language snob, and I get annoyed at myself for knowing only four. If you think I'm ridiculous, stop reading my blog).

Conclusion:

I'm in a bad mood.

When Murphy wins...

It seems that when one thing starts to go wrong, it's a domino effect, EVERYTHING goes wrong at the same time...

Today I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch, after picking up the key to another friend's apartment, since he was going on a trip and leaving me at his place. The stupid alarm didn't go off and I missed both things. When I finally woke up (because I was cold!) and realized I was totally late, I was freaking out and wondering why the alarm hadn't gone off, until I tried to turn on the lights, and they wouldn't turn on! I checked the alarm, and nothing. Touched the heater: cold. Conclusion? There was no power.

I turned on the computer (which luckily runs on batteries!) and realized the wireless internet connections around my house were all up and running, which meant my neighbors had power... Conclusion? My roommates didn't pay the electric bill!!!

I tried to send a txt to my friends to explain why I hadn't showed up, but had run out of credit.

I take my computer to the balcony to check my email, and got an email that says my sort of plans for September might not work out until maybe MARCH!

I take a taxi to go to my friend's house, the one I should've been at 2hrs ago, and the taxi driver takes me around half the city while I was busy sending texts and not paying attention. Of course I yelled at him. He gave me a discount of ONE peso! Huge discount!

I go to Starbucks and get what I usually get, a mocha with extra chocolate and because I'm having a crappy day, an extra shot of Hazelnut which 90% of the time they don't charge me for. This time, not only did they charge me for the hazelnut, they even charged me for the extra mocha!!! Result, instead of paying $13 pesos, I paid $16. In a normal day, I would've complained and yelled at them. Today I don't even have the strength to do so...

Right now I'm at the above mentioned Starbucks, trying to relax, but about to run out of battery because their wall socket doesn't accept my computer plug.

Can this day get any worse????

Dreams, old friends, new friends and moving...

As the title and description of this blog make evident, this is a blog about random thoughts, so it is probably best not to look for a connection between this post and the next, or even between phrases in the same post... it's random!

I had a dream about my wedding, something like 8 years ago. I don't usually remember my dreams, but I remember this one because of one particular thing: when I walked down the aisle and looked up at my husband-to-be, I realized I did not know him. What does that mean? I have a couple of ideas...

After I had that dream, about a year later, I moved to a different country and met many interesting people. Every time I met someone new, I wondered if they were the unknown face from my dream...

The friends I made back then are now old friends. I've made many other friends since then, and they're the "new" friends now who will become old friends with time. But I've stopped wondering if any of my new or old friends are the one from the dream. All except maybe one.

Now I'm at the verge of moving again. Will I move? Should I move?


I already miss my old friends. I don't want to start missing all the new ones. Not so fast. We haven't had enough time together. And they're so amazing!! I don't want to miss them...

But my poor heart has already left... it is wandering somewhere over the atlantic ocean, half way between where I am now and my next destination...