off the grid with super gringa.
“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
-Paulo Coehlo
I haven’t read The Alchemist since I was at least 17, but I thought a quote from a Brasilian author was fitting given recent travels to the wilderness of the southern hemisphere. There are many words I could use to describe the experience, but pictures are more appropriate. These below were taken with my phone, so they are not of the most incredible quality. What was of incredible quality was daily meditation, sunshine-soaked naked river swimming, star-gazing, papaya-eating from the nearby food forest, and authentic time spent with beautiful women friends (to whom I will forever affectionately be known as Gringa or Super Gringa). I think the universe is telling me to spend more of life sans electricity/utilities/screens/phone calls. And I am totally OK with that.
En route to where we spent the majority of our time, near the village of Sao Jorge in Chapada dos Veadeiros. Locals and mystics believe this area has a special energy with frequent visits from supernatural/other-worldly beings, as it is on the same latitude as Macchu Picchu and there are clear, quartz crystals bursting forth from upturned soils.
Some years back, my friend Maina helped to build this earthen, mud dome!
Maina and Gabi inside the earthen mud dome, which has suffered the unfortunate effects of water damage over the years.
Some scenery that surrounded us.
Food forest behind my bedroom!
Food forest from another angle.
I learned that Brasilians will drive their cars over anything. Like this bridge which had 6-inch wide gaps between each board.
One afternoon I took a solo-hike down to the Sao Miguel river on the property where we were staying. I found these branches especially enchanting.
Sao Miguel river!
River rocks with kettle holes.
More river views, on different days from different places along the banks.
The neighboring home.
Native flora.
View from my bedroom.
We slept here!
Another vista from the bedroom porch.
In contrast to the planned permaculture sites we visited in Chapada, I spent the last few days in another human-designed place, the planned city of Brasilia. Built in 41 months, in the late 1950s, the city’s buildings all have a deliberate, modernist feel. Despite my anxiety about wandering around alone with my minimal, garbled Portuguese I did take to the city to explore some modern art, architecture, and cloud-kissed skylines. In Brasilia they say that their sky is the sea!
National Congress.
National Museum of the Republic.
Footprints of Brasilia (self-guided walking tour, created for the World Cup)
Metropolitan Cathedral (from the outside).
Cathedral from the inside.
Television Tower, highest point in Brasilia.