Category — Thoughts

Alto Paraíso, Brasil, 07.2005.

Today is the last day of my “twenties” and yesterday I watched a movie called “7 things to do before I’m 30″. The character made a list of these 7 things while she was still a teenager and 1 month before her 30th birthday she finds the list and realizes she hasn’t done anything of that, so she starts running after those things.

It’s a crap movie, don’t waste your time watching it, but it was inevitable for me to wonder what I’d have put on my own list, if I had done one, and if I’d have been able to do everything I wanted to do until.. uhm.. today.

I tried but could not remember of anything that I would have done but I did not. Instead, when I think how my twenties were, I see a decade much richer in events than I would imagine back then.
It was a decade full of experiments, I would say. Experiments of all sorts, with the body, with the mind, with the heart, with life.

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When we left Bali we were happy, lighter and more tan than when we arrived, with the peace of the certainty that we are coming back to this magical place someday.

Felipe with his collection of injuries: the bike accident that yielded an infection, the board that cut his head and a “Bali kiss” – common burning on the bike’s exhaust pipe. People say he probably had a “karma” with the island, I think that after all the debt must be paid! Another theory is that he’s already used his whole “quota of bad luck” of the trip during this single month, so from now on it will be all about joy! I like this second one… and I hope that my “quota of bad luck” doesn’t exist. hehe

I leave with my new passion, which later, in Brazil, my friend Carlos explained that there is nothing new about it, this love story is old, and that makes me even more delighted.

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Yes, we are already in Chile, and we have only four more days to finish our journey. In the past 5 months we passed by Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, England, France, Spain, Morocco, Brazil and Peru.. Meanwhile, NPLH is standing in Lombok. But why did we stop writing? Here are some reasons:

• We were writing with one month delay when we stoped
• We have too many photos (actually tons of it), and selecting the best photos to our posts is not an easy task
• We usually take on average 4 hours to write, translate, correct, diagram and select images for each post and ,believe me, stopping for 4 hours was not on our agenda, which was always full at each location
• We went through many faraway places as South of Lombok, the Rajasthan Desert, the Himalayan Mountains, the Sahara Desert, etc.. and in those places where there was internet (which was very rare!), it was expensive, slow and hard to access
• Writing in a rush we end up producing something that does not fully satisfy us
• There is no much sense to be traveling in the desert of India and writing on the paradise beaches of Thailand

After much thought we decided that it would be better to forget the internet, take our journey, taking many pictures and recording important data on our notebook. After the trip when we’ve finished we could review all the information, and devote more time to write something at the same time relevant and useful for us to read it

So yes, we are super outdated.. but we are alive and very happy.. and we’ll tell our stories in detail. From the infernal heat of Singapore, the trains in Malaysia and Thailand, entitled to fried grasshoppers and armed soldiers on the streets.. through the beaches of Ko Phagnan and the madness of Bangkok, the 3 days in Hong Kong and the best month of all in India, it would not be the same without the company of Duda (Cris’ brother) and Drica who are living there and led us to the most incredible country that seems to be another planet.. the visits to friends living in Europe, the two intense weeks in Morocco, without knowing either French or Arabic languages. The arrival in Brazil after 2 years away.. Rio de Janeiro, which is more beautiful than ever… the two months at home, Curitiba and Parana’s coast, with our families and friends.. Christmas, New Year, our wedding.. And finally the spectacular mountains of the Andes in Peru, where we’ve just left.. we are in Chile and weeks to come back to Wellington, our home in New Zealand, where we finally will organize all the photos and information.. there is nothing more favorable than New Zealand winter to sit in front of the computer and tell stories!

I’ve got some friends who came to Sydney and have fallen in love with the city. They weren’t one or two, but a number of them who lived in Sydney or just spent holidays there and came back telling that the city is amazing. I can not say that I think differently than any of them. Sydney is really wonderful.

The four days that we spent in Sydney were a change of views and thoughts all the time, it was funny to see how since the first minute we were trying to form our concepts about the city, but in the following minutes that concept used to be replaced by another and it was like this until the end of the fourth day. Perhaps because Sydney is not only one city, but several cities in one.

At the first moment we thought it was quite similar to New Zealand, the streets, the shops, lifestyle and culture of the people and didn’t understand the amazement of our friends. After the first “day-tripper” day we realized that yes, the Australians are really New Zealander’s brothers, but Sydney is the oldest sister, successful, dizzyingly beautiful, the kind of sister that the smaller sisters want to be when they grow up.

If Sydney can be a four times amplified Auckland, as I said in the previous post, it is if only when it is seen from above. Looking from the inside the two cities are very different. Sydney is immense. There are points of the city centre that reminded us of Sao Paulo. But it is clean, organized and secure.
It’s got the sea all around, as Auckland does, but it’s got water inside it too, it’s got water everywhere, what makes it even more beautiful and that also allows each suburb to seem like a small town with its markets, its beaches and its inhabitants. And I think it is precisely these people who distinguish Sydney from Auckland, although much larger in size and importance, people are on the streets of Sydney, in boats, buses, trains… Both the centre and the suburbs we saw  many people walking on the streets, going to work, to school, or exercising, the streets are always full of people. The city is not made for cars. I was very impressed with the public transport system, you can go from anywhere to anywhere by using the ferries, trains and buses of the city, it’s impossible to get lost there, and walking around is a delight.

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Today was our last day of work. More mine than Felipe’s, since he’s got a “bonus”: had to change a little the plans and will be working on Monday again.

We left home earlier than we normally do, took the 8:00 bus and not the 8:45 one as we usually do. I couldn’t recognize anyone in the bus, odd. I didn’t take my breakfast to work to have it later, because I was late, however, we had breakfast at a nice cafè, calmly and I got to work before 9:00.

At 2:30 PM my boss said “Have you finished everything? You can go anytime you want”. The feeling of leaving early on my last day was weird, saying goodbye to everyone and simply leaving in the middle of the afternoon, something I’ve never done before… No… I preferred to stay until the end of the day, give the last tips to Amii, the girl that will be replacing me, send the last emails that someone may need, delete my personal files and passwords from my computer, let everybody go, one by one, passing by my desk and giving me a hug – enjoy your trip / see you again in 6 months.
I was the last one to leave, already without my keys, as I didn’t look back I had the feeling that today is another Friday just like any other, it was 5:30 in the afternoon and the shops were still open, the streets and bars full of people… Because tomorrow is Saturday.

But from now on everyday will be Saturday. Perhaps with some Sundays in between, when the shops do not open and people are not running. Week days will no longer exist until March next year.

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