A lot of people have been asking how I ended up in Brazil since the trip fell into place so fast. If you're interested, I wrote up the story.
It all started one late, sunny, Thursday afternoon in mid-June as I had a happy hour glass of wine and an arugula salad while working on the patio of The Empire in Louisville. Just inside sat a woman, also on her own, close enough for me to touch since there was no window. I ordered a second glass of wine and beignets, and if you've had the beignets at The Empire, you know you're feeling guilty about eating them as soon as your eyes glance at the word on the menu. I offered one to the woman, Tiina, who was finishing up a week-long aerial yoga workshop in Louisville. Tiina is Finnish and lives in Louisiana. We began to talk and chatted for well over an hour. She was on-foot and toward the end of her stay, and she hadn't been able to get to the mountains or into Boulder as she'd hoped. So we made plans to head out for a hike on Sunday.
When I picked Tiina up, she asked if she could bring a woman she'd met at the workshop. We picked up Mariana, who lives in São Paulo, took a hike up to the Flatirons at Chautauqua, and spent an hour on Pearl Street. Tiina was trying on a shirt in Athleta, and Mariana suggested I visit Brazil and offered me a place to stay. I looked her in the eye, realized she was serious, and said, "How about next month?" She said that would be swell. :)
Aside from being invited, more reasons why I booked a ticket to Brazil:
1. I had really wanted to travel this summer, but didn't feel like doing a trip completely on my own.
2. I happened to have 6 years left on a visa to Brazil that I'd only used for two days.
3. I believe that when serendipity offers itself up, you take a quick look both ways and then jump right in.
Mariana not only offered me a bed, but she arranged my transportation to and from the airport, set me up with a friend to stay with in Rio, and set me up with a bed at her father-in-law's in Salvador, where I am now. Her friends on Facebook helped me find a good place to visit on the Amazon. And she and her family took me hiking for two days in stunning, waterfall-filled forests in an area a couple of hours from São Paulo, outside a sweet town called San Francisco Xavier. As we hiked we realized how really lucky it was that we crossed paths, because Tiina, while very fun, was an unlikely match for either me or Mariana.
Mariana is now a dear friend, and I'm now in (and in love with) Brazil.
Some photos...
You should see the yoga poses this woman can do! Worthy of a magazine cover.
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