Let the recap begin

Belated happy holidays to everyone! Today is the 12^th day of Christmas/Three Kings Days and officially the end of the holiday season, so technically I am not too far behind in wishing everyone fond season’s greetings. I hope that everyone enjoyed their holidays, however or wherever they were spent, in the company of good friends, family, or as I did, amidst stunning scenery and a lot of personal reflection.

I’m entering the homestretch in Brasil. T-minus 48 hours before heading back home to the US. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or rather, the snow and chilling winds of Manalapan, NJ and Waltham, MA this time of year. As earlier written, I got back into São Paulo last night (Monday January 5) after a 34 hour bus-ride from Salvador da Bahia in the northeast of the country. All the flights were either booked or too expensive and my only option to get back to São Paulo with reasonable time to close up shop and recharge my batteries before heading home was a bus ride that door-to-door was longer than any trip I have taken halfway around the world to the Philippines! Last year I embarked on a 31 hour adventure through the center-west of Brasil, but that was through default. The bus broke down four times and 17 hours quickly transformed into 31. This trip, without any mishaps, was scheduled for 32+ hours. Endless props again to the Brazilian bus system. Comfortable seats, frequent stops every 4 hours on average, respectable and responsible drivers, and quick attentive staff at each rest stop to fix the occasional flat tire resulted in a relatively painless trip that was spot-on almost to the minute if you factor in a 2-3 hour “mishap” window. And besides, after trekking it through the northeast by bus the entire way, it would almost be cheating to finish the last leg by plane.

You do a lot of thinking when you’re on a bus for 34 hours. Your mind races around about everything and nothing at the same time. You think about what in your right mind brought you to be on a 34 hour bus ride. You worry about where and when your next potty break will because you don’t want to be “that guy” who opens the bus bathroom door and unleashes hell for the rest of the bus. You think about your friends and family; your life; where it’s taken you and where you are going from here. I thought a lot about how much I like blogging and how I appreciate all the people who take the time to read up on my travels and post a shout-out on the comment wall. And I tried to brainstorm ways to keep the blog going when I get back to the US despite my life being painfully more boring upon return. Yeah, all that emotional stuff, but it’s the truth. And there’s a lot more of it to come in the last few days here as I close-up shop and prepare to leave. I have blog posts and personal journal entries to get up to speed on. So in the spirit of writing and reflection I’ve totally sold my soul to trendy yuppie multinational globalization by settling into Starbucks São Paulo, busting out my laptop, and attempting to talk to this smoking hot blond sitting across from me only to get blown up by the boyfriend bomb who just walked over with two cups of coffee. C’est la vie. Or in Portuguese, a vida é assim.

So in our last exciting episode I left you on the beaches of Jericoacoara atop the sand dunes with that unforgettable sunset. The entries to follow pick up where I left off.