Celebration

Looking back on this last year makes me feel like one of the luckiest people on earth. This time last year I was surrounded by my best friends who came from near and far to send me off as I embarked on a journey that would change my life forever. Today I am on a plane, (upgraded to first class) on my way to Mendoza for a week of culinary indulgences with a wonderful friend and a long-awaited reunion with my favorite travel companion. Life is good.

I have been thinking a lot about a passage I read in a book titled "Voces del Desierto" (Desert Voices) about one of the aboriginal tribes in the Australian Outback and their thoughts on birthdays.

"For us, a celebration means something special. But there is nothing special in getting old. There exists no force. It simply happens. We celebrate that we become better. We celebrate this year if we are better and more knowledgeable persons than the year before. Only oneself can know this, so you are the one who should let the others know when the moment has arrived to celebrate. "

So, my friends, it is time to celebrate! Today I will celebrate not the fact that I am a year older but that I am wiser, stronger and happier than last year. I celebrate the many lessons I have learned on the journey, the people I have met, the places that I will forever carry in my heart. Today I celebrate myself for being brave enough to take this trip and to do it on my own. I am proud of the person I have become and I am thankful for the circumstances, encounters, events and mistakes that have brought me to this point. I wouldn't trade my life for anything and I wouldn't take any of it back. I am not perfect, nor do I want to be, but I am a good person, with a good heart and I am humble enough to recognize my flaws and to know that there will always be room for improvement. I will never stop growing, learning, evolving- I walk on an endless path of self-knowledge and discovery- and on this path, through knowing myself I come to know others around me. 

These people are reflections of myself, they possess the characteristics that I want to better in myself. We are magnets, pulled together by the law of attraction. These are my life companions, my soul-mates, mi familia de corazon. They define who I am just as much as any physical characteristic, personality trait or life event. I am so much a product of these people as I am of my environment. These are the people who make life worth living. So today I also celebrate the many individuals who have helped me  to learn and grow along the way. Thank you beautiful people, with your beautiful souls, kind hearts and contagious smiles, for accompanying me on this journey- for walking beside me in the rain, for encouraging me to keep climbing the mountain, for reminding me that the view from the top is always worth it, for strolling slowly down the beach, for riding with me on horse and camel-back. Thank for for the unforgettable powder days, for making me get back on the surf board after getting crushed by a wave, for swimming with me in the oceans, lakes, rivers and waterfalls- for always dancing-for getting your feet dirty- for sharing your sandwich- for inviting me into your home- for watching the sun rise, moon rise, stars fall- for the hugs and kisses and caresses. Thank you for the tears, for the laughs, for the silence. Thank you for being who you are and for helping me become who I am. Today I celebrate both your life and mine. I celebrate the people we used to be and the people we will become. I celebrate our love, our memories, and our future together. This life is about what you make it and the people you make it with. I couldn't feel more blessed to share these moments with you. On this first day of my 27th year I feel happy, fulfilled and immensely grateful. It is a beautiful life my friends, let us celebrate with wine and sweet words! 

All my love forever,

jjv

Jungle Book

Mochila is packed, too heavy, but I've done this before, somehow my body always manages to come through. There are moments when I am sure my calf muscles are going to explode from the skin. Steady breathing, sweat dripping down my red face, I reach another viewpoint looking down over the oceans and coves carved into mountains tumbling delicately along the coast. Green contrasts with blue. Heat is lessened by a cool breeze. There is always a little waterfall waiting somewhere, just in the nick of time. Four days of hiking through the Mata Atlântica...

Mata Atlântica

The Mata Atlântica is a region of tropical and subtropical forest that stretches along the Atlantic coast of Brazil and down into the north-east region of Missiones in Argentina and parts of eastern Paraguay. The original surface area covered 15% of Brazil's total landmass, totaling 1,290,692 km² (498,339 sq mi). Today, only 7% of the forest remains, devastated by human expansion, urban sprawl, logging, and construction to only 4,000 km² (1,500 sq mi), much of which is concentrated in the region of Rio de Janeiro, and is the very jungle that blankets the mountains surrounding Paraty and Trindade. This remaining 7% of jungle is home to some of the most lush biodiversity and endemic species on earth, many facing a serious threat of extinction.  

"Approximately 40 percent of its vascular plants and up 60 percent of its vertebrates are endemic species, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world. The official threatened species list of Brazil contains over 140 terrestrial mammal species found in Atlantic Forest. In Paraguay there are 35 species listed as threatened, and 22 species are listed as threatened in the interior portion of the Atlantic Forest of Argentina. Nearly 250 species of amphibians, birds, and mammals have become extinct due to the result of human activity in the past 400 years. Over 11,000 species of plants and animals are considered threatened today in the Atlantic Forest. Over 52% of the tree species and 92% of the amphibians are endemic to this area. The forest harbors around 20,000 species of plants, with almost 450 tree species being found in just one hectare in some occasions. New species are continually being found in the Atlantic Forest. In fact, between 1990 and 2006 over a thousand new flowering plants were discovered."

Efforts are being made by Brazil's national park service to prevent further destruction of the forest but the most crucial forces are made by the inhabitants themselves. These people know what it means to live in harmony with nature, and if simply allowed to do so, they know that the jungle will restore itself. Mother Nature knows how to take care of herself, but she must be given the time and opportunity to do so...

Caiçara Spirit

I woke with the first soft rays of light to a watercolor sky of oranges, pinks and yellows. My sleepy eyes smiled and I slipped out of my tent, bare feet in the cool sand, still wet from the night's rain. There are few gifts in life that are more rewarding that waking to see the sunrise. This was to be the first of many gifts, many mornings and many sunrises in Trindade. As the colors saturated the horizon I gave a silent namaste to the universe. My day was complete before the rest of the world was awake.

Paraty

Photogenic Paraty calls to memory the vibrant colors of Cartagena and the cobblestone charm of Charleston, topped off with a heavy does of Cachaça and a squirt of lime. Colonized in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, Paraty became a central shipping hub for gold exported from the region of Minas Gerais and a busy port for slaves coming in to work in the mines and sugar cane fields. When the gold began to run out in the late 18th century, Pararty's economy declined, to be revived a century later by the coffee trade and the production of Brazil's most prized spirit, Cachaça. Today the city lives off tourism, cozy bed & breakfasts, sail boat tours to the many islands and coves, horse-drawn carriage rides through the impeccably decaying historic center and the sale of lots and lots of Capirinhas. 

Frente do Mar

It took me several days to recover from Carnival. The suffocating humidity and inescapable heat helped to expedite the toxin elimination process. I have never sweat so much in my life, I felt like I was melting. With a permanent sweat mustache, the only activity I was capable of was a very slow walk to the beach, zigzagging through every shadow I could find. But there waiting in all it's gloriously wet, turquoise splendor is an endless ocean of cool, refreshing saltiness dotted with little islands of floating mountains on the horizon. An uncontrollable sigh of relief escapes every time I plunge my toasted body into that first crystalline wave of the day. The waves rise like thick glass windows that shatter in a spray of cold droplets. 

Give Thanks

When a loved and well-known local fishermen from Marecias was diagnosed with cancer at 85, he announced to friends and family that not only would he beat cancer, but that he would live to be 100. Several days later he was hit and killed by a car. On the morning of his funeral his fellow fishermen went out to hold an open ocean memorial in his honor. They caught two tons of fish that day. The fish were distributed to every family in Maresias. This was the very first fish I had the pleasure eating in Brasil, cooked in a bonfire on the beach under a glowing moon.