June 15th 2016 – Sao Paulo
Arrived sound and safe early in the morning. There is a 3rd terminal now at the airport of Guarulhos and so I had to take a bus to switch terminals. Afterwards, I took the bus to Praca de Republica. There I took the metro to Butanta and then another Bus to go to my friends house. In total it took me almost 3 hours. That is Sao Paulo. One of the mega cities in our today´s world.
One thing I noticed right away again is that people here are poorer in the vast majority and have to do very crappy jobs in order to survive. For example some people just sit around all day and hold up commercial signs. They probably get paid in one day what we make with a decent students job in 1 or 2 hours in Europe.
The metro and bus prices have gone up since I have been here the last time. The bus drivers still drive like crazy monkeys and the roads are still bumpy, which makes every bus ride a small adventure. 🙂
They managed to finish one metro station (Fradique Coutinho). Apparently it has not been that cold here in a while. A lady at a newspaper store said that they had icy roads this Monday and that is very rare in Sao Paulo.
It feels good to be back in the country that I have learned to love over the past years. Updates will be posted.
For now: Amor e paz!
July 10th 2016 – Rio de Janeiro
Since Wednesday I am in the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro. I chose a hostel at Copacabana so I am a five minute walk away from the beach, which is perfect. As always I meet amazing people on my journey. Friday I spent the night with a group of Brazilians, who were visiting from SP. It is nice to hang out with locals at times. I had a very interesting talk with one of the Brazilians about why things barely change in Brazil – such as better healthcare, education etc. He said it is mainly a fault due to the culture. People that are poor are too busy making a living and the rich enjoy their lifestyle. It is pretty sad because in my opinion Brazil has very good prerequisites to become a progressive nation. The population is generally young, no major nature catastrophes, no civil war, a lot of natural sustainable resources like water and sun. I hope that Brazilians will realize their potential because they can make a huge impact on the world.
Yesterday I had a very cool day with amazing talks with a couple fellow travelers, who studied at prestigious universities in the UK. I found it very interesting how they viewed things already in their mid twenties.
For me one of the best parts is meeting people on the travel because it gives me a lot of input for my thinking and writing as well.
I believe every journey you take -especially alone- is a study of life. You find out so much about yourself and also get a very good feeling how other people think and feel. But I also know that it is a special group of people, who have the privilege to travel. Unfortunately not everyone can afford it.
On the other hand it is also a choice of priorities and that is up to you what is more important. I am glad I chose to travel at a young age. A big shout out to my grandma, who took me to a different European city every year ever since I was 10 years old. I love you grandma 🙂
Amor e paz from Rio guys!
August 9th 2017 – Manaus
I arrived with two Brazilian friends in Manaus 2 days ago. I have always wanted to go to the Amazon River since I first visited Brazil.
It is so much more amazing than I would have ever imagined. The River seems like an Ocean at times.
Manaus is a big city but you can see and fell the indigenous influence right away. The city is very different from Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro for example. The weather is great. There is food I have never tasted before. It feels good to be traveling again and so far it has been amazing.
Tomorrow we will start a tour to the greater Amazon area and we will go deep into the jungle. Being offline for some days and enjoying nature is something I am really looking forward to.
So far from the Amazon.
Sending Amor e paz from Manawesome 🙂