I was so happy during the two weeks that I stayed in an apartment in the neighborhood of Meireles in Fortaleza, in the state of Ceara Brazil. I was a block from the beach and half a block from a beautiful, boutique gym. This is the type of gym that has personal trainers scattered everywhere waiting to intercept your last reps on the bench press (even when you’d prefer they don’t), eager to offer advice (when none is solicited), and generally hoping to be needed. That was all part of the premium price I paid for a gym so conveniently located near where I was staying (and no other options existed). I made friends with Giordano, one of these trainers, and though he doesn’t speak English we managed to communicate through grunts and gestures and smiles and laughs. I like to think that Giordano saw real potential in me compared to his other gym clients who seemed to phone it in a couple of times a week. I may have been a welcome distraction for the two weeks I was in attendance – diligently appearing each day to get the cost-per-visit I paid as low as possible. So Giordiano took […]
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I’ve barely scratched the surface of Brazil – having only visited Rio de Janeiro on a couple of occasions and Sao Paulo for six weeks earlier this year. This time around I wanted to explore Ceará, one of Brazil’s 26 states and is situated in the northeast corner of the country with beautiful beaches and a lot of wind that makes for great kitesurfing and windsurfing. Twenty years ago, Jericoacoara was an off-the-map place for beach bums and kite surfers to visit, 4 hour drive from Fortaleza, Brazil. These days it’s developing at a quick pace to match the tourist demand, but for me very much retains a rustic and simple charm. Jeri is more of an adventure destination than a beach destination — the surrounding wind-swept sand dunes abutting the ocean support the local tourist industry bringing money to the locals. Adventure outfitters and tour operators are everywhere – making the 4×4 wheel drive cars that are necessary to navigate in all directions more accessible to the rest of us. I spent two days riding one of these open-air 4×4 wheel dune buggy, sort of like a horse, standing on the back end of it gripping a handle behind […]
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I spent three months back in Bogotá for the first time since the winter of 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic. I chose Bogotá during the worst (weather) time of year — it usually rains and days pass without seeing the sun. Most people hate this weather, but I feel cozy and focused here. I spent each day working from within a WeWork co-working space, spreading time between my job, classes (Spanish and business school), etc. Having spent time here over the past six years, Bogotá feels less like a foreign destination and more like a routine resting place. I kept it fresh by hiking a 5,000-meter volcano, and that helped to focus my morning training regimen each day. Alongside weekend hikes to Monserrate the cardio grind wasn’t so miserable as it would have been chained to the treadmill. My Spanish continues to steadily improve, however spreading my focus among so many goals over the past years has slowed my progress (in all of them). I’m fine with that; I prefer steady, incremental improvements compared to alternatives. Sleepy, rainy Bogotá is the perfect place to grow.
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The fastest month I’ve spent was in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It’s been a long time since a daily routine of a morning gym session a day spent working felt so fulfilling. My first time here, I was surprised to find a city covered in trees, beautiful plants, and people. Brazilians from Sao Paulo may be the most friendly people on earth. While my attention was mostly focused on a new job I started, the rest was spent enjoying the posh neighborhood and people of Vila Olimpia, the posh neighborhood that became a real home.
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riends. What a great excuse to visit Brazil. The last time I was in Rio was 2016, I had flown from Japan to catch a little bit of Carnaval en route to Argentina. That worked out pretty well considering I was there on my own so I was excited to return for a different occasion and a large group of friends.
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I began 2019 with the goal to vastly improve my Spanish and what better place to improve it than Bogotá, the Colombian capital generally regarded as harboring the most-neutral accent. I already intended just how to do it too — three years ago when I first visited Bogotá a woman named Nataly approached me while I was working from a Starbucks cafe in Zona G to solicit Spanish classes. We exchanged contact information, she emailed me and, well, I was busy with other things and never responded. Actually, I did respond, it just took me three years. But when I did respond I knew it was her who I wanted to learn Spanish from — in the city that I grew to love so much in the interim spacing my reply. The universe had delivered me a teacher (this is how I like to make decisions — by following the path serendipity lays before me) and of course I felt compelled to oblige. I purchased 80 hours of Spanish classes and facilitated class three days a week over the lunch hour and set to work on the challenging task of learning a first, second-spoken language. As someone who studied Latin […]
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The tiny Colombian island of San Andrés lies within the Caribbean sea off of the coast of Honduras, northwest of the Colombian mainland. San Andrés is a popular vacation destination for Colombian mainlanders to escape to during holidays and weekends as the airfare is cheap, less than $100 each direction from the capital city, Bogotá. I visited mid-week for three nights for a good deal on accommodation; it ended up being a smart decision as the island was mostly empty of tourists. The AirBnb that I was at was about 100 meters from the shoreline and offered a scooter rental that was ideal for exploring the island. It only takes about an hour to circumnavigate the circumference of San Andrés and really, you don’t want or need a car for that. A popular alternative is to rent buggys – sort of two-row, suped-up, open-air golf carts and we saw many vacationers travelling around as two pairs of couples in this fashion. I was working while there and the internet was certifiably terrible, some of the worst and least-reliable of anywhere I have travelled. Restaurants and cafes don’t have accessible wifi for their patrons and even that which was provided in our accommodation was […]
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Three years ago I visited Shaman Winston in the Peruvian Amazon for an eye-opening ayahuasca experience; at that time, many happy discoveries within myself had me anticipating an inevitable, future return. This time around there were fewer surprises and a little more adversity, yet again I feel better afterwards for having done it. The trip entailed two nights in the jungle removed from electricity, wifi yet accommodating in ample supply of mud and biting flies. It took a plane from Lima, a car, a boat and a short hike crossing a river twice to reach the Shaman’s compound. I was barefoot and shirtless the entire time (the native flies were well fed) — the two weeks subsequent itching a fond reminder of my time spend mostly naked and unafraid. The low point of the weekend adventure was the afternoon of arrival — enduring a preliminary “cleansing ceremony” which wasn’t a part of my initial experience two years prior. The intent of the ceremony was to remove toxins and emotional restraints that would otherwise prohibit ayahuasca’s intended lessons. People who eat unhealthy diets, drink excessively need to be purged beforehand so that the plant can work its magic, so it was […]
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I returned to my favorite city in the world for two months of living my daily routine in the grungy, bustling neighborhood of Chapinero. When I wasn’t working from cafes in the area I was exploring neighboring towns in Cundinamarca like Sopó and La Fuente. With every returning visit Bogotá feels less like a destination necessitating exploration and more like a comfortable home to live a life. As for learning Spanish – I continue to improve slowly though focus is spread among other endeavors contemporaneously which serves to limit dedicated efforts. As a historically all-or-nothing person it is an exercise in little-by-little. I was honored to host my sister and a niece and a nephew in Bogotá for a week as they celebrated their spring break with me. After hearing how much I love Colombia they were brave enough to visit; but since Bogotá is not an easy destination it required effort to show and help advocate for all the great stuff sitting beneath the trafficy, somewhat-dirty exterior. The first day of their adventure featured a stroll around grimey Chapinero, a visit to Monserrate, the historic, graffitied neighborhood of Candelaria, the Gold Museum featuring lots of artifacts from the indigenous […]
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