day 1

Saturday June 4, 2011
Day one:
So I’ve never traveled this alone before… The traveling part is fine – I sleep easily on planes and I love people watching during layovers, and boy does my i-pod keep me sane. But to be by myself when I arrive at my destination is something different. In Israel I’ve done that, but I speak the language and am familiar with where I would want to go.

This isn’t the type of alone like how it was to be an RA and have my own room, bathroom, free time etc. This is the type of alone where I’m currently staying on a farm-like piece of land right next to a vast jungle and the only other person I’m with is an older woman whom I just met this morning – granted there are some monkeys, a bunch of birds, and some wild night time creatures… I think I will really grow into myself during the next two weeks.

I don’t mean to sound so sad! The place where I am staying is absolutely gorgeous. Pat has a large property with a nice home and a huge garden in which she grows vegetables and has fruit trees. I can’t get over the fact that she has monkey’s in her backyard! Wow. I LOVE monkeys if you didn’t know :) Pat does not live on the Ecovillage, but she lives just outside and we will venture there tomorrow.

Driving from the airport to Pat’s house reminded me so much of India. The dirt is that orangey brown clay, and there are plots of land along busy streets that are undeveloped. The darker skinned Brazilians work away in the hot sun and their clothes are stained the color of the clay. There is dirt in the air and graffiti on the walls and India rushes back into my body and soul. The two biggest differences are that here, it’s hot, but not too hot (plus I can wear shorts), and tropical green plants overpopulate the sides of the streets (in India the city I lived in had sparse trees and hardly any grass). It’s crazy how different Teresopolis/Goiania are from Rio, where I was last year. This type of living is so serene and most surrounding people are poor. Rio felt a little like a tropical European city, with nice restaurants and cobblestone sidewalks.

I’ve already learned so much from Pat about environmental living and the hardships that ecovillages face. For example, a bank will not give a loan to an alternative building project, so it’s very hard for their ecovillage to fund their new buildings/residencies. I also learned that in this particular state, it’s mandatory to teach environmental education to children! That is wayyy awesome and something that I’ve advocated for in a few papers I’ve written at USC.

Ok it’s 9:45pm and I’m going to get ready for bed!
Much love,
Ninita

on sunday we are going to the santa branca ecovillage! yay! i can't wait!