My Brazilian Adventure

Have you ever felt the urge to go on an adventure on your own? I sometimes feel the need to break away from everything and everyone and go explore a new place by myself, or rather explore myself in a new place. 😉 My experience in Brazil was just that – a response to this calling.

While I went there without any friends and knowing anyone, I was never really alone. I met so many incredible people and made great friends, while learning so much about who I am and about the world.

But let me tell you how I ended up in Brazil in the first place. Between 2013 and 2016, I was volunteering for an NGO that facilitates cross-cultural exchanges for young people in order to develop their leadership skills. You might have heard of it before. It’s called AIESEC and it operates in over 100 countries across the world.

Throughout my years as a volunteer, I have come in contact with many people from all over the world, who were doing their exchange internships in Cluj-Napoca. I have also met many Romanians who decided to go and spend weeks or months living, volunteering and working abroad.

These internships are powerful not just because they take you out of your comfort zone by placing you in a different environment. They also put together people from various cultures and have them work together for a common goal.

Naturally, I was excited to live my own exchange experience and in 2016, I decided it was my time. The program that I joined was Global Volunteer and I wanted to go somewhere in Latin America. After applying for a project in June, I got accepted and I was scheduled to travel to Brazil in November.

A great thing about this program is that generally, you will reach a place where there is a local AIESEC office. The volunteers there help you find a place to live (in some cases, they offer free accommodation), show you around and make it as easy as possible for you to adjust to the lifestyle.

So, when I say I was never really by myself, I mean that I had a support system I could count on to help me out with whatever I needed. For 6 weeks, I lived in Salvador, Bahia with a Brazilian family. They hosted me in their home, fed me from their food and showed me around the area. I felt like I was part of the family and I’m extremely grateful for their kindness and generosity.

Before I went, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. 😆 It was my time of going with the flow and trusting that I would figure it out. Having local people guide me was priceless. Out of all the places I had been to thus far, Brazil was probably the place where I felt mostly out of my comfort zone for a few reasons.

I didn’t speak the language

In my ignorance, I thought speaking English would help me get by anywhere. Brazilians understand most of it if you speak Spanish to them, but if you don’t understand the answer they give you in Portuguese, well, it gets complicated. Very few of them speak English and Spanish and Portuguese are not as similar as you’d think.

Thankfully, all of us volunteers were offered the opportunity to study Portuguese with a native teacher. Those lessons and beginning my Duolingo practice as soon as I realized I needed to learn at least the basics of the language really made my stay more comfortable.

I had to be careful

Another thing that got me out of my comfort zone was the safety issue. While living in Romania, particularly in Cluj-Napoca, I used to walk home alone even at 2 or 3 am. There were many people on the streets at night and I always felt safe. As soon as I got to Salvador, I received a lot of warnings from everyone.

Salvador is a big city. It was Brazil’s first capital and it preserves a beautiful mix of Native, African and European culture, which reflects in the music, food and architecture. Because of this, it is a popular destination for tourists.

_{Pelourinho, UNESCO Historical Heritage Site in Salvador}

Unfortunately, the poverty level in Salvador is pretty high and that leads to high crime rates. I hadn’t seen so many poor and homeless people in one place before.

Tourists and any foreigners (gringas) like me are easy targets, so I was told to make sure I don’t wear flashy jewelry. People told me to always hide my most precious belongings and even not carry them around at all. I was advised to blend in as much as possible.

One day, I went with my host brother to a neighborhood and he asked me not to speak English while we were walking on the street. When I asked why, he told me this was not a very safe area and we might get targeted and robbed.

I was warned to never ever walk alone at night and make sure I am home before it gets dark. In Salvador, the sun sets early, which means it is already dark around 6 pm. While I tried my best, I didn’t always get home by that time.

At first, it was hard for me to understand all of these constant warnings I would get. ‘It can’t be that bad’, I would think. I couldn’t imagine my daily reality being threatened by crime at all times. But I had heard so many stories from local and foreign people who have been cornered, threatened with guns and robbed in broad daylight that I started taking it more seriously.

Fortunately, I haven’t experienced anything like that during my stay. Yet, I was constantly watching my back and staying alert, which was definitely not comfortable. I truly admire Brazilians for how they handle this part of their reality. They are some of the most relaxed and fun people to be around. It was really difficult for me to relax after receiving so many warnings to be careful.

Despite the discomfort, or actually because of it, I’ve learned and grown a lot through this experience. Having constant support from pretty much everyone I met surely made everything easier for me.  And I absolutely made the best of my time there.

The Fun Part

In my first few days in Salvador, I met a group of people from different countries who were also volunteering through the same program. We became friends and organized a lot of hangouts and trips together. We took every opportunity we had to explore the area and enjoy ourselves.

From visiting a lot of beaches, drinking out of a coconut and eating traditional dishes like moqueca, acarajé, brigadeiro and açaí to watching baby sea turtles make their way into the ocean and hiking in beautiful, wild nature, I truly lived the full tropical experience.

_{Moqueca, Brazilian seafood stew}

In Salvador, I used to walk around with a swimsuit in my backpack, because there was always a chance I would get to the beach.

_{Beach in Salvador}

6 weeks seem like a long time, yet Brazil is so big, I have only managed to see little of it. If you ever want to visit this magical country, here are 3 locations that I absolutely loved:

1. Morro de São Paulo

A village on the Tinharé Island, which is 2 hours away from Salvador, by boat. Not necessarily a fun boat ride, but worth it. Morro de São Paulo is a car-free village with wonderful beaches, each with their own set of activities you can do. We stayed at an eco-hostel in the woods, 15 minutes away from the beach.

_{Sunset time in Morro de São Paulo}

The structure of the rooms was built almost entirely of bamboo and the experience was designed to be sustainable. They provide vegan breakfast every morning, they are very careful with reducing waste and recycling, while making sure everyone preserves the natural environment around the hostel.

The rooms have no windows. It’s basically just a net to provide protection from bugs and mosquitoes. Indeed an authentic tropical forest immersion.

Besides enjoying the beach life, we hiked to a waterfall up behind the hostel. Afterwards, we reached the top of the island to catch some nice views.

_{View from the top of the island}

2. Chapada Diamantina

Chapada Diamantina is a huge national park in the state of Bahia with lots of hiking trails that lead to gorgeous waterfalls, swimming ponds, breathtaking views and mysterious caves. Perfect for nature lovers like me.

_{Entrance to Caverna da Torrinha}

There are several small tows near the park where you can find accommodation. My friends and I picked Lençóis. To get there from Salvador, it takes around 6 and a half hours by bus.

Because the park is humongous and the trails are not marked, it is safer and wiser to hire a guide or take guided tours. For a group of 5, we hired a great private guide, who drove us around and took us to the main sites we wanted to see.

Here are some of the cool spots:

_{Morro do Pai Inácio}

_{Cachoeira do Mosquito}

_{Cachoeira e Poço do Diabo}

3. Rio de Janeiro

We’ve all heard about Rio, didn’t we? This ‘cidade maravilhosa’ is indeed the most magnificent city I’ve seen. It is enormous, it spreads around beaches and mountains and there are state and national parks in the city. It’s really wild. An absolute must-see if you go to Brazil.

I have only been able to spend a few days in Rio. Even so, I’ve seen most of the popular spots like Christ the Redeemer, Pão de Açucar and Escadaria Selarón, as well as some of the famous beaches.

There is so much more that I could share about this experience. Brazil is such a wonderful place to discover.

If you want to see more of my experiences, here is a video I put together 4 years ago when I was really into video editing: 😆

My Brazilian adventure taught me a lot of things I hadn’t realized before and really challenged me to get out of my comfort zone in ways nothing else did until then.

I’ll always be grateful for having this opportunity and I promised I would go back for Carnival someday. Up to this day, almost 5 years later, I continue my Portuguese practice on Duolingo. I hope to make good use of my skills on my next visit.

Tell me about your Brazilian adventures. If you haven’t been there yet, is Brazil on your bucket list?