So, here I am again. And to get straight to the point: I am back in the Netherlands! Not that it’s a big surprise to you, you probably must have picked up on it somewhere in the meantime. Not that I think I’m that popular, but if you take the trouble to read my travel updates, it makes sense that you know this. And besides, I am super popular. No, kidding ofcourse: I’m going to write another time about what it’s like to be back home. For now, something else is on the agenda. In the previous update, I flew from Bolivia to Brazil, and more on that now, here it comes!
Because Brazil, wasn’t there already a travel update written about that? That is correct. Together with my good friend Patrick, I traveled through Brazil for a month in October. So why go back? Well, first of all: I think you could be in Brazil for a year and still discover new places, because the country is really big, but that wasn’t the case. I went to celebrate Christmas in Brazil! So why in Brazil? I made a good friend on my first solo trip, named Caio, and he is from Brazil! In fact, in the summer of 2020, I traveled through Italy by train all by myself. There were two reasons for this: I wanted to see more of my second country and I wanted to find out if I would enjoy solo travel. Killing two birds with one stone: a short solo trip through Italy! I think you can probably guess the answer whether I liked the solo travel 😉 And that is partly thanks to Caio. When you try something new, your first experience is incredibly important, and Caio has become my very first travel friend 😊
I met Caio in Rome. I slept in a hostel for the first time that trip, and we slept in the same room. Caio was traveling with two other friends, and in the room of four, I was the other person. One morning, Caio recognized that I was traveling alone and asked if I wanted to join them. I went along, we had a really fun day, and Caio was going to travel on to Naples alone afterwards. And who would go to Naples without a plan? Me, indeed. So we decided to travel together! Together we ate many, many, many pizzas & gelatos in Naples, visited Salento and the Amalfi Coast, and even visited one of the most beautiful islands in Italy: Capri. But we weren’t just traveling together because we’re going to the same place; it was a lot of fun traveling together. I recall us having super interesting conversations and regularly cracking up. I got to know Caio as a very chill, easy going guy who was open to anything. Always positive and very interested in everything. It was also really fun for me to have conversations about Brazil, for example, a country that was so far away for me at the time. How funny is it then to meet up there together now? Life can move fast!
Okay, getting to know each other in 2020 and now celebrating Christmas together? No, we have seen each other a few more times in the past few years. That is because Caio currently lives in Paris, which is fortunately a lot closer than Brazil. So I also went to his birthday once and met all his friends there. And during our trip through Italy, Caio said several times: you really have to come to Brazil, then we will travel together and I will show you more of my country! And of course, I hadn’t forgotten that statement when I made plans to travel through Latin America. So I had already let Caio know that I was going on a long trip, and he soon said that he would most likely be in Brazil with his family for Christmas. If it worked out for me, I was more than welcome to come celebrate Christmas with him. It was clear to me: if I were still traveling, I would make sure I was in Brazil. I couldn’t let such a unique experience pass me by, and so it happened 😊
Back to current events. So, two weeks before Christmas, I flew from Bolivia to Brazil, but not directly to Caio’s family. I went back to Florianópolis, where I had already been with Patrick. Why? Well, I really wanted to work on my Portuguese, the main language in Brazil. After all, I would prefer nothing more than for everyone to simply be able to speak Portuguese, and not have to switch to English for me. So, hop, time for yet another language school, number 3 of the trip! Back to the books and back to feeling insecure in a foreign language again. But ultimately, I really enjoy languages, and besides, I had a good reason to learn them. I was living a very pleasant life on Floripa, as the locals call it. Most of my days consisted of going to the gym, having a nice lunch, doing homework, and a 3-hour one-on-one lesson. Actually, I wasn’t traveling anymore, but living a normal existence, which was quite nice for a change, considering I had already been on the road for 10 months by then. In addition, Tadea, a Chilean friend who was doing volunteer work on the island and whom I had met last time, was still on Floripa. So, in my free time, I also had someone to do something fun with! For instance, we went to the beach over the weekend, something Floripa is known for. Caio’s sister also happened to be on Floripa with her boyfriend, a perfect opportunity to get to know them in advance! I met up with Bianca & Iago, and that way I could secretly get some more information (in English) about how Christmas is celebrated in Brazil. Naturally, I thought it was really cool that I got to celebrate Christmas with Caio’s family, so I wanted to show my gratitude. I decided to bring some presents and fortunately had help from Tadea, who spoke fluent Portuguese and was therefore able to communicate with the vendors: muito obrigado! 😉
Then it was time to fly to Campinas, where Caio’s family comes from! I was picked up from the airport by Caio & Bruna, Caio’s oldest sister. Upon arrival at the condominium, we immediately went to eat with the whole family, and that is how I met Caio’s parents, who are super sweet people. It might be good to explain what a condominium is, as there are quite a lot of them in Brazil. It is essentially a secluded village or residential area that you can’t just walk into, as it is secured. In the condominium, there are all kinds of shared facilities, such as the restaurant where we were eating! We drove back home, and there I met the last family member: Nala, the family dog!
The next day, the time had finally come: Christmas! You would naturally think, “Oh, it must have been the 25th.” Wrong! Christmas is celebrated in Brazil on Christmas Eve, so the 24th. During the day, we started with the preparations, because Caio’s family was coming over! Once we arrived, we all went to lie by the pool first, a very surreal experience for Christmas. Tullio, Caio’s father, had fired up the grill and provided us with delicious snacks. Like a picanha, finger-licking good. And naturally, the gringo had to try the local alcoholic beverages too! It’s hard to describe, but the atmosphere was really fun and relaxed; you could see that everyone felt genuinely at home, and that applied to me as well. Of course, my Portuguese wasn’t perfect, far from it, but everyone tried their best to include me in everything. It was real Brazilian conviviality.
After the pool activities, everyone took a shower and prepared for the evening program. That consisted of giving gifts, taking photos, and dinner at exactly midnight. I even got the typical Brazilian Havaianas! Now I was truly a local with my blonde hair included, muito legal 😉
For the rest of the week, we lived a very chill life, as is fitting during the days between Christmas and New Year’s. Caio and I regularly met up with one of Caio’s many friends for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, for example. Apart from that, we also did many fun things with the family; for instance, we all went to São Paulo for a day, and we also visited Holambra. What is that? Well, pretty crazy. But just a 30-minute drive from Campinas, there is a replica Dutch village! Haha, what are the odds of finding that? It is truly complete with tulips, windmills, and wooden clogs! But not only that, you can also find stroopwafels, vlaaien, and krakelingen (sweet stuff) there! Isn’t that actually unbelievable? But I thought it was amazing, because now I could share a piece of my home with Caio’s family too.
Then New Year’s was almost upon us again. But not before we used one of our days off to go whitewater rafting! We drove with Caio’s parents to one of the most famous places in Brazil to do this & genuinely had so much fun! We even got to go ziplining, and of course, we didn’t pass that up. I think I was the only gringo in the large group of people! And then it was already New Year’s Eve. In Brazil, there are a number of traditions: you dress in white, you wear new underwear (each color represents a specific wish for the new year), & when you are by the sea, you jump over exactly 7 waves. We ate dinner with Caio’s parents that evening and celebrated the midnight moment there while toasting and watching the fireworks in the sky and on the TV, which showed the famous images of Rio de Janeiro. Then we went on to visit friends of Caio, where we stayed until the late hours; in short: a perfect ending to a special week.
In this blog, I naturally write about the “special” things we did, such as the days out. But for me, the everyday things were the real special things. Waking up and having breakfast at the breakfast table, grocery shopping at Oba’s, playing Mario Party in the evening with Caio’s sisters, walking with Nala—these were the “normal” things I craved so much and enjoyed immensely. And don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t take away from all the truly special experiences I had. It was so incredibly cool to celebrate Christmas with the family; I will never forget that. But at times it was just funny: Caio, as the best host ever, naturally wanted me to have a good time and tried to come up with fun things for us to do. And I always said: if you enjoy doing that, I’ll be happy to, but for me, we honestly can just chill and I’m having the best day.
And perhaps that was the best example to characterize my time with Caio’s family. I had already been traveling for over 10 months and it was the holidays; what more could you want than to feel at home somewhere, with a warm family? I really felt that need so much and am very grateful that I got to experience that with Caio’s family. It was so fun and wonderful to be part of a family dynamic, and it is certainly not a given that every family just takes a boy into their home who they don’t know, and even lets him celebrate the most important days of the year with them. That is why I am genuinely very grateful for it, something I will never forget in my life. I cannot emphasize enough how sweet everyone I met has been; I think Caio has a wonderful group of people around him, hats off to him 😊
I left from São Paulo for my next destination, so Caio & I wrapped things up with a day there. I thanked Caio and we said goodbye, but knowing that this would not be the last time I would see Caio on my trip. But, as you know by now, more on that another time! For now, a very big hug, and if I haven’t seen you in the Netherlands yet, hopefully see you (in person) soon!