I’ve always had a strange obsession with the country of Brazil, and a need to visit and investigate this foreign land of which so little was known.
In the country of Guyana, where I was born and raised, Brazil wasn’t the hottest topic. The United States, Canada and England were at the tip of everyone’s tongue. Everyone wanted to go to these three English Speaking “motherlands.”
In fact, people would spin so many glorious tales of the beauties and wonders of these three First World Nations, where all human problems seem to disappear. For ambitious and hard working people, these were often dubbed the “land of opportunity,” where the “streets are paved with gold.”
But what about our next door neighbor Brazil? No one knew so much about it, and few dared to explore it. More trade seemed to be done with Suriname than with Brazil or Venezuela. And the reports of living conditions in Brazil weren’t that fascinating.
But for me, the thought of this country held an other-worldly fascination. Deep down inside of me, for some reason which I couldn’t understand, I was deeply intrigued by the country of Brazil, the mysteries that lay waiting for me to unlock, and the very thought of going there. I would do everything I could to fulfill this dream, and soon find that Brazil may very well be my second home.
When the Yahoo! Chatroom was launched, I searched online for friends from Rio de Janeiro. I started conversations and later started learning Portuguese. In 2011, I made my first trip to Sao Paulo. In 2013, I made my first trip to the state of Mato Grosso. In 2015, I traveled again to Manaus. After that I traveled frequently to the bordering state of Roraima. But my voyages throughout Brazil, and my work there, has only just begun.
Under this heading, I’ll be covering some of “personal experiences” as I travel across this vast territory known as Brazil.