Get your carnival on!

It's the nation's biggest holiday with glitter, wigs, samba, and silly costumes almost everywhere, even in Brasilia. We went out to meet our Portuguese tutor at a local cafe on Saturday morning and the spirit was already moving the block in a neighborhood celebration (yes, at 11 a.m.!). With a spirit of anything goes and everyone belongs, I was already tapping my toes and looking for that long-lost glitter...

In Case of Pain, Dance

In town this evening running errands, I walked past this sign. The message hit me over the head. The sign must be a sign.

IN CASE OF PAIN, DANCE

I've been in a bit of a funk lately in pondering the planet, ecology, humanity, our communities, our discourse with each other, and my own place. Perhaps I should blame it on over-consumption of news as I think that if my head were in the sand and I were more oblivious, my mood would not be contaminated. Perhaps I should blame the dry examination and brooding that happens after the holidays when I set out to tackle a new year. Perhaps it is that very sentiment of "tackling" life that is to blame, whether a personal or cultural mindset. Perhaps we're just in a very heavy moment of history when there is more cognitive dissonance and discord than I can handle. I don't know. But, sometimes, we have to be in the moment that we are in to examine and work beyond it. There isn't another way...

...unless we might dance! One of my tacklings this new year has been to find community in Brasília and to learn some Brazilian dances. These endeavors both bring me distraction and joy. We are attempting some Forró and Samba de Gafeira at a local dance school, and the entire community has embraced us with friendly welcomes and chit-chat during lessons.  Maybe the secret is turning my funk into a bit of toe-tapping Bruno Mars.

Change of Scenery

Sometimes the best way to find respite is to break up your routine and get out of town for a weekend. We took advantage of the MLK holiday and took off for the nearby town of Pirenópolis. The short two-hour trek from Brasília (150 km) is a beautiful drive across the cerrado or wind-swept savanna. The Portuguese colonial town is clearly an accessible escape for weekenders from the capital city, and it was particularly full of visitors on Saturday evening. The cobblestone streets are lined with vendors, restaurants, and guesthouses. We were tucked back from the party zone for the evening and choose to put our energies towards exploration of the terrain. We joined a guided trip through the information office to the State Park -- and it was lucky we did as our little car could not have possibly handled some of the rough access roads. We swam in waterfalls, awaited a rainstorm under shelter, walked to rock outcroppings and viewpoints, and breathed in the fresh air and surroundings. In less than 48 hours we found total escape from reality, and it felt rather good! 

18th Century Church

Side street in the town

Ahhhhh! The Cerrado!

First waterfall of the day

And the second 

Swimming in the cool, clean water (right before the rain)

Rocks!

Pretty spot for a selfie

Third waterfall where we swam (and got bitten by little itchy bugs)

Vista point - one of the highest in the state of Goiás at around 1,300 meters (4,500 feet)

Sunset -- and rain

Homage to a Poet... and Geese

Because there are somethings that are always beautiful and deserve remembering, here is the poem I associate most with Mary Oliver: 

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.