A wish, long long time ago, appeared in Vlad’s heart: to see the land of one of the most famous ancient civilizations on this planet: the South of America.
A land where the children of Captain Grant went on their rescue expedition through Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, the mystical place of shamanism and dance. Indeed, so many wanderers dream to explore and to experience such a diverse land, a living piece of history in and of itself.
Of course, not nearly as exciting as the first generations of Europeans that had to discover the Amazon and all its beauties – but hey, this is our time, and our desire to enrich our understanding of the complementary cultures that have emerged on this planet.
Our first stop was Brazil. More precisely, we have used all of our visa’s time span in beautiful Bahia
There, we immersed ourselves in Bahia, the region with the most powerful African influence, with raw rituals and plenty of indigenous life around to see – and to learn from.
Vlad learned a bit of Capoeira, a movement very specific to Bahia, a fight dressed up as a dance, camouflaged from back in the slavery days on this land. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was another important movement exploration that Vlad was looking forward to acquiring – at least with the intention of starting some training and of just getting direct insight into this fighting style, from a genuine practitioner.
Roxana explored some samba, spiced up with some djembe rhythms. And of course, yoga – a movement that goes so well, for both body and spirit, anywhere on this planet.
And, because Brazil had such an intense coastal life, our immersion with the ocean ‘s movement was only a stepping stone – surfboarding the waves was really a way of living in all the places we lived our winter months.
Enjoying the ocean and the splendid wilderness of the Atlantic Rainforest, the locals’ life and cuisine, the dance, the percussion rhythms, the culture, and the language were all on our sweet wishlist as well, with an “Obrigado!” at the end.
Next stop after Brazil was Argentina, with plenty of time spent in the country capital: Buenos Aires.
We’ve heard so many times the name of this city, spoken up in such a vivid way, that we could not resist exploring it – even for a couple of weeks or so. Talking about Argentina, “Tango” is something that we really wanted to start experiencing. As a couple, is so intriguing to be able to flow or to just let go, guided by music and movement, as a whole being.
Uruguay was the last country to welcome us with strong winds and tiny houses.
We did’t knew much about the country, except that it is very pleasant to see, so we saved it for last to be discovered. And we were sure we would meet people along the way to advice us a bit more about what we can do in a short amount of time there.
About our wandering way
During our journeys, we were still working on projects, in a limited capacity, as there are so many things to do when traveling. The exploration of this part of South America was during the span of 4-5 months, and the most important aspect is that we combined personal resources with volunteering work. This enabled us to immerse ourselves into the local cultures, as well as to keep our budget manageable.
Have questions for us? Want to tell us a perfect phrase of encouragement? Be brave, send us an email, and we will be in touch!
