Yesterday, I joined a boat touring the remote beaches of the island and some key snorkeling destinations. I mentioned that there are about 150 beaches, and we hit the key locales. The snorkeling was good. It was good to float as motionless as possible and let the fish gather around my body, coasting and then dancing and darting with the gentle surge. I like the feeling of being part of a clan. I like the feeling of being connected to something larger than myself.
The beaches I visited were very small -- maybe 30 yards long and just a strip of sand before the jungle line – remote and lovely. Similar to what I described in my last entry, but even more so since there is no land access to the beaches we visited, only access via boat. Sacre de Ceu, nicknamed “Lover’s Beach,” is considered the most beautiful spot on this island of 150 beaches. How do you describe something perfect? The grand mountains: verdant, alive, surrounding and guarding the remote cove. The blue water set against the green mountains, each color playing off of the other like a poetic duet, the white sand, the entrance from the beach to the jungle created by a small opening made by a boulder pathway, beckoning any traveler to become part of the jungle. Me, weightless in the salty ocean listening to the sounds of the jungle growing above the ocean, and the ancient clicking of life below the ocean.
The day was filled with incredible beauty, and you’d maybe ask – with every day so full of amazement and wonder, doesn’t it begin to become commonplace? At this point, I answer with a resounding, No! Each destination may have similarities, but each feels unique and I’m different at each place that I visit. I think what’s happening is that I’m keeping my eyes, heart, and mind open and bringing as much awareness to everything that I can. And I’m amazed to share that that awareness seems to come so easy here – it comes without thinking and without effort.
I don’t know if it’s about sloughing off the mantle of everyday life, or if I’m in a foreign environment and so can see things with new eyes, or ?? Or some combination of things? What I do know is that trying to over think it all may just steal the magic out of it. I keep having this feeling that just being in it is the key to something really interesting. Maybe something so interesting that it has the possibility of fundamentally changing me.
I remember having this same sensation when I went on my last trip through Egypt, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. I came back a different person after only three months. And this trip feels similar, but the lessons I’m learning are at another level – building on the thoughts and lessons I learned about myself three years ago on that trip.
Again, I wonder, is all this beauty and fullness of experience available to me in my everyday life? If so, how can I maintain it while tackling the rigors and demands of everyday life?
I recently read an article by Paul Theroux, probably the most famous travel writer of the last thirty years. In the interview he kept mentioning the words travel and enlightenment together. He said that travel isn’t a vacation. Travel is messy and hard and basically calls you out on your game, you know, that game where you trick everyone and yourself in thinking that you have it all figured out and you’re in control. And it really resonated with me. I find that travel calls me out, calls me on my game, demands that I give up my stories, attachments, and expectations and in doing that, gives me opportunities to drop my small self and step into the large way of being, the way that’s connected to everything.
Back to our story…
There was a giant oil platform in the ocean as we rounded a corner of the island and two massive tankers not far from the platform. It was an arresting sight and so out of place, but reminded me of how Brazil will be so different in five years and even more so in 10. Brazil has discovered what they think to be the second largest oil reserve in the world in the last year or so. It’s estimated that they will become a massive energy powerhouse in the near term. And that’s going to change everything and nothing for Brazilians, I think. The miniscule percentage of the rich with become richer, inflation will continue and infrastructure will not improve, the poor will continue to be poor and the middle class will shrink as many join the ranks of the poor. Already, I’ve spoken with several Brazilians who say that 10 years ago, middle class people could go out to dinner on a Saturday night or take a nice vacation. Now, that’s not the case. And I think it will get worse and worse. Make no mistake, despite all of my stories of beauty and Brazilian grace and nobility, this is still very much a third world country.
The boat stopped in a deeper part of the ocean – quite a ways from shore. We got on snorkel gear and dropped into the water… I honestly didn’t know why. But after putting my head down into the ocean and after getting over the initial anxiousness that I often feel floating on top of water that’s significantly over my head – I saw a wreck on the sea floor. About 20 meters down was a crashed helicopter. One rotor jabbed up into the open sea and the others you could see embedded in the sandy bottom. The cab was visible and you can barely make out that coral was starting to make their home on the crashed machine. Since it was in the open ocean, not part of an existing reef, and the water was a bit murky and deep green, the whole thing was ghostly and eerie. The boat guide didn’t know enough English to tell us the details of the crash, but I tried to put it out of mind that someone may have died in this copter.
I was happy when we all hopped back in the boat and headed to our next destination, which was beautiful and peaceful.
Later….
Another raucous night at the hostel. Hostels have personalities, and this one was the drunken frat boy who drinks too many beer bongs, is so hammered he lights the filtered end of his cigarette, and then tries to make out with a girl only to get the spinners when he closes his eyes and has to run to the bathroom to puke. It makes it hard to sleep when everyone is partying until 4am every night. I leave tomorrow on the fast boat back to the mainland and off to Paraty.
Ilha Grande was a mixed bag. The environment was stunning, but the people weren’t so much.
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