Natural Beauty

In five weeks time my holidays will be here, and I am in the process of planning what travelling and activities I will be doing, actually what me and my brother will be doing. He is coming over in four weeks and together we are going to the Amazon and another place called Bonito (the Portuguese word for beautiful). From the little that I already know of these two places, both of these places are natural beauties and I literally can not wait to see and experience all that I can. I will be trekking through the jungle, swimming in the Amazon river with pink dolphins (and alligators and cobras!), visiting local Indian tribes, diving amongst bright and beautiful fish, abseiling into caves, swimming in blue lagoons, walking through the treetops and much more.

Whilst planning my holidays of this year I thought back to those of last year, and the many wonderful and splendid sights I shared with my mum and dad during their time here. One of the places we went to was the Iguaçu Falls, a place where numerous large waterfalls meet to create a sight that is truly magnificent and magical. Walking by the waterfalls, so close we could feel the spray, we watched as small birds dived in and out of the cascading water. The fresh smell of nature was truly overpowering, and was accompanied by the vibrant colours of the rainbow, that disappeared not once while we were there. I will never forget the crashing sound of the water as one waterfall met another, the vibrancy of the greenery surrounding them, and the numerous rainbows that could be seen arching over the waterfalls. The beauty of the nature that exists on this planet never ceases to amazes me.

Memories

It is almost approaching winter here in Brazil and the days are colder with less hours of sunlight. As a result it is getting dark by the time I arrive home from work, and is pitch black by the time me and my dog take our evening walk on the beach. Walking in the dark the other night I could see a flickering light, ahead in the distance, and I was drawn to it with curiosity. As I approached I could see a blue lit candle, with three white roses laid on the ground in front of it, and three heart-shaped lollipops stuck into the sand. My first thought was that the arrangement was in memory of loved ones, past or present, and I found myself thinking of those friends and family I have left behind in England. Although I do not think too much about the sadness I feel for those eagerly waiting for the day I say I am returning home, it is times like these when I do dearly miss them. I experience many feelings here; happiness, joy, excitement and at times loneliness and sadness. I can honestly say it does not happen too often, as I do not allow myself to have negative thoughts about my experiences here. After all, this time I will spend in Brazil will be a relatively short chapter in my life, and I have many objectives to achieve whilst I am here. There is no time to be sad, as when my experience here is over I am sure I will return to England and feel sadness at what I will leave behind here. Sadness is just a part of our lives as is happiness, and for every sad moment we experience it is outweighed by many other happy ones.

Today I asked the girls, with whom I work, the meaning of the arrangement. It is in fact not in memory of others but a type of ritual, that can be both positive and negative. When the arrangement is of light neutral colours, as the one I saw, it is positive. However when the candle is dark and the roses red it is negative. As they talked about the ritual in quite a negative manner I was almost disappointed, as what I saw on the beach that night to me was beautiful, and had a completely different representation.

Sol

Today was the first morning in months I did not get to see the beautiful sunrise that I have become accustomed too. It was not that I did not wake up in time, but that it was obstructed by thick clouds. Each morning my personal alarm clock, my dog, wakes me without fail between six and seven and we go to the beach to sit and watch the sunrise. It really amazes me how even in the darkness of the flat, with the curtains closed, he is always able to perceive the rise of the sun, before it actually happens. In the last three months we have not missed one single sunrise and now with winter approaching, and more cloudy days predicted I will miss our morning ritual.