O primeiro pôr-do-sol (The first sunset)

Why did I not start when I first thought of it? Imposter syndrome. I blame that big name. It`s easier this way, cause it`s not a person. Or it is? Cause if I let it take over my mind, then it`s part of me. Am I to blame for my own fears and procrastination vibes? Is that acknowleging responsibility, or bad self talk? There are some things in life I will never fully understand. I`ll keep (re)searching.

I`ve discovered what it is! Or at least WHEN it is...it`s the precise moment when I`m facing a long road with no end to be seen. It`s the path to discovery. And that road could be on land, on water, on air or wherever possible (I wonder what it`s like on the moon).

Such a huge contrast with my previous weeks: Piles of big plastic bags filled with clothes, shoes and other sheesh us human beings accumulate during our lives. Especially me, I (not proudly) have to admit I`m deeply attached to material things. Clothes, shoes, perfumes and all things you can name that people convince us we need MORE of. Why so little of us talk about the need for LESS crap in life, to get our energy flowing?

It took me about a month to organize all details of leaving and hitting the road with my 3 year old son (both professionally and personally) + a complete week to pack my home into a carry-on suitcase plus 2 backpacks (can you imagine? A 2 bedroom house into a carry-on. There was a lot of "DESAPEGA, BIA" involved (and again: you have to know I have the hardest time letting go of things. It was a good - and challenging - exercise.).

Sometimes people accidently planted self-doubt seeds, when asking things like (and I quote)

"but what if your child gets sick? He's only 3."

"But a woman alone on the road? Isn`t it dangerous?"

or my personal favourite - which I`m still asking around for research purposes:

"but Ollie (my son) will lack deep friendship connections that might affect him for a lifetime"

(Btw, if you were/are a child who lived on the road, I`d love to hear your thoughts on that).

Now, I`m no pro in self regulating tools, but if you ever find yourself in an overthinking vibe/situation, where you think a million thoughts at the same time, your heart seems to be accelerated and the dark fears try taking over, it`s got a name: it`s an ANXIETY CRISIS, and it`s got a cure too. Everyone will have their own lil secret calming trigger, and one tool I like using to help me cope with the anxiety THOSE questions/comments bring me is the following:

It helps going on a walk to find bright good smelling flowers too!

Going on...

On march 7th I was finally packed and (ready?) to rent my house. So hard letting go of my home! I stayed at my parents in Praia Grande, close to Aracruz and enjoyed the indigenous tribes and paradise beaches for a couple of days.

We visited the Aldeia Piraquê-Açu and the Guarani tribe in Aracruz, ES (I forgot my phone, but here is a photo taken from http://www.terracapixaba.com/2017/11/aldeia-piraqueacu.html), where a friendly 3 year old indigenous boy welcomed us with (literally) mini crabs in his hands. I forgot what they were called, but I remember being impressed that this young child (Ollie`s age!) held about 2 little crabs in each hand, plus one going up and down his belly. The dad was speaking to him in his family laguage, one of the many indigenous tongues, and I wish I could speak it too, to teach Ollie some of that precious piece of culture. Maybe we can all bring an indigenous song to our language lessons? Can you imagine?!

It was about R$20 to enter, swim in their huge and beautiful river surrounded by mangue vegetation, walk their trails, listen to their stories, appreciate their creations and ENJOY THE DAY. If that`s not an affordable immersive experience, I don`t know what it is. If you wanna check it out, here is an attempt to share the location of the tribe I went (click on the map and comment if you got the location, so I know it works), and some other indigenous tribes in the same area you can visit and support them to survive the invasion of brazilian lands:

The beaches around the area are GORGEOUS too and you should catch a moonrise from the sand in front of SESC in Aracruz, a memorable experience! There are many praias de reserva, where there is no human influence surrounding the water!

I don't know about you, but I love sea stuff! The corals, the seaweed, the sea animals, the colours EVERYTHING! I got really excited I found this gorgeous (sea weed?) on the sand there:

A few days in my parents` personal paradise they`ve created for themselves and I was (ready?) to HIT THE ROAD for good.

It was march 9th I I remember being EXCITEDLY (is this a word?) driving through the beginning of my road trip dream and seeing my first road life sunset. I had Ollie behind me sharing the excitement to be finally on the road and heading to the first stop, which would be (of course) one of my favourites places in the world.

A charming fisher`s village with sand streets, dunes and beaches, that hosts the biggest Forró Festival of our state every July. This dreamland is in the north of Espirito Santo, almost arivving to Bahia state, and it's where I met my beautiful French-dream-boyfriend: ITAÚNAS 😍.

(Should romance have space in this ONE UPON A TIME? Let me know in the comments).

See u