``Blessed are those who are not afraid to admit that they don´t know something.´´

One morning, a farmer knocked loudly on the door of a monastery. When Brother Porter opened the door, the farmer held out to him a magnificent bunch of grapes. ``Dear Brother Porter, these are the finest grapes from my vineyard. Please accept them as a gift from me.´´
``Why thank you! I´ll take them straight to the Abbot, who will be thrilled with such a gift.´´

``No, no. I brought them for you.´´
``For me? But I don´t deserve such a beautiful gift from nature.´´
``Whenever I knocked on the door, you opened it. When the harvest had been ruined by drought, you gave me a piece of bread and a glass of wine every day. I want this bunch of grapes to bring you a little of the sun´s love, the rain´s beauty, and God´s miraculous power.´´

Brother Porter put the grapes down where he could see them and spend the whole morning admiring them: they really were lovely. Because of this, he decided to give the present to the Abbot, whose words of wisdom had always been such a boon to him.

The Abbot was very pleased with the grapes, but then he remembered that one of the other monks was ill and thought: ``I´ll give him the grapes. Who knows, they might bring a little joy into his life.´´

But the grapes did not remain for very long in the room of the ailing monk, for he in turn thought: ``Brother Cook has taken such good care of me, giving me only the very best food to eat. I´m sure these grapes will bring him great happiness.´´ And when Brother Cook brought him his lunch, the monk gave him the grapes. ``These are for you. You are in close touch with the gifts natures gives us and will know what to do with this, God´s produce.´´

Brother Cook was amazed at the beauty of the grapes and drew his assistant´s attention to their perfection. They were so perfect that no one could possibly appreciate them more than Brother Sacristan, who had charge of the Holy Sacrament, and whom many in the monastery considered to be a truly saintly man.

Brother Sacristan, in turn, gave the grapes to the youngest of the novices in order to help him understand that God´s work is to be found in the smallest details of the Creation. When the novice received them, his heart was filled with the Glory of God, because he had never before seen such a beautiful bunch of grapes. At the same time, he remembered the day he had arrived at the monastery and the person who had opened the door to him; that gesture of opening the door had allowed him to be there now in that community of people who knew the value of miracles.

Shortly before dark, he took the bunch of grapes to Brother Porter. ``Eat and enjoy. You spend most of your time here all alone, and these grapes will do you good.´´

Brother Porter understood then that the gift really was intended for him; he savored every grape and went to sleep a happy man. In this way, the circle was closed; the circle of happiness and joy which always wraps around those who are in contact with the energy of love.´´

quote and passage from The Zahir

(Pictures by Heidikel Elivo)

North of Porto Seguro . . . Ilheus 4/9/07--4/14/07

Ilheus is a small city and is famous only for being the birthplace of Jorge Amado (the most famous Brazilian novelist). In Fact, their airport is named after the famous writer.

On our first night there, I met this pretty cool man Vesuvio. . .

He was quiet serious but a good laugh none the less.

Actually, Ilheus holds a very special part in our hearts. Even though we came here to handle business (yellow fever shots, visa extension, cavities, etc.), this is our first travelling experience ALONE. We have officially parted with the group and have no one to rely on but ourselveds......aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

At first, we were scared and worried about how everything was going to turn out . . .

Then we realized that we were going to be just FINE . . . and we plan to reunite with the group in Peru or Venezuela:)We also celebrated our 1st Year Anniversary!!! We want to thank everyone who set us up, held us up, hinted, left us alone, and did whatever you all did to make this possible . . . Mama Raya, Mama Leza, Rrrittta!, Yulia, and Zhenia (of course, without whom we would have missed paths for another few years.)

Doesn´t this picture look like one of those Russian photographs against a fake screen?! Well, we thought it was pretty funny . . .

For our One Year Anniversay, we set in a little square overlooking a beautiful church, listening to a man singing with his guitar, overlooking the beach next to the square, admiring the beautiful stars, drinking beer, eating Doritos and hot dogs, laughing our butts off, and having the BEST time of our lives!!!

North of Porto Seguro . . . Itacaré 4/5/07--4/9/07

Porto Seguro felt more fun the second time around! We even enjoyed a lambada party, what the city is famous for in the first place! Our time restraint did not allow us to stay long and we made it to Itacaré for Ivie´s party . . . just in time . . . whew! Ivie threw a wicked rave party in the center of Itacaré, after which Mishka and I went swimming in the sewage water nearby without knowing, and saw an amazing sunrise at that! (Pictures to come)

Itacaré is an extremely touristy area filled with surfers, jewelry makers, and hippies . . . but to get out and really enjoy Itacaré, all you have to do is walk 3 blocks out of the main streets!! Or you get yourself a local guide and check out some deserted beaches around the area and maybe even a cachoiera!

Sometimes, I get really hungry and if there´s no food around! I go crazy!!

Mishka quickly found me a fruit to nibble on in fear for his own life. :)
Just so you know, this is a cocoa fruit plant, from which chocolate is made from. .. and it´s white!! What came first, white chocolate or dark??? Please let a girl know . . .

Mishka hated coconut until (like a MAN) he found his own in the jungle, tore off the hard skin, broke it open with his bare hands, and. . . the rest is history folks.
Itacaré is a hard place to leave, almost as if the laziness can overtake your body and keep you for months! Mishka and I packed out bags and escaped to a nearby city, Ilheus.

South of Porto Seguro . . . Trancoso and then . . .

The trip to Porto Seguro took about 30 hours although it should have been a much shorter ride thanks to our layover in Victoria, tons of laying around eating salgados, playing video games, and of course chess.
Porto Seguro was supposed to be our midpoint between Rio and a few wonderful places suggested to us by a local, but the cheap Internet, great all-you-can-eat-for-$4-spot , the beautiful coast of Arrial-dÁjuda across the bay, the beautiful artistry, the All Great Shopping District, and promise of dancing through the night kept us around for a few more days and nights than planned.

A two hour bus ride south would bring us to Trancoso, where we were supposed to meet Hidekel. With our luck, we walked into her the next morning . . . what a small world. Reunited and in full glory, Trancoso was a very tranquil hippie fishing town

where you can eat some fresh pineapple on the beach wheeled around by a donkey

or sit in and watch the sun come up over the Atlantic

The village of Trancoso was probably hit with heavy tourism in the last few years, still maintaining the rustic feel while acquiring a few expensive venues. All roads definitely lead to the church in the center of the car-less quadrado to this amazing little church overlooking the ocean

which proved to be an amazing place to see the sunrise...In fact, there where so many great pictures taken in Trancoso, that I had a hard time picking them out...so here are a few:

Trancoso also happened to be my sister´s last marker in Brazil, and her last night happened to fall on the local moon party!! With a fire to warm us up . . .
Live music on a stage you can lie down upon, cheap drinks, hammocks, and some great energy

we bid Zhenia a great farewell and a `´see you soon``

as she took a piece of the light with her and walked off in peace.
With the pressure of time upon us, we departed on our last venture south to a place I am not allowed to name . . . a small fishing village with no electricity nor tourists, which gave us a proper welcome.

If only we could have stayed longer and enjoyed the peaceful hikes around the coast and the energetic strumming of the locals by night some more . . . it will still be there for us . . . hopefully it will not change. . . for no other reason than fear, the name of this place will remain a secret.

Oh, and what do we have here? Sofka's dirtbag brother is down in Brazil. Figured he's worth a mention.

Peace!