Useful travel tip. If you have a flight with a stopover of several hours, check if you cannot extend your stopover and get the same connection flight 24 h later. Or 48. It depends on the company and the country but there is a chance to work it out without any penalty. This is what my Argentinian friend did for me and insert a short lovely holiday in Buenos Aires between Brazil and Perú.

Even though it was just a glimpse of the city, I enjoyed every single minute in it. BA feels like Western Europe. Old-architectured buildings, spruced up people of all ages (they would put Havaianas on their feet only on the way to the bathroom) , wide roads and pavements, parks literally on every corner, sunbathing and picnicing on the grass, bustling night-life spots more bar-concentrated. 

And a good friend in it with who I was in the same frequency whole 3 days. A rare state. 

The end.

Fortaleza. There are important people and places that engraved only on my memory but no camera caught them. Gil, my two groups in Hospital Mental de Messejana, my groups in the numerous schools around the city, many little spots, many great moments, many little details.

Now living in Rio, I can set myself aside and compare. Fortaleza for me was the city of the hammocks, açaí, self-service cheap restaurants, vast beaches and forró.

This is what I finally have in photos:

Ya, well, it can be any other weekday, but statistically speaking it is more likely to be written or received on a Friday night, when all the week pressure is successfully drowned in litters of beer, wine, vodka or whatever makes your mind get empty.

Friday sms is a byword. A byword for your hidden or suddenly arisen desires toward a person, whose attractiveness comes to the fore in your drunk head and you are feeling an internal imperative to share with him what you want or how you feel. It could be: “take a taxi and come over me” or “i miss you here” or simply “heyyyy, you”. Sometimes more complicated, but usually silly, tasteless and pathetic.

Friday sms is all about love or fuck. Or love and fuck. The interesting part is that even blindly drunk you are actually aware of the one-way communication. You don't really expect an answer, you are doing it for the pure sake of straightforwardness. You know that you sound ridiculous but you don't give a damn. You do give a damn in the morning when while brushing your teeth a flashback bangs your head and with a tooth-paste foam on your mouth you rush into the bedroom to check in the sent items what foolishness you produced last night. Then you promise yourself, next time when you are drunk and light-minded to throw your mobile in the toilet and flush it out. Seriously, isn't it time a sms undo button to be created? Or a 6th sense mobile, which blocks the txt option when your breath starts attracting fruit flies.

I believe everyone at one time have been someones "Friday sms". But I know people who never send Friday sms no matter of the degree of their intoxication. Cheers to them, i admire you, guys!

I haven't been in love with noone in the recent several years, so luckily my friday txts appear to be less pathetic and respectively less embarrassing for me in the morning. Still I am wondering at the stupidity of the phenomena to txt someone when you are drunk.

Dear last night Friday sms of mine, if you are reading these lines, here's to you! Actually, I meant it. :)

More and more people are travelling around the globe out of business or touristic intention. Maybe you just finished high-school, have a gap year doing some volunteering or some personal reason leads you to settle down for a while in a different culture and climate. Whatever the case, if you are going to spend more than just a few weeks in one place, you are going to pass through the glamourous side of the land you cast the anchor, unveiling all its hidden beauties and beasts.

Here are my seven tips of staying calm and open to the new experience.

1. Make it light. Don't overstuff your backpack. If you are travelling for half or one year, you cannot take everything you need. The less you take, the less you will need. It just works reciprocally. Maybe you will be lost or have to walk a long distance on foot to get to somewhere. You never know. The less burden on your shoulders, the more freedom on the road.
   
   
2. Don't read travel books. This will build a particular picture in your mind how the things should look like and what you by no means shouldn't miss. If there is an expectation, there is a disappointment as well. Let things happen. You are going to understand on spot about the area around, you will be led to hidden or landmark venues by the local strangers your life is going to run into. The planet is not lonely. Let it happen your way without being wrongly prepared on what hasn't happened yet. All what it is important will get visible to you. It is useful however to know the season of the area.
   
   
3. Accept invitations. Unless you really feel repulsion or suspicion toward someone, accept all casual suggestions you can afford - for a night out, for a walk, for a trip. Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God, says Bokonan. Usually the “fortuity” is what leads you to people you have to encounter and places you have to see. Embrace the chance.
   
   
4. Eat local food, drink local drinks, meet local people. Your body is hardly adjusting the new climate, you are surrounded by people whose language in most of the cases you cannot understand and the transport, the streets, the behaviour, the whole living mechanism of the new place seem out of every known logic. Ok, give me a break - a MCdonald's sandwich, a can of Heiniken and an English-speaking co-fellow is turning back the ground under my feet. Fair enough. The worst thing you can do is to keep being surrounded by familiar “mainstays”. The best thing you can do is to take a deep breath and to unleash your senses. Taste how the new world feels like. You would never drink that local beer back home, you can never cook the food they sell in the streets and you can never be an outsider if you let the locals to interact with you. Inspite of any cultural differences God gave us common sense.
   
   
5. Don't be afraid. The unknown opens a place for our fears. You can be afraid from poisonous bites, from criminal acts, from furious dogs, from getting lost, from staying hungry or shelterless. What I know for sure is that the Universe cannot understand what we want or what we don't. It somehows catches the intensity of the thought, no matter if it is a wish for or a fear from, you are probable to attract it likewise. Being afraid will also close your eyes to the beauties and gifts lurking behind the corner. Be mindful but minimize all your worries. Things will happen better having a restful heart.
   
   
6. If something bad happens however, don't let yourself be down for a long. Don't extend it all over your upcoming experience. You are in a state of a constant change. One simple encounter can change everthing again to good. Zoom out the bad feeling with the belief that everything will take a good course again and try to stay open.
   
   
7. Be respectful to the land and the people. Don't impose yourself. Your culture is not the best one, your religion is not the only one, your experience is not the richest one. Observe how the people around you behave, how they live, how they think and the magic of the journey will start …
   
   

Той стъпваше предпазливо и намери мястото. Беше гол до кръста и носеше дебел картон. Сложи картона на ъгъла. Един от многото, казах си, които спят тук, в Бразилия, на улицата. След минута видях слабо, чернокожо, кокалесто момиче да ходи по същата улица. Беше полунощ. Никой не се разхожда по улиците по това време. След шест вечерта, когато тук вече е тъмно, тъй като сме на екватора, никой не смее да се разхожда по улиците. Джебчийте владеят улиците. Всекидневно те пресрещат и ти взимат малкото, което имаш. Джобни, телефон – стига. За днес.

Никой не се разхожда по улиците на Форталеза. Особено днес, когато има стачка на полицията. Хайки се събират накуп и обират магазини, защото няма полицаи по улиците. Всички магазини днес бяха затворени с решетки и не работеха, защото се страхуват от организираните хайки. По новините се тръбеше, ако могат гражданите да не излизат навън. След двумесечна работа по фавелите, където се срещнах с картини, които по най-смелите бразилските филми са цензурирани, ги послушах и не излязох. Останах у дома и с бедната си заплата бавно пиех това, което разпознавам като португалско виньо верде. И си пуснах Пати Смит.

Момичето не се страхуваше. Пристъпи към мястото, където той си направи легло от кашоните. Ясно, тя е неговото момиче. Тя е момиче на улицата. Няма от какво да се страхува.

Вечер, когато по тъмно решавам да извървя километъра до океанското крайбрежие, за да тичам или да се разхождам, излизам без нищо, само малко ключе от къщата си в джоба на панталона. На връщане, ако по тъмните улички срещна съмнително разхождащи се причакващи типове, рецептата е ясна. Започвам да ровя по кофите. Тогава те ме подминават без дори да ме загледат. Аз съм една от тях, която търси храна. Апропо, намерих си някои интересни неща из боклуците, които си взимах у дома.

Момичето подмина мястото, където той бе уредил леглото им. Разходи се няколко преки по-напред, търсейки вероятно друг кашон или нещо, с което да се покрият. Не намери нищо и се върна. Легнаха си и тъмнината ми попречи да проследя всичко по-нататъшно. Онова, което почувствах беше тяхната свобода.

Бях напуснала работа вчера и имах три дни да напусна онова, което сега се нарича мой дом. Без да знам посоката, без да имам никой, никого и нищо.

Почувствах тяхната свобода и я приех за своя. Вероятно привидно. Вероятно не. Това беше момента, в който им подсвирнах и изхвърлих вещите си през прозореца. Оставих компютъра, на който пиша това, седнала на стълбището между първия и втория етаж, където хващам нечий сигнал в сградата, където все още се намира дома ми. За още три дни. С лекота на гърба си и на сърцето си, заминавам за Рио.

Two months and a half since I am in Brazil and I never went out from Fortaleza. It was about time. I visited a charming village neraby - Cambuco. With the most charming company :)