Well, I´m writting this a bit late but things have been a bit complicated for the last few weeks, leaving blogging low on the priority list.
In the last post I said how we were heading to Argentina for visa reasons, hoping to return to finish up our last four weeks, saying our goodbyes and tieing up any loose ends. Turns out the federal police told us the wrong information about getting our return visa and after sleeping at Sao Paulo airport, we were sent back to whence we just came to try to get another visa. After being deemed an immiration risk, denied the visa and told we wouldn´t be able to return by the Argentinian consulate, we realised that that was it. We had officially (and prematurly) ended our time in Sao Paulo.
This, of course, totally sucked arse big time for lots of reasons but there was nothing we could do about it.
Us not coming back for a month has little impact on the overall rescue and running of Casa da Criança as we aren´t the major players in that area but it has meant that we have left without getting to say goodbye and thank you to all the kids we´ve been working with and all our friends who have been taking such good care of us. Not having that opportunity is something that we are very upset by. Our whole experience has been marked by excellent people, without whom, our time there would have been imposible. We thank you very much.
As for a last bit of project news, Bueno Sensei ran an aikido demonstration with the kids at Sao Paulo´s annual Japan festival, not an insignificant event in the world´s biggest Japanese population outside of Japan. Otherwise, we have been a bit out of the loop lately due to a few debarkles with our new travel situation.
As for us, we have run away to Peru to increase our lung capacity and haggle for necklaces. Once we have enough necklaces, we´ll head down to Bolivia then continue on to Sth East Asia then home.
So that´s pretty much it. Despite the incomplete finish, the whole project and time in Brasil has been a success for both Gabby and myself. I´m sure I had some goals at the begining, probably something to do with learning a new language and learning about kids and myself etc. but they kind of faded away into the Brasilian groove as we got settled and things just ran their natural course. We trained and worked and lived our lives and when things came up, we dealt with them and then got back to it. All in all, a great experience and one I have leant from immensly.
Once again, our thanks to everyone we met and hung out with and who showed us their way of living and training.
Tchau guys.
Oh, and....
If you are interested in seeing videos or pictures of our time in Brasil, we have links to our photos, videos and email on the right side of this page.
