Holá from Brazil!
I'm two days deep into a two-month adventure in Brazil. Allow me to explain how I got here of all places.
Hi!
…or I should really say oi! bom dia! because Brazil speaks Portuguese, and one of these days I’m going to have to start speaking it too. English (and Spanish, my only other language lifeline), fortunately or unfortunately, doesn’t work on this particular stretch of South America’s eastern coastline.
What brought me here of all places, you might be asking? In short, a new surf and yoga retreat in Bahia that I was invited to experience for my blog. But the retreat’s just one week. My trip is 2+ months. You could say they gave me an inch and I ran a mile with that invite.
How I’ll fill the 2+ months here in Brazil is anyone’s guess once that retreat is done, but that’s just the way I like it—let the itinerary plan itself. It always does.
In the lead up to this rather random choice of destination, I threw myself into learning all about Brazil and Bahia—historically, culturally, linguistically, and presently. I watched every documentary I could find on Netflix (becoming a fan of Petra Costa in the process), worked with my friend Julia (from São Paulo) on my very basic Portuguese, and made sure Heloisa Murgel Starling and Lilia Moritz Schwarcz’s book Brazil: A Biography was downloaded to my Spotify for the 12 hours of flights that it took to arrive in Salvador from DC.
This now regular pre-trip immersion process is probably the best way I can portray how I’ve matured as a traveler over the past 10+ years. I no longer want to just see the world. I want to know it, too—deeply. And because I’m a travel writer, I also want to share what I’m discovering as I do with those following in my foot tracks, or just following along with cultural curiosity from home.
That combination of passion and purpose, alongside where last year left me professionally (switching my focus from freelancing to mostly blogging), has me using this Brazil trip to put it all to the test, to freely create from a place of curiosity and a love for culture on my own platform like I never have before. And to find out if that can really be enough. That’s the big shift I’m leaning into this year. I told you I would in last month’s letter and now here I am doing it, with Brazil as the debut focus.
There are a few pieces now up on the blog that reflect this shift and far more to come based on what I find here in Brazil. You can check some of those out via the links below if you’re curious:
Before You Go to Bahia: An Introduction to Brazil’s Afro-Brazilian Heart
Florence Beyond the Crowds: Lesser-Known Museums & Sites That Reveal the City’s Deeper Story
Already, I’m two days into this trip. I’ve kicked it off with a few days in Salvador, Bahia’s capital city and Brazil’s Afro-Brazilian beating heart. And besides knowing where I’d sleep each night, I had no plans for what I’d do, but that sorted itself out quite nicely, thanks to my decision to join a free walking tour through Pelourinho, Salvador’s historic center.
That tour put me in touch with three other solo female travelers who were the best company as we tasted acarajé (a deep-fried dough pocket stuffed with shrimp, okra-based stew, veggies, and a spicy paste) and gravinho (fruit and spice-infused cachaça) for the first time, danced to samba in Rio Vermeilho (Salvador’s party district), and connected on our mutual love of independent travel over a table full of caipirinhas (cachaça cocktail), bolinhos de peixe (fried fish bites), and queijo (fried cheese).
It is so good to be here, even while navigating a new place and culture is testing my courage and confidence on the daily, bringing about too many awkward moments with locals when I have to whip out my limited Portuguese, and as I learn the art of keeping my phone out of reach from Brazil’s infamous phone snatchers while simultaneously navigating streets I do not know.
There’s a huge learning curve in the first days of dropping into a new place. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. You have to start somewhere and, even while I’m still inches from the starting line, I just know this place is going to rub off on me in all the best ways. Brazilian culture is just such a lesson on life well lived. Who I’ll be, who I’ll know, what I’ll have learned and experienced when I leave in May is for sure a shift in shape than what my life looks right now as I type this. And that’s really exciting.
As always, thank you so much for being on the other end of these emails. Whether you respond or not, just knowing you’re reading my words and, in some small way, joining me on this offbeat, adventurous life of mine is extremely reassuring.
Falo com você em breve (talk to you soon),
Amber
P.S. I’m sharing this trip through Brazil on both my blog’s Instagram (@nomapsorfoottracks) and my personal Instagram (@nomapsamber). The blog IG will focus on the culture and history, while my personal IG will be more personal. If you’re on Instagram, come find me on either or both accounts!