Dare it! Change it!

Great video! Enjoy it! And do dare facing whatever needs to be changed!

New Zealand - Small is Beautiful

As I spend time in New Zealand, I quite like what I see. A place where:

- the Maoris (indigenous, who migrated from Polynesia 12 centuries ago) are acknowledged, respected and integrated in society;
- any person, independently of age or nationality, can have his/her opinion heard before a bill is introduced to be discussed in Parliament;
- economic freedom and transparency rates are amongst the highest in the world, while bureaucracy and taxes are relatively low;
- skilled foreigners (from builders to engineers) are super welcome;
- environmental conscience and practice is very advanced.

Noticing New Zealand combines some of the most important things a society could value - ethics, respect to nature and social integration - I started to wonder why it developed that way, differently from so many other places which struggled with corruption, wealth concentration, environmental disasters and violence.

I'm certainly not knowledgeable enough to have an answer for that, but it seems to me that the isolated environment, the small population, and especially the combination of the Maori deep respect to nature with the European ethics and hard work has a lot to do with that. More important than the foundations facts quoted above is the way they were integrated, with both Maori and Europeans fighting to maintain what they considered fundamental virtues, but also negotiating and giving in when it came to everything else - notably in the last 4 decades.


The inside of a Maori meeting centre

Beautiful Waiheke Island, a 35 min ferry ride from Auckland




The Parliament and the National Library




And here comes a story to illustrate the Maori relation with nature.

One day Rata
went into the forest
to cut down a totara tree
to build a canoe.

When he had finished
he went home to sleep.
During the night
the birds and insects
and fairy people of the forest
helped put Totara upright.

Again Rata cur him down
and again he stood up.
So Rata hid nearby and watched
then asked the children of Tane
"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because you disobeyed
the laws of the forest.
First you must have a good reason
then you must ask permission
to cut down a child of Tane."

Rata was ashamed
and begged their forgiveness.
And so the children of Tane
helped Rata build his canoe.

Australia with love

Tears kindly fall down my face as I listen to "Leaving on a Jetplane" and write this post.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn
The taxi's waitin', he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

[...]

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

John Denver

=============================================

Arriving back in Sydney I felt so home it wasn't funny. Not only the stunning beauty of the city, but also the realisation that I've lived close to best friends one could ask for made me enjoy even more my last days in the land down under. Receiving everybody's love was super powerful.

It might be hard, but I'll try to keep all this energy up for another special moment: going back home (the other home ;o)), being close to my family, feeling the Brazilian joyful spirit, enjoying the music and also facing the re-adaptation and job hunting processes.

The hugest THANK YOU, with lots of love!


Breakfast close to the beach



Lovely picnic

Special dinner


=============================================

Everywhere you go you always take the weather with you

Now its the same room but everythings different
[...]
Strange affliction wash over me
[...]
Do I lie like a loungeroom lizard
Or do I sing like a bird released

Crowded House

The Noble Path

One of the books I read while travelling is called A fortune teller told me. It tells the story of Italian born Tiziano Terzani, a journalist in Asia who decided to follow the advice of a fortune teller from Hong Kong, who told him not to fly for one whole year.

The commitment changed his work profoundly: suddenly he couldn't cover breaking news, wars and unexpected events anymore, as it would take too long to get to the episode's site. Beyond that, the experience changed his perspective about life, places and relationships with others.

As Tiziano, I spent 7 weeks travelling to all corners of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia overland, taking old buses, crossing rivers and seas on boats and feeling some adrenaline flowing while on the back of motorbikes and tuk-tuks.

The fact that every trip takes many hours really changes things. Our commonly accelerated pace slows down and we appreciate the diversity and beauty of the landscapes around us. As well, our contact and conversations with people go much beyond a 5 minutes weather talk, once we have time to build trust and ask deeper questions.

If I would highlight one learning from this trip, I guess it would be the 4th Buddhist Noble Truth, which is the concept of Magga (or Middle Path). According to Buddha's teachings, Magga is the path leading to the cessation of suffering, consisting neither of sensual indulgence nor self mortification - and I would dare to say neither of religious extremism nor lack of spirituality; neither of government control nor economic single mindfulness; neither of deprivation of simple comforts nor empty advertising of goods; neither of lazy nor workaholic routine; neither of passiveness nor forcefulness.

Still according to Buddha, this Noble Path reveals itself in 3 steps: ethical conduct, mental development and wisdom. In my case, there's one thing I'm positive about: observation and reconnection to nature has a central role for pursuing such path, as for me there's nothing as tested, complex and beautiful as the intricate harmony of millions of years of dynamic equilibrium and constant re-creation. And nothing as calming and self correcting as the smell of the forest, the sounds of the birds and the sight of the underwater life.


Boat going to floating markets, Thailand

Communal breakfast in the NGO, Cambodia

Buddhist Monk in Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Waterfall in Luang Prabang, Laos

Anybody up for some diving?

After 4 days in paradisiac Koh Tao, in Thailand - 2 sunny, 2 rainy, because even the paradise needs some rain ;o) - filled with theoretical classes, swimming pool skills building and 4 open water dives (yes, in the rainy days!), I'm officially a PADI certified open water diver. AEEHH! That means I'll want to travel to really nice beaches, meet people with cool diving stories and appreciate life underwater as often as possible. Wanna join me?

Paradise



View from my room, 10 steps from the beach

Certified diver!!!

Life cycles

Behind its sophisticated, intellectual beauty, there is something profoundly simple, something archetypal and natural that reaches the heart without needing to pass through the head.
Tiziano Terzani, in A fortune teller told me, talking about Angkor

Some days ago I had the privilege of spending 14 hours (04:30 a.m. to 06:30 a.m.) in one of the most amazing architectural projects ever built by humankind: the ruins of Angkor, in Cambodia.

Erected between the 9th and the 13th centuries when the Khmer Empire was the main force in Southeast Asia, the temples (the only structures remaining, as the other constructions used less durable materials) were palaces of the ruling king-god. They commemorated Hindu, Buddhist and Animist figures (especially Vishnu, Shiva and Buddha) and had more or less the same general configuration: one main tower in the middle, various other towers nearby and a squared moat surrounding them. That's because the temples were the physical representation of the universe, where the gods sit on Mount Meru (the centre), amongst mountains and surrounded by the primordial ocean.

The uniqueness and richness of the details of the sculptures and bas-reliefs is unbelievable, as well and the grandeur of the constructions. Angkor Wat, for example, is 1,5 km X 1,3 km and its moat is 190m wide.

More than an isolated historical moment, Angkor for me represented the cycles of life: creation by a strong empire; fall of the empire and abandonment of the site; rediscovery centuries later (1863) by a French naturalist; partial destruction by the Khmer Rouge another century down the road; and finally the main symbol of a country, one that 1) attracts thousands of foreigners to visit Cambodia and 2) gives Cambodians a big reason for being proud, to the extent that they use the image on their national flag and the name in businesses, beer brands, guesthouses and any other possible opportunity.

This cycle feeling is especially strong in Ta Prohm, certainly my favourite site, where restoration was limited and the vegetation was mainly kept, showing that nature eventually takes over and life changes its forms, but never stops re-creating itself.

Sun rising behind Angkor Wat

Amazing architecture features in different temples

Giant tree taking over man made construction