(PS DUDES- MY LAPTOP GOT FRIED BUT I JUST RECOVERED MY HARD DRIVE SO THESE JOURNALS ARE ALMOST TWO MONTHS BEHIND SO IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE I AM YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE DATES, AS THIS STUFF HAPPENED IN THE PAST!!! :) Estou sintindo saudades pra voces (Missing home) I hopped on my 24-hour bus to Santa Elena. It’s funny cause I brought like 5 books with me to read just in case, but I didn’t read anything the whole time. I just sat there starring out the window watching the city change to jungle, to mountains [View Full Entry]

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Do you believe in magic? Being a scientist, and formerly, an uptight realist, I can say I never did. Maybe when I was a little princess with her head in the clouds I did, way, way, back, but the storms of life quickly dispelled all the myths of miracles... But could there be some magic in the world after all? And what kind? The kind that makes people fly and dragons breath fire? No, not likely. But maybe the kind that some would call faith, or karma, good will, or spirituality. No, I am not a hippy, nor am I about [View Full Entry]

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Wow.... what can I say about the last few days..... How about holy crap!! So having overstayed my welcome a little in Lecheria (not with my friend but with her sister) I decided to take off to see, what is Venezuela’s most famous, and probably most spectacular, tourist attraction, ANGEL FALLS!!!!!!!!!!!! The highest waterfall in the world (989 m high, I believe). This incredible wonder, named one of the 7 wonders of the world, was named so not without reason. Having been to Machu Pichu (another wonder of the world), and many other breath taking places, now I truly understood, [View Full Entry]

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Like a dream!! So what happened when I got off the boat? Exhausted but relieved to be alive and to somehow be strong enough to face the journey ahead, I stepped off with all 50 lbs or my three bags. I had been the only blond and only foreigner (so it seemed) on the ferry of several hundred of passengers. As I lugged my life down the dock, it seemed a million faces stared at me. I passed the strange taxi men offering me rides along with their hopeful smiles and prolonged stares. Where was she?? Where was my friend’s sister? [View Full Entry]

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So I landed in Margarita hoping that Jay, the captain of the boat I was going to sail the southern Caribbean with, would be there to meet me. I had been in such a rush climbing a mountain that morning, and getting my stuff together in Caracas, that I absolutely forgot to write down the vague instructions of where his boat was, nor did I take any back up hostel info that I normally would have taken. So basically if Jay was not there (and I’m not sure he got my email) I was screwed. I arrived at 11:30pm and I [View Full Entry]

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WOW!! Caracas was certainly an experience!!! So at the last minute I managed to secure a couchsurfing host. Amarylis, 37, was a godsend, but certainly not what I expected. This timid looking lovely lady turned out to be a courageous little fireball full of spunk, energy, and a touch of locura (craziness). But she was epically generous!! Super, super, super generous!! So I arrived in this fascinatingly contrasting, and very chaotic, country completely ignorant to just about everything. I mean I had heard rumours that Venezuela was now one of South America’s most dangerous countries [View Full Entry]

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One of the greatest things about travelling is that you actually have time, time to live. Time to appreciate everything there is to appreciate, to do the things you want to do, to think about the things you need to think about, to just be, be yourself, without pressure, without judgement, just you. Touring Brasil was marvellous, spectacular.... Brasil is my heart. But also it was tiring... I began to feel sleepy all the time- I think it was because I was going to bed late, not too late, around midnight, but when I was going to bed at 10:30 I [View Full Entry]

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So I arrived in Salvador at almost midnight and grabbed a taxi to meet my new friend Gustavo, a Chilean friend of Cleanto. Gustavo is doing his masters in environmental engineering in Salvador, but coincidentally its actually in toxicology (though not officially), so we had a lot to talk about. He was really pleasantly surprised when I told him I had a doctorate in toxicology and was totally willing to help him with his project. Gustavo was incredibly warm, friendly, and generous, offering me food and letting me stay at his beautiful downtown flat, right near everything including the main beac [View Full Entry]

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The north east coast of brazil is soooo much fun! Beautiful!! -and brazilian culture is out of this world- people are so nice!!! So I arrived in maceio brazil to meet the most amazing women, my couchsurfing host, Vitoria, 65 retired vivacious professor of French. She picked me up from the bus station, made me a baked chicken dinner, made me a fantastic breakfast (all for free) and drove me to the beach to enjoy the next day. A truly terrific women, she was full of zest, life, and love. She had just fallen in love and been proposed to by [View Full Entry]

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So I arrived in Recife, late around midnight. I was a little concerned only because I wasn’t sure if my couchsurfer confirmed that it was ok to stay with him and I didn’t have a phone card to call him. Luckily I had made friends with a lovely lady, Cida, that had sat on the plane next to me. She lived or rather worked in Manaus, living there 3 weeks out of the month and visiting her son and husband in Recife one week out of the month. I told her about coushsurfing as she had never heard of it, and [View Full Entry]

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