I was sitting at Oi (one of Brazil’s phone companies) shop in Rio, waiting in line to get a new SIM card, when an elderly lady started talking to me (I know, what an unusual situation…). She was clearly completely happy with our communication in a form of her monologue, and, no joke, 3 minutes in our/her chat, she was already showing me photos of her daughter’s house.

I will be like this lady now. So many things have happened in just several months, that I do feel like just pouring everything onto anyone who has nothing better to do than to read my blog.

After my film project was done, one cool experience was replaced by another. I got a new job. I moved to Rio because of that new job. One of my best friends came to visit me in Brazil. I started travelling for work, and, as of now, I have been on the road for more than one month. And, during that month, what great luck have I had! I spent 10 wonderful days in Foz do Iguaçu in South of Brazil (and Puerto Iguazú Puerto in Argentina) where I met a bunch of incredible people and saw some breathtaking waterfalls and the world’s second largest dam. As a side note, I had never thought that visiting a dam can be so freakin’ interesting!

I visited the city of Vitória in another state and had a home-like experience due to some very special people. For example, an extremely cool couple from País Vasco (Euskadi) who have been travelling the Americas by bike for around two years now. Then, I travelled Bahia meeting awesome hostel owners and cool travelers, and even had a chance to get as tan as people sort of expect me to be, since, you know, I live in Brazil. So many wonderful stories shared and new stories created.

I usually leave New Year’s time or at least my birthday as some official time to reflect on how my year has been, but I feel the need to do it now. You see, exactly a year ago, I woke up for the first time in Salvador, welcomed by a wonderful breakfast in a beautiful hostel. One year later, I still find myself in Salvador (in fact, I even visited that same hostel for my work!), yet that’s because it’s where my work travels took me. I’m flying to Bogota for work tomorrow, and, the more I reflect on my one year in Brazil, the more surreal everything seems.

The past half a year has been too busy to update my blog properly. Various things have happened, both very exciting and too sad and serious to blog about, which is what life is composed of, I know.  It seems it’s becoming more difficult to find time to absorb all that is happening. This quick blog entry is definitely an attempt to do that, and I can only feel it’s some kind of a proper reflection if I finish everything with a stole quote, of course.