My first days

I am sometimes so harsh on myself, that I refuse to let my soul to express himself, saying continously - "you are only imitating people that you like, you are not original enough etc etc"-until today, when I realized that actually each person finds inspirations in other people, each human being can be touched by the words, art, feelings, being of somebody else and than transpose it, as he considers adequate, in his own way of expressing things. I will try not to be harsh with myself anymore and tell you as much as I can of my Portuguese experience. Everything that happened to me, I attracted. As I do with every single being, event, place. As we all do without knowing. Somebody told me "you know why I am here"? "because you called me". And that was it, I called him and he arrived. My dear friend. Souls meeting.... :-)

I stayed in Lisbon for about two weeks. Useless to say I had great weather, I got tanned, I swam in a freezing cold Ocean, took a

motorbike ride (thank you!!! :-)), saw ballet and theatre performances, got completely drunk with vinho verde, had a temporary tatoo on my back and slept each night for 3 hours and never got tired.

The first day was overwhelming. The flight attendants for one reason or another thought I was Brazilian and started to talk to me with "Portuguese-Brazilian" words that I could not understand (chicara instead of chávena :-)), I made friends with a guy from Brazil and I showed him Lisbon from above saying-this is the stadium, this is Padrão dos Descobrimentos, this is Trafaria etc etc etc....overwhelmed with enthousiasm I kissed in my mind the Portuguese land :-))

In stepped on the land where people talk with their hearts, smiles and eyes and not with words. I found miracles, mountains of love, I found again beautiful encounters and I know that all of that happened because of me. Because I let my heart fly, my mind stop complaining and my body stop shaking with worries. I lived in two weeks more than in two years of Lisbon, I was overwhelmed with feelings and rediscovered how I can cry because of too many good vibes. I saw people coming and going and staying. I sang, danced samba, understood, forgot, forgave, tried to read signs, got on right or wrong paths.... My heart was light, shiny and beautiful. I found out that "o amor e a ponte entre o mundo visivel e o mundo invisivel".

My journey began in Alfama, where I once dreamed to have a house and live a lovely artist life. This is what I imagined. Real life is not always as imagined, but still, Alfama has its crazy, beautiful magic. I wanted authentic life, no glamour, fame, fancy, snobbish things. And I found it. I would be a hypocrite though to say that I spent my holiday only in Alfama. No, I went to Cascais, I took pictures of the beautiful swimming pool of a five star design hotel in Cascais http://www.farol.com.pt/ , I fancied the idea of getting filthy rich and live on a yacht and discover the world....so I am not as innocent as that. But still, Alfama touched my heart, I loved being there, it brought me crazy, good, creative vibes. I have to confess that now it is middle of August and I have been lazy enough not to write until now, a lot. I wrote some lines, impressions and feelings while I was there, but I was so busy living, that I didn't have time to write. My first week I spent almost entirely in Cascais, moving my brown to become body from one beach to another, I kept reading like a madwoman Osho´s book, underlining whole pages, saying to myself, oh yes, this is the recipe of life and love and understanding and happy to see that somebody else, wiser than me, understood my soul and the souls of million other people. I was also negotiating with "beach neighbours" asking favors whenever I was going to swim. I would leave all my things, including keys, credit cards, money, clothes on the beach, offering my trust to a total stranger...and it worked :-) I swam in the freezing water of my dear Atlantic Ocean and felt like blessed by all the creatures of this Earth for the feeling I would get from that swim. Chills, bumps on my skin, shivers, whenever I was getting into the water, after a long session of warm Sun and then.....pure bliss. 17ºC water on a warm body. Unique. Crazy. I was laughing looking at how scared people were, whenever they were trying to get into the water. I have to confess I got a little bit upset looking at men, and asking myself -hey, where are the powerful, fairytales men in this world? One day I saw a little black child, maybe 6 years old, adopted by a white couple, I remembered him from his beautiful amethyst pendant, that he was wearing at his neck and I said to myself - finally, some smart parents, who are willing to protect the child and bring him good vibes and energy. Crystal, pure, clean energy.

I loved taking pictures of some crazy kids who kept jumping into the freezing cold water. I wished I could capture all the good energy they were spreading around themselves without knowing. I invaded their privacy for a few minutes, but my mission was more important than their privacy at that moment :-))

I also met my dear Lola in Cascais. This beautiful woman, who served me a delicate lunch, in which she put all the attention in the world. Everything was in order, right, beautiful, calm and loving. Vegetables were smiling from the dish, my favorite soup was her favorite soup - Pingo Doce Gazpacho :-))) - and her rituals far more important than time. I loved it. Thank you my dear angel Lola.