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MEATLESS ADVENTURESmemories of a vegan learning to y

Anderson Santos


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For the past three years I have been on a jour-ney to my self-discovery. Overcoming fearsand challenges, with that adventurous spirit,saying good bye to a comfortable life to nd

out what the world had to offer.

It wasnt an easy journey. I had to deal manytimes with culture shock and with my ownstruggles. Luckily, I have an incredible familywho supports me with their body and soul,and friends who are always there when I need.I was also fortunate enough to meet kind andcaring people during my travels, who dedicat-ed their time to help me to move forward.

This book is just the rst from many others thatwill come. Another is already been preparedwith the rest of my story here in Germany andsome travels in Europe. But I want to thankyou all, those who I mentioned here, andthose who supported me afterwards, by thetime I was writing it.

And for my gratitude to all that you did for me,my dear friend, I want to share my story, and

my heart.I hope you enjoy it.

Forewords


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1 - The Quest for Questions................

2 - Northern Conquerors....................

3 - New Brazilian Skies......................

4 - Kangaroos and Platypus................

5 - Sleeping Volcanoes.......................

6 - The Old World..............................

7 - Searching for a New Home...........

8 - Visual Instants...............................

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MEATLESS ADVENTURESmemories of a vegan learning to fly


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PRELUDE


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In August 2010, I started to travel around the world, search-ing for something that I have lost inside me. Or that I neverhad, but only now I have noticed its absence.

This is not a search of unbridled sadness or sorrow, but itsjust that insaciable craving to learn more, to see more, toleave the stagnation and start a movement towards a blissfulife. Searching for that feeling that make us humans. Like theadventurous beings that our own nature urge us to be.

During this process to perceive the place where I was at thatmoment, I discovered on the photography a way to capturean instant, expressing the right moment with a language, thatat the same time, talked to my rational and irrational mind.

The photos that I took are not to illustrate the place, or to telwhat I have or havent done, but rather to say how I felt.

For that reason, this book dont have touristic photos of thecities, but a tour through my mind, with ashes that are eventoday, very alive in my memories.

In Berlin, a friend made a drawing and gave a copy to me. Ithad a camera on it, and the saying: You cant photograph ifyou are not in love.

I found out that I was in love with life.


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The Quest for Questions


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It seems like a human condition, the chaos that

you have to go through when you realize youryouth is over and its time to build an adult life. Alife where you feel condent enough to have con-trol over your own future. Like a cocoon to but-tery, towards freedom. And I wanted to be free.

A chain of reactions and disillusions made it clear,what was for a long time deconstructing. My selfhas disappeared. I dont know who I am anymore,or what I was doing here. And I needed to ndout.

I lived in many places since my childhood andyouth, due my moms job, my parents divorce andto give myself a new start. From So Paulo to Bau-ru, and ending in Curitiba after falling in love, bythe age of sixteen, with a boy that moved therenot long ago.

On that time I was living in So Caetano do Sul,So Paulos metropolitan area. I was studying and

living with my mother and sisters. I met the boy onthe internet, virtual love, but for me, we just needto want it to make it happen. So I got into a buson my way to Curitiba, to visit my new love. Firsttime outside So Paulo state and going south tothe state of Paran.

He was my rst big love, and everytime I thoughtabout his smile, I was overwhelmed by a ultra ro-manticist feeling, as we call in portuguese, stim-ulated by the readings of lvares de Azevedo and

Lord Byron.

We spent few days together and after some con-icts, that summer adventure had an end. I wentback to So Paulo with a broken heart, but I de-cided to move out from that city, I needed to seemore.

On my eighteenth birthday, still in So Paulo,I was done with my studies and searching for a

job. I celebrated with my friends, returned homegrabbed my bags and left again to Curitiba, to

visit other friends, and with that latent feelings ofthe past love.

A friend hosted me for some time, supporting thatteenager that wanted to discover a new worldDealing with a heart full of inquiries about lifework and love.

As the day to return to So Paulo was gettingcloser, more I was afraid to get back to the same

life, and my friend asked me: Anderson, whatare you gonna do in So Paulo?. Keep lookingfor a job, I replied. Why dont you search for ithere?, he concluded. I had then my epiphanyand with the help of my family, I decided to stay.

I looked for a job, for a room, and within a week had everything sorted. I got a job as a computerprogrammer and a room in a familys home. Newlife of independence.

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I started living with a teacher and his mother, bothcame from Recife. They opened their house to meand I felt that I had found a home in that unfamil-iar city.

I started the routine as an independent guy. Onmy rst day at the new house, I went to the su-permarket and I tried to buy meat. But there wasa bad feeling. I have heard about vegetarianismbefore, but the concept was hidden somewheredeeper in my mind.

Since I was a kid my mom taught me to be kindto the animals, we rescued some stray dogs andcats, that later my father managed in a way or an-other, to get rid of.

We had all sorts of pets, from little chicks, turtles,

hamsters, sh to a lobster. It was the naive per-ception to learn how to love animals by havingthem. So they didnt have the best life with us, butwe did the best we could to provide them with adecent life.

And with this conict of loving one and eat theother, on that moment I decided to not eat meatanymore. My rst adult decision. Later on Iwould become a vegan.

After some failed trials to reapproach my old lov-er, I started experiencing some night life, going toparties and trying to move on.

But, always on the way back to my place, I hadthe same feeling: I was wasting my time, and I wasfrustrated to come home alone

In the following years, I experienced some con-icts on the professional, romantic and, in some

ways, spiritual levels.I had some speed dating and a two years rela-tionship with a guy a met later, but he inuenceddeeply the way I deal with the other in a romanticway.

Even though I loved my boyfriend, the love lifewas leading me nowhere and I was unhappy withmyself in so many levels that I didnt know whereto start to x it. The world was too small and I was

feeling suffocated. I need to break through all thatwas trying to tight me up.

My 20 years old crisis.

I went back to So Paulo, I wanted to pursue myart skills, that since I was a kid, I had the urge butnever knew where to start. I applied to one of thebest universities in So Paulo, but I failed on thetest. Too much pressure.

The relationship in Curitiba was still unnished, sowe decided to try once more. I could study in aprivate university there and to work as a program-mer to pay my bills.

So I returned to the old life. Same house, same re-lationship, same work, but something was still off

place. Soon the relationship was over and I start-ed to look for something that would comfort mein a deeper level.

I love dogs and I was really missing having theircompany, so I volunteered in an animal sheltefor a couple of months. They had over 900 dogsand cats to take care of. My chores were to feedclean, walk them around, and make them as hap-py as they could be in such a place.

It was common for me to go back home and cryYou feel powerless among so many loving crea-tures and see their suffering. Many new visitorshad the same reaction. It was tough but worth it.

One of the dogs there, which survived a distem-per infection but carried the symptoms, was keptin a cage to avoid conicts with the others. Every-time I was around he would do everything to getmy attention. I couldnt resist and took him home

I named him Nino.I was living in an apartment, which was very hardfor an impaired dog. He needed a house witha garden, and within few weeks, I found one. Awooden house, big garden with fruit trees, nearthe city center. A living dream.

Nino got a little more comfort, but still it wasnteasy. Soon I rescued other stray dogs, until therewere four living with me. I reached my limit, but


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couldnt be happier. I would just sit on the stairs infront of the house, they would come to me, andlife was as beautiful as it could ever be.

From the beginning I felt weird to buy them meatso I started to buy vegetarian dog food. It wasbecoming too expensive, so I ordered a bookabout about vegetarian diet for dogs and start-ed to make brown rice, lentils, vegetables withsome vitamins and minerals to give to them. A lotof work, but they really enjoyed the food, and Icould just look at them and think you little veganbeasts. It was a priceless joy.

In 2006 I met an australian guy through the inter-net, the rst vegan I knew besides myself, and de-cided to visit him. Some months later my rst lovefrom Curitiba came back to my life. After years

with no contact, we started going to the same zenbuddhist center, and the feelings aroused again.

Our universities were close by, and some days aweek I would take a longer way by bus, to havesome minutes of his company, I would bring somefood and we would eat in the bus, enjoying eachother. It felt a little like a fairy tale.

But even with him back to my life, I had alreadymade plans for my rst experience abroad. Aus-

tralia and New Zealand for 40 days, with a stop inSantiago, Chile.

Few weeks later I was in a plane to the other sideof the world. It was a liberating experience withbreathtaking views, but soon it ended and I cameback to Brazil certain that the rst who stole myheart was the one I wanted with me.

And for the following four years, we tried to build

a life together. Stable work, relationship, myhouse and my dogs. It seemed that nothing couldgo wrong.

The art university I quit because I couldnt man-age to work and study. I started getting involvedwith an animal rights group in my city. I also triedto go to different buddhist groups apart from theZen, to open my mind to the new. I was searchingfor something.

I translated the book Vegetarian Dogs to por-tuguese and created a website, which broughtsome attention from the local newspapers aboutmeatless diets for pets. Every now and then I wascontacted for interviews and I was quite happy.

Besides all my joy with my friends and romanceand a stable work that I enjoyed, the present wasgood, but I felt like a future was still missing.

As an alternative work experience, I started sellinghomemade frozen vegan foods, like hamburgersgnocchi, lasagna and so on. I wasnt really suc-ceeding, even with a constant demand. There wasstill a lot to learn but I didnt want to study in tradi-tional cooking schools. I wanted to use the fancyvegan ingredients from abroad and I wanted tostudy at the vegan cooking school in New York.

But I had no money for it.

During that time, I had to leave the house I wasrenting because it got sold, and I had to move toanother place, far away from the city center, whichmade me very sad.

My life crisis was getting stronger and I felt stag-nant, so I tried to force some certainty in the rela-tionship, to be sure that what I was doing was theright thing. But due the pressure, the relationship

got to an end, even though our feelings were stilstrong.

With the break up, I had that painful impression ofrejection. It felt like the rst time, when we werestill kids, and he didnt want to be with me. I hadno self-steem anymore and it would be a long andhard time to recover.

I was a vegan, but not many friends of mine would

shared the same principle. My non-vegan friendswere very understanding regarding my point ofview, but I still felt isolated from time to time.

And since veganism was a big part of me, withno relationship to be attached to, I wanted to de-velop my activist side. An animal rights group inthe USA had internship programs. I applied andwas accepted. Thirty days in Chicago, it was a bigchance and I was ready to go.


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Northern Conquerors


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Before this trip, I had a south american leftist idea

against the USA. For its nasty neocolonialist poli-tics, its support to the military revolutions in SouthAmerica on the 60s until the 80s and other dirtythings more. However, besides its arrogant poli-tics, I found out a counterculture somewhat mil-itant, a conscise activism and many vegan gour-met options.

During the fomenting time for this trip, I learnedabout Portland, known for its hippie and alter-native lifestyle oriented population. It had many

vegan places, like bakeries, supermarket andrestaurants. So I plotted my trip as: San Francisco,Portland, Chicago and New York.

About one year before, still in Brazil, I hosted anamerican girl from California, and we becamegood friends. She was in a world trip and by thetime I was going to her home country, she wouldbe abroad, so she suggested a friend of her thatcould host me. Also in Brazil, I hosted a colombian

guy, and I decided to add to my list Bogota, sinceI could have a stop over in the city. He wouldntbe there, but his friend would show me around.

From activism to gourmet tour, I had a craving todiscover what was out there for me. And whiledealing with my troubles at work and brokenheart, I started my trip to North America.

But before I continue this story, a quick retrospec

tive:

There was me, Anderson Santos, 26 years old,born in So Paulo, but living in a city called Curi-tiba, in Brazil.

About 9 years earlier I have left my mothers housein So Caetano do Sul, on my eighteenth birthdayto live alone in the capital of Paran state. The

journey between the two cities was not that longabout 6 hours by bus, but I didnt visit my family

and friends in So Paulo as oftem as I wanted.

In Curitiba I had my four dogs, lived in many hous-es with big garden, but the last one, far from thecity center. My relationship have recently endedand I had a stable job, but it didnt seem to takeme anywhere, except to the stagnation.

Nonetheless, I still had the most important, be-loved friends and a caring family.

In Curitiba, the vegetarian scene was not so bigbut promising. In an animal rights group that was involved with, I had participated on some pi-oneer events in the country for animal rights, likethe vegetarian street market and an animal rightsmovie festival.

The city had the basics for us, few veggie restau-rants with vegan options and easy to nd prod-ucts. The only thing that I was missing there was

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a place to buy cakes and other sweets.

As soon as I found out I could go to Chicago foran internship with an animal rights group, I hadno doubts I wanted to go. They provide housingwhich, on my limited budget, was the only way Icould do it.

I have managed to get 40 days of holidays atwork, despite the discontentment for being sucha long time, my boss didnt deny my request.

The plan was to stop in Bogota for few hours, thenSan Francisco for four days, Portland for four days,Chicago for thirty days and New York for four days.

Before the trip started, I went to So Paulo to vis-it my friends and family. And since I needed to

be at the airport at 6:30 in the morning, I stayedin a hotel nearby. Before sleeping, I looked for aTV channel in english. I was watching CNN, andAn- derson Cooper was on the screen until I feltasleep.

Next morning I got into the plane to Santiago,then I would continue to Miami where I would getthe nal leg to San Francisco. Im a cheap traveler.

While I was ying over Amazon forest I thought:

So far, this is the closest Ive got to here. I mustcome back soon. After few hours, I was in Bogo-ta.

I had 9 hours in the city. My host was waiting forme, and with my uent Spanese (spanish andportuguese) I survived a tour around, and hada huge surprise of running into another interna-tional traveler. A mexican girl that I have met fewmonths before in Brazil, she was also visiting Co-

lombia. The world is really small.The coincidence of meeting someone completelyunexpected, the vegan food and the feeling of fa-miliarity with the culture, left me with a very goodimpression of Bogota. Maybe I could live theresomeday. But it was already time to move on.

In Brazil was a bit annoying to get my americanvisa. I had to stand for hours in a line, collect manydocuments and papers. But now, I needed only

to be accepted in the country. I had everythingon me, the proof from the conference, americancontacts and my route with the plane tickets.

The passport was stamped without questioningbut I had to go through a second security guy. Helooked straight to me and asked what I was doingthere. I stuttered without being able to explain, he

just signed me to shut up and keep walking. I wasnally in the country.

It was odd that everyone who was working at theMiami airport was latin americans. I had the feel-ing that I was still in south america, except for theenglish signs. My ight to San Francisco woulddepart in few hours and I needed to have somesleep, on the airport oor. It was freaking cold thatnight and I regreted for not having a small blanket

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San Francisco

I traveled on to San Francisco, and had the hopethat I would nally discover a new and differentworld. From San Francisco airport, I needed to goto Berkley where I would stay. I have ordered aprofessional camera online, and she was waiting

for me at my hosts place.When I got out of the train station in Berkley, I wasstarving and I stumbled onto a mexican veganrestaurant right outside. Welcome to paradise -I thought. I bought something to eat and tried tond my way home. I got lost, as usual, but a wom-an helped me with a map and her smartphone, toshow me the way. I had a good start in the city.

I got to the address but there was nobody there,

I found the key. I had that fear and anxiety of be-ing alone in a strangers house. My camera waswaiting for me and I was ready to photograph.But I needed to go to the toilet rst. I sat on thetoilet while playing with my camera and heard astrange noise, I looked left and saw a chicken onthe shower. Where the hell was I?

This was my rst photo with the camera.

Later on, I found out that she was not the only

one there. They had another three outside, butfor some reason, that lonely one needed to beprotected in the shower for few days.


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In few hours my host would come, and I waitedwhile I was exploring that house full of peculiar-ities and looking up for things to do. She arrived,we talked a bit, and I plotted a trip around thecity. I left again, trying to assimilate all the novel-ties I was seeing. I went to restaurants, saw a nastybrazilian evangelical church, saw limousines and

homeless people. In some ways the city was notas exciting as I expected.

I went to the big gay area, many things to see butI didnt know what to think, I didnt liked or dis-liked it, somehow that place was just not for meat that time.


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I went back to Berkley, and had a long chat withhost and her housemates. One night we wentto watch a concert of a band. When I arrivedthere I found out it was Stereo Total and I reallylike them. I was surpised that it was fairly empty,with less then 100 people in the whole place for agroup that I thought was somewhat famous.

My San Francisco trip can be summed up onrestaurants and walks with no purpose. Not reallyexciting, but still, I knew I havent even scratchedthe surface of the city. I would need to come back.

Portland

When I arrived in Portland, I was really nervous. Icouldnt make contact with my host and I found

out that it was national holidays, Labor Day. I wentto look for a cheap place to stay, but no vacancies.

I had to stay in a more expensive hotel furtheraway from the city, and spend all my budget forthe four days in just one night. The next day Ifound a hostel to stay.

But while I was reasearching about Portland backin Brazil, I found a guy on twitter who lives there.His nickname had vegan and gay, quite con-

venient. We exchanged few messages, but I wasmostly following his harsh posts without reallyknowing him.

Even with the little contact we had, I decidedto write to him and tell my situation. He repliedpositively and I stayed at his place. It was a nicetime in the city. I went to the web developmentconference where I ran into a Brazilian friend, andgot in touch with some activists. I went to two of

my favorite vegan places in the world, including avegan bakery, and learned why Portland is knownas the vegan mecca.

In Portland there is a Vegan Iron Chef contest, theTryVegan festival, Live and Let Live conferenceand many grassroots groups. A guy explainedto me that the vegans in the city are somehowspoiled. I was in love with the city but I had tocontinue my trip to Chicago.


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Chicago

The anxiety was killing me. I wanted to be in Chi-cago because there, I would nally be somethingmore then a tourist. Few minutes after my arriv-al at the airport, I met with the coordinator, andstruggled with the language.

He drove a car in a trafc jam that reminded meof So Paulo, slow, noisy and very very long, untilwe arrived at the place where I would stay. I wouldstay with the director of the organization.

He gave me the bus ticket for the whole month,the address I must be the next morning, and I hadthe rest of the day to get to know the area. I wentto explore the neighbourhood but I was too excit-ed to enjoy.

The next day I went to the ofce, rang the bell,my still limited english was understood. I went upand saw the logo that for a long time I enamored.Finally the big day.

The work was easy, social media marketing, send-ing thank you letters to donators and ship goodssold on the online shop. In the following days myroutine was to search for places where they mightbe willing to include vegan options in their menu,leaeting on universities and other minor chores.

After Portland and its vegan options, I was slight-ly disappointed with the options in Chicago. Forbeing a bigger city, I thought it would have moreand better places. Of course, there were some re-ally good restaurants, but for its size, they werefew and it was always hard to get around. It re-minded me of why I decided to leave So Paulo.Im not a guy for big cities.

I loved to arrive in the ofce and to understandhow things works, very different from what I ex-pected. Everybody was always busy and the proj-ects take a while to happen and mature. It was anofce routine most of the time, but an ofce togive voice to animals.

Differently from other activist groups that I metbefore, they were exclusively focused on farmed

animals, because they were the biggest numberof abused animals for human purpose. So theydidnt have any department for other animals, likecircus and animal testing.

When I was out leaeting, it was inevitable to feeawkward. Somehow I was comparing myself tothose religious people talking about Jesus, thatI disliked so much. They explained to me thatleaetting happened in other social movementstoo , like womens suffrage and racial equality. Soits not a preaching thing, but necessary to raiseawareness.

And it was comforting to hear people who wouldsee me and tell me they become vegan becausethey got one of those leaets and they admirewhat I was doing.

I started to see the activism almost as a profes-sional thing. The organization do some undercov-er investigations on farms, le lawsuits againstfarmers and provide animal rights lectures. Theywere also supported by journalists and some ce-lebreties, in a sober and conscise way.

Somehow they were helping to show the animaabuse to the mainstream media, with an approachof social justice. Such approach, matured for years

by many different groups.

But not everything was roses for me. On an at-tempt to overcome my broken heart, I found outthat there would be a tea cerimony and a tradi-tional japanese concert in a city nearby, Cham-paign-Urbana. The japanase culture was the rstthing that connected me to my ex-boyfriend, andI wanted to go there, to see more of the countryand to try to deal with the hard feelings.

On the following friday I went by bus to the citymet an extremely friendly host that I contactedthrough CouchSurng and had some good timewith people that received me with open arms.

The tea cerimony lled me with good memoriesand some peace. It was in a japanese style houseso beautiful that I wish I could move in. My hostmanaged to give me a short university experi-


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ence, pretending that I was a freshman and I hada quick tour around the campus.My new friends took me to visit a pumpkin farmin the outskirsts. It was a stunning trip, with gor-geous colors, a perfect sunlight and good com-pany.

At night, my host took me to a play about anelephant that ran away from a circus, hurt somepeople and was killed by the circus owners. Qui-te a vegan plot, considering the writer was takingpart on the elephants side. Next day I would comeback to Chicago, but the short trip was importantto bring myself back to reality.

It was a good but hard time that I was having. Ihad no money and no time. I was working a lot,

and after work I would come back home and noidea of what to do. I had too much in my mind,and not much motivation. I knew very few people,and the broken heart was hurting as never. I wan-ted my safe comfortable place, but I didnt knowwhere it was.

I met an american guy who lived in Brazil andspeaks portuguese. He took me out for a drink.We had a good connection but sadly, not enoughtime together.

My mind was more and more back home, in mylife, what to do with my future. I felt like I neededto organize my heart and soul.

I decided that, when I am back to Brazil, I wouldnt

do the same things as before. Something neededto change, rst thing was the house situation. I se-arched for a new house on the internet, becausethe old one was too far away from the city centerI found one closer and asked my parents to rentit for me. That gave me enough hope for when come back.

In my last weekend in in town I decided to go to aclub called Berlin. I met one nice guy and he gaveme a tour around Chicago. That was the only timeI could relax a little more. Not to be an activistnot to be a loser, but I was there only as a touristSoon I had to leave.

The farewell at the organisation was touching. Agirl and I were ending our time there so we had agroup dinner with all colleagues together. The gir

gave me a very beautiful card, the Super Ander-son. And I also received a card with messagesfrom everybody at the ofce. I felt like I accom-plish something. It wasnt as I expected, I wantedto be more. But at that time, I was being the bestI could, and it was good enough.

My time in Chicago was over, but not time to gohome yet. Next stop, New York City.


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New York

I didnt have great expectations for the Big Apple.I had no idea what to do, what to see, what toexplore in the city. There were only two places Iwanted to visit: Babycakes and Candle79, a bake-ry and a fancy vegan restaurant.

My host was really friendly and helpful, took me toa tour around the city, we went to a raw restaurantnear his place but I expected more of it. The foodwas bland, if not tasteless. The city for me was justlike So Paulo, but prettier.

I wasnt excited for NYC, but still happy. And atthat moment, after I have experienced all that Iwanted from the USA, my life was all about food.

I ate a delicious vegan sushi, with fake tuna and

mayo, veggie salmon and schrimp, at a restaurantthat was recommended by the Chicago people.

On my way to the restaurant though, I had a bigsurprise. I ran into the rst and only famous personI met there. But not any famous person, but theonly famous person with a rst name like mineAnderson Cooper. And I have seen him on TV thenight before I got my ight to the USA. It was hardfor me to not talk to him, but I didnt want to actlike an annoying fan, and after all, Im not reallyhis fan.

It was four really intense days. I saw a lot but assi-milated very few. Too many places to see, restau-rants, activists, meeting a brazilian vegan bloggerwho lived there. Soon my time was almost overThe last night I spent with some really nice peo-

ple, that I also met through my american couch-


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surfer. Somehow I didnt want to leave the coun-

try, but at the same time I just wanted to be backhome in Brazil.

I got the ight early in the morning, and ran intoa friend from Curitiba in So Paulo. Too many co-incidences that made me realize that the world isreally small.

I also found out I bought the tickets to Curitiba forthe wrong dates, so more money spent and morewaiting time until I could be home.

My parents were waiting for me in my new house

I just wanted to be there as soon as possible.The new house was only 15 minutes away fromthe city center by bike. There were two big parksin the surrounding and other nice spots.

Life looked like it would settle again... or not re-ally.


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New Brazilian Skies


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The new house was not so big and had a fairlysized garden.

It was one big house split in two. My mom alreadtold me: Anderson, the new neighbour also likes

yoga, vegetarianism and has dogs, I think you willget along really well with her.

The dogs could join some others on the weeke-nds at the park, even though it was always a chal-lenge to go out with four dogs on the leash. Mynew neighbour was so nice that it felt like we wereliving in a small community.

After a while I found out that she was in a very sim-ilar situation to mine. Recently ended a long term

relationship, was insecure about her future andinstead of Australia, country that I was planning togo again, she wanted to live in New Zealand.

Together we planned our future. She was going to

Auckland. As an english teacher, she neededsome experience abroad. I had all planned to goto Australia, to see where life would take me fromthere. But I had no more hope regarding the rstvegan guy I met years ago.

A german friend was in Brazil and was living withme in Curitiba for three months. He helped meto go through all my conicts and to see Germa-ny not as pictured by the immigrants that cameto Brazil or the bavarian ideal that sometimes we

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have from the mainstream media. But as a friendlyand quiet country to visit, and perhaps to live in.And after getting used to it, the language. is notthat horrible.

I sorted out to work from home, cleared up withmy friends in Australia and with my family in SoPaulo. I was going to hit the road again, or the sky.

Before I left Brazil, I had an interesting farewell. Ididnt want just to visit friends, but also to see cit-ies that I havent been yet. My new neighbour wasoriginally from Brasilia, she was going to spendsome time with her family and invited me to comeover. My ights to Australia would stop in PortoAlegre. I had some people I wanted to visit overthere, so I added it to my list.

First I went to the middle of the country, Brasilia.My impression was that it was a big and emptycity. It was good to meet my neighbour and mygerman friend who was already with her.

While my neighbour was driving us to her fami-lys place, I saw thos iconic buildings that I haveonly seen on the TV. There is where all the bigdecisions for the country are made and all nastypoliticians are hidden.

I also saw some soldiers raising the country agwhich made me realize that there is still the for-mality inherited from our colonizers. Was nice tosee, even though I dont completely agree.

There was something special about the citysomething pretty but not really obvious. I triedto understand what was going on but it was get-ting dark already. We nally arrived at my friendshouse, a homestead less then an hour away fromBrasilia.

I met her family, the dogs and the chickens. Therewas that smell of country life that I didnt smelsince I was a child, at my aunts farm. The nos-talgia of a peaceful and easy life, that the cities lived in lost it long time ago.

The next morning I woke up early as usual, andwent to the garden. The sky was of an eye-catch-ing bright pink color. I ran back to the room, tryingto make as little noise as possible, even with althe excitement I was going through, to not wakeup the others. I got my camera and went back tothe garden. I took photos that couldnt capturethe beauty of what I was seeing.


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After the breakfast, a ranch style breakfast, witheverything fresh, I had to go to the post ofcein the city center. It was a funny squared modernstyle building. At rst I didnt really like it, but af-ter a while there was something in it that was verynice. The architecture from Brasilia, I realized. Istarted to see how charming it is on its own way.

I liked it then.On the way back home, more delight with the col-ors of the wide sky.

The next morning we walked around the woodsnearby. We visited the farmstead next to us, witha big wooden oven, and a cauldron with a cashewsweet been cooked.

We walked to a river, I heard stories and felt thesurrounding nature, I saw a slaughterhouse thatwas on the other side of the hill, and the neigh-bours cat was following us, like a dog, during thewhole time of our walk.

For more photos and experience, I decided to

wake up early the next day. To see they openingthe gates for the cows to go to the pasture, andthe beautiful sky. This time I had my camera readybut still not enough photography skills to captureit.

We walked more around and went to some deli-cious vegan ice cream. My friend told me a clichabout the city: Brasilia doesnt have a sea, buthas the sky. Then I found out that I was hypno-


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tized by something everybody already knew. Thesky of Brasilia.

The next day I went back to So Paulo, said goodbye to my family and friends, then continued my

trip to Porto Alegre.

There I met some friends that I already knew,some that I only knew online and someone spe-cial who made me want to never leave the city,nding his way straight to my heart.

The city itself is not so pretty, but has many veganplaces and its a very lively city. Just like So Paulo,but in decent proportions.

Meeting friends that I knew for years online, drinkmate tea, and going to parties where I actually en-

joyed with people who made me feel completelyintegrated.

My mind was a complete mess, my heart was con-fused, I didnt want to leave there, and within few

days I had to say good bye.

Two of my friends took me to the airport. I wasafraid, really afraid. But they were there with me.

We said good bye and hugged the last comfor-ting hug that I would have for a while, of peoplewho I really know. I started my journey with noidea where it would take me. My heart sank.

A fearless hug. Hugs of a friend, hugs of brazilian

friends.


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I have already been to Australia ve years before.

And I also had a quick stop in Chile and NewZealand. Many good memories from this rst tripabroad. I knew some people in the country al-ready, so I wasnt going to a completely foreignplace.

But the situation was different, I was going with-out really knowing why. I just wanted to be some-where really far away. I wanted to see new things,

to have new experiences, speak new languagesand forget the past. A good friend was takingcare of my dogs and my house in Brazil. I didnthave any more worries, except the work I woulddo from home, wherever home was at the mo-ment.

South AustraliaMy goal was Adelaide, because of my old lover,and because I also knew a girl who lives there thatI met through CouchSurng while she was vistingBrazil.

When I arrived there, my friend picked me up atthe airport. He lived with his ex-boyfriend whichwas a strange situation, but I knew it already.

My life there turned up to be of cultural shock,conict of expectations and a generalized andunspoken fear. Both of us were worried to openouserlves, each of us for our own reason.

With my australian friend, even with all the con-icts, we did a lot of things together and heopened my mind to new things. Listening his opin-ions I realized I was an atheist and lerned aboutnatural sciences. But somehow he was expectingsome gratitude that I had but I didnt know how

to express it.

Instead of a natural response, my gratitudes al-ways felt forced. There was a lack of trust be-tween us, which coming from a country with anopen hearted culture, was really hard to deal with

On our travels, I saw the most blue waters of mylife and also koalas and kangaroos, many kanga-roos.

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While we were camping next to some kanga-roos, I was thinking how nice to live in a countrywhere there are almost no predator. Then I re-membered of a short movie I watched when I waschild about the last Tasmanian Tiger of theworld, which made me sad for the planet.

Another childhood memory was my wish to seea tasmanian devil and a platypus. The devil I sawon my visit to a park, he didnt look anything likeWarner Bros Taz. The Platypus, sadly I only sawait stuffed in a museum, alongside with the Tas-manian Tiger.

To learn about activism I joined him in some in-vestigations on rodeos and horse racing, I helpedanother group with their website against live ex-

port, and I felt very active, even though the activ-

ism there was really different from what I am usedto.

After a while, there was a clear barrier betweenus. Even though he was doing a lot for me to in-tegrate, I felt he didnt want me to integrate. started to help in a caf for a short time to see if could have a culinary future, but I wasnt success-ful. And that made me even more insecure aboutmyself.

I felt like I was a loser.

Also during this time, I got a message from myex-boyfriend in Brazil: I am pretty sure I saw Ritaon the streets. I tried to come back to catch herbut I couldnt.

One of my dogs was on the streets? I had a terri-


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ble feeling and called one of my friends who takecare of them. Where are my dogs?. No wordson the other side of the line. Where-are-my-dogs?, I asked again. They ran away, was theanswer. All of them? - I said without knowingwhat reaction I was going to have. All of them,he said.

It happened before. When somebody opens thegate they try to run away but after few minutes orhours they would be back. But then I found outthey were missing for more then a week.

I had the feeling I lost everything that was hometo me: I lost my love, I lost my kids.

There was no more joy, and no more self-steem. Icouldnt do anything, I felt like I lost all that made

myself complete. My life in Curitiba had an end,and somehow, after that news, my life had an end.

I cried like never before, for many nights. My fault.I didnt microchiped them as I should have done.The house wasnt safe enough for them. I shouldhave never left Brazil.

I looked for days on lost dogs websites in mytown, looking for any clue that would lead me tothem. No even one clue.

I will never see my babies again. Never.

As the time passed, it was getting harder andharder at my friends place. I felt unwelcome andI just didnt know how to behave. There were apressure, and I was still trying to go through allthat I lost in Brazil and what I was doing in a for-eign country.

It was a painful time. To relax, I used to take thebike and go around the city and the hills. I metanother brazilian, who was living with his familyand we could make company for each other, go-ing out, and sharing struggles with the culture.

The situation got to a point I had to move out, soI talked to my other friend to see if she could hostme. She had a spare room that I could stay.

She used to live with her sister and her brother-in

-law, which happened to be another brazilian guyThey supported me when I needed, in fact theywere all the support I had at the time. I met a guywhich comforted me for a short time, but he wasleaving the city, moving to Brisbane.

The closer my visa was getting to expire, moreI was thinking what to do about my life. I wan-ted to go to Japan, but I couldnt get a visa fromAustralia as a tourist, only from Brazil. I was alsocompletely broke but I didnt want to go backhome, because there was nothing left that I couldrecognize as a home. I had friends and family, butnowhere I wanted to be.

My neighbour from Curitiba was already in NewZealand, so I decided to call her to see if she hada place for me. She said yes, and then I started

planning to go to the Lord of the Rings countryof only 4 million inhabitants, and I was alreadythinking that the 20 million in Australia were notenough.

Due my time with the german friend in Brazil, still had Germany as a second option. So I deci-ded to install some german language apps on myphone to distract myself while I was dealing withthe hard feelings and preparing to move on.

New Zealand seemed to be my best option at themoment, if not my only option.


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A little australian tour

On my rst trip to Australia, ve years before, Iwent to Sydney and to the Outback, got stuck inthe middle of the desert due a ooding and sawthe clearest sky camping at night. I also went toAdelaide and Melbourne. Good memories.

This time I was only in South Australia, and beforeI could leave the country, I had to renew my pass-port because it was about to expire. The best waywas to go to the brazilian embassy in Canberra,

allowing me to see that part of the country.

I had a good but short time in the city. I metmore friendly people through Couchsurng andI realized that I didnt have any trouble with thelanguage there. South Australians actually had aspecic accent that gave me a hard time to un-derstand. For example, it was impossible for meto differentiate when they say bowl and ball.

Canberra for me was a bit like Brasilia. A plan-

ned city, with huge empty spaces and a manmadelake. I borrowed a bike from my host and met nice

people all around and had the best mock duckever.

Since I wanted to see more of the country, I de-cided to go by bus from Canberra to Melbournemy favourite city in Australia.

When it comes to size, traveling in Australia is likeBrazil. You sit in a bus for hours, before you getanywhere. And between Canberra and Melbour-

ne was about 7 hours by bus, seeing mostly thatsemi-arid australian vegetation.

In Melbourne I had already friends that I met onmy last trip to Australia, and there was the onlyplace which I somehow felt safe. It was a big reliefto be back to that city, and I asked myself many ti-mes why the heck I didnt try to live in Melbournebefore? It has a great vegan scene, the best veg-an cakes and pies Ive ever had and even dough-nuts. But now it was too late, I had to y away.


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At the airport, some minutes before boarding, Igot a message from my work in Brazil. The web-

site is ofine and we cant put it back online. Ihad to x it, so I tried to use the internet but soonI had to shut down my electronics because wewere taking off.

When I arrived in New Zealand I got 6 monthsof visa. I was relieved, no stress for the next halfyear, but I still had to x the website in Brazil. Itwould took more then one hour for me to get tomy friends place, so I had to use internationalroaming. I was A$20 poorer and the website was

still not up. I started to realize that traveling andworking wont be any easy.

It was evening and I was almost at the new place.It was in Devonport, the other side of the city, andI now I just needed to take a ferry, which made fora very charming and expensive reception.

It was a great feeling to see someone who youknow well again, and she made everything so that

I could feel at home there. The other roommateswere also really nice and I felt like I had a safeplace to rest.

We went to the supermarket and I wanted to ndout what was available for me. In Australia it wasfairly easy to nd vegan food, even on major su-permarkets. There I found some of my favour-ite foods, like australian vegan sausages, but ofcourse, a bit pricey to make up for the shipping.Later I found out that not only local products, but

on asian markets they had a wide range of veganoptions too.

Next morning I noticed that I had a great viewof the sea from the window, somehow magical. went for a walk in the city center, I already knewAuckland from my last trip, but now it was withnew eyes. I wasnt the astonished naive touristanymore, I was just a new resident.

First I did what I always do in a new place, tried tond where I can buy everthing I need. Asian mar-ket, affordable fruits and veggies, vegan restau-

rants, and so on. But everything in Auckland weresomehow inaccessible, a bit far away, and I alwaysneeded some public transport or a fair walk. Addto it the fact that the main shopping street is actu-ally a big hill, so you are always up or down.

Just before dusk, I came back home and wantedto see the hill behind my place. I went up with-out knowing what I was going to nd. My friendalready told me that there are many sleeping vol-

canoes around Auckland, but I wasnt expectingthat it would have one just behind us. It was abeautiful place. And the more I walked up, themore I noticed that around the city, on the hori-zon, I could see the others. I felt like in JurassicPark, with all those connections straight to insidethe Earth, that date from before any human being have lived.

The view was breathtaking. I saw a lady with herdog, sitting there and just watching the twilight

Sleeping Volcanoes


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painting the horizon. I realized that I was in apiece of heaven.

I really enjoyed the city wonders, the almost dai-ly ferry trips, the routine and the new friends. Itwas slowly gluing back the pieces of my heart.But even though I was happy, there was sometingabout Auckland that was not right for me.

It wasnt Devonport and the ferry, it wasnt myfriends or the hilly shopping street. It was some-thing else. I needed to see more of the country.

I booked 10 bus tickets around the country,choosed my destinations and after few weekssince my arrival, I was getting ready to hit theroad again.


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Te first tour around the island

On every new stop, more I was blown away by thecountry. In Wellington, capital of New Zealand, Iwas hosted by a friend that I met in Auckland. Iwas starving and we went to a restaurant, almostmidnight. It was late and it wasnt a strictly veg-

gie place, nevertheless, they had vegan lasagna,cake and much more.

I felt like that city was special, but next morning Ihad to take my ferry to the south island.

Crossing by sea the north and south islands wasone of the most beautiful experiences I have everhad, and I was lucky for the clear sunny day. Ireached Picton and met an australian guy who Ialso got to know in Auckland, he offered to drive

me south to Christchurch.

When I arrived in my destination, the rst thing noticed was the sky and its brilliant colors. I feltlike in Brasilia, but with more pastel tones.

There I was hosted by a very sweet girl, who washosting another friend of her visiting town. Meand the other girl got along well and I promisedto visit her in Spain later, where she lives.

My host and another friends were getting readyto perform a play in a house party not far fromthere and I joined them. The owner was an illus-trator and the house was full of personality. Afterthe party, I came back home feeling complete.

In Christchurch was also my rst contact with nat-


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ural disasters. The city center was still being re-build after an earthquake that destroyed manybuildings and affected the swampy areas.

Also in Christchurch I saw snow for the very rsttime in my life. I felt like nothing could go wrong.

I had to keep my travels through Queenstown toMilford Sounds, one of the most famous spots inthe country.

After it, I head north back to Auckland. I wantedto see a glacier, so I would stop at Franz JosefGlacier, where I would spend the night in a hostel.

There were two ways to get to the glacier, bybus or by a long walk. I was broke, so I decidedto walk, even though it was only few hours untithe sunset. When I was getting closer, there werethree paths, each of them would take closer tothe glacier. I took the rst one, didnt like muchthe view took a photo and walked the third unti

the glacier. Funny enough, one of my favouritephotos were from the view of the rst path, whichI though was a very boring until I saw the picture.

The glacier was magical but was getting late. walked back lonely, through the complete dark-ness, guiding myself along the track between thetrees. I knew there were nobody in a range of do-


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zen kilometers, and there were no reception formy mobile phone. I was scared but extremely ex-cited. And within a couple of hours I was at thehostel.

Next day, I hopped on the bus, crossing the WestCoast while stopping for sightseeings. The forestreminded of Brazil. We stopped to eat at one ofthe most horrible places I have ever been, thatserves bambi burger and had a sticker Cat,the new white meat, refering to possums.

Feeling offended by that place, I just went backto the bus and ate the food I brought with myself.I was prepared, knowing they wouldnt have any-thing vegan on the road, except french fries.

Back to Auckland, I was happy with my friends but

I didnt feel like it was my place, so I decided totry something new, I choosed Christchurch.

Christchurch

I couldnt reach my rst host, so I was going tocouchsurf another place, near the beach.

My new host was a lady that became a really goodfriend. She lived alone with her cat, but the hou-

se was somehow always busy with visitors. Shehad a spare room that I rent for few months, near-by there was a library with a gorgeous view to thebeach, fast internet, many vegan cookbooks avai-lable and the whole collection of Neil GaimansSandman comic books. I couldnt ask for more.

One night I woke up a bit dizzy, without knowing

what was it. I felt something again, it was an ear-thquake! I was a bit worried but nothing big ha-ppened. I learned after that it was an aftershockJust the land trying to ll the gap created by thereal earthquake.

I had a great time in the city and met many newgood friends, but something was still missing, andeverybody told me that Wellington might be theplace for me. I needed to extend my visa, becau-se it was almost 6 months already. Due the earth-quake, the local immigration ofce was closed. had no option but to go to Wellington.

There I was hosted by some vegans and wantedto see what the city had to offer. I found a reallygood job, but they couldnt take me unless I geta working visa. I extended my tourist visa, made

new friends and found a room. I decided to try tosee what makes that city so special.

Wellington

I went back to Christchurch, said good bye to myfriends, packed up my bag and went to Welling-ton.

When I arrived there, in a sunny quiet morning,

felt like thats my place. The landscape was gor-geous, and I had a very active life. I joined a startup project but I failed, I wasnt ready for any bigcommitments. I spent christmas and new yearswith a brazilian couple who helped me on mystruggles. I fell in love with a german guy whowas studying there, and I went through all sortsof good and bad feelings. The city was a smal


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metropolis. You could nd almost anything youwanted, and it feels always alive. Soon I was sointegrated that I felt for the rst time since I leftBrazil, I was really at home.

In Wellington I also learned about the Mori pe-ople, the native islanders. I went to a marae, akind of community building where a lady explai-ned to me all about their culture. Then I realizedhow little I knew about the indigenous people inBrazil.

Still in Wellington, I met a Craftvism group, thatduring the time of Occupy Wall Street, did anOccupy Blanket, made out of patches with poli-tical messages. I really liked the idea and offeredto bring alongside my world trip. Having as naldestination, Wall Street, in NYC.

My world traveler american friend, who I met inBrazil, was in China by then and she decided tocome to New Zealand so we could travel toge-ther.

We planned the dates, some people joined us, werented a car and traveled to for two weeks. It wasmy longest road trip so far. We were camping andexploring the country. For the rst time I sufferedfor not knowing how to drive. It was three people

driving, and two guys without a drivers license.

Even during this trip, my head was at my work,

on my ex-boyfriend, on the german lover, and theunknown future. All these worries caused stress inthe group, but it was an amazing trip neverthe-less.

On the end of our journey, a friend was going todo woong in a houseshed in a beautiful Soundin the south Island. Me and my american friendwere invited to come along for few days and had one of the best moments of my life. Kayakingalong the sounds, with an amazingly clear waterthat had a temperature not so cold, not warm. Tothe touch, the water felt like I was touching someethereal substance, and up on the horizon, a min-dblowing view.

Once again, my visa in the country was about toexpire, and since I didnt manage to get a working

holiday visa, I had to leave. Japan was not an op-tion, Thailand and other countries didnt appeato me at that time, so I decided to go straight toEurope, and as a main destination, Germany andperhaps after that, Wall Street in New York.

I needed an outward ticket from Europe, so booked a trip to Russia, a country that always in-trigued me.

My next few months were nally planned.


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The Old World


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My rst stop was Paris. I couldnt nd a host forme but luckily my american friend came to myrescue and connected me with her former host

there. The stop after would be Chambry to meetsome good brazilian friends living there.

Paris was nice but challenging. Even though I havestudied french for over a year in Brazil, I found outthat I didnt know aything anymore. I could readfrench with no problem, but to speak was com-pletely different, and I could just communicate inenglish.

The city was charming, and my host very friendly.But apart from that, I had a hard time to socializein the city. I wondered whether it was a problemwith Paris or Europe in general. After all, in NewZealand it didnt take long to meet interestingand friendly people.

While in Paris I had a big project at work to nishand I didnt have enough time to enjoy the city asmuch as I wanted. I was stuck indoors most of thetime. I would go for a walk around later afternoon

and evenings. While indoors, we would cook andwatch The Simpsons in french.

When I went to the Louvre, I walked for hours,until it was almost time to close. I had to rush be-cause I still wanted to see Monalisa, so I startedto search it and a girl stopped me and asked: Doyou know where Monalisa is?. We laughed, es-pecially after we gured out we both were Brasil-ians. Both looking for Monalisa. Both late.

Back home, my host, a photographer gave mesome tips and techniques on taking photos.

My time in Paris came to an end, I had to continueto Chambry, to meet my friends and to see therest of France.

One was waiting for me, and I had to hold mytears when we met. That fearless hug, of whomwe trust. A friendly hug. A brazilian hug.

I was home again.

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After few hours we met a common friend, we wereall a group of friends from Curitba. We talked andtraveled around a bit, cooked some food and itwas enough to put myself together again, and tofeel that the world is still a safe place.

I was strong and I would miss them, but I had tokeep traveling and make my way to Lyon and afterthat Barcelona. I had a ride share from Chambryto Lyon, my rst time doing it. The driver couldonly speak french, but I somehow managed it.

In Lyon I had a hard time as a vegan tourist. It wasalmost impossible to nd anything around to eat,and although I was hosted by an almost veganfamily, I struggled quite a bit with the culture andlanguage, because they didnt really speak en-glish and I had to talk on my very limited french.

I survived Lyon and was in love with the old town.

Meanwhile I got in touch with a guy from Vien-na through a vegetarian social network and alsoplanned to visit him afterwards.

Now it was time to hop on the bus and go to Barcelona.

SpainIt was a night bus and I arrived in Barcelona veryearly in the morning. From there I had to take atrain to a city nearby to meet my friend.

After I got to her house, she had to work and Iwent to walk around the city, but I noticed therewere many gay ags hanging around. Back to theapartment I asked her what was that about. Shetold me the city is Sitges, one of the gay capitalsin Europe.


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She also explained to me that few days earlierthey had the Carnival there, and it was the rsttime I heard about Carnival outside Brazil, onein Sitges, one in Cologne. Apart from the one in

Venice, of course.

In Spain, after a long time I nally had the chanceto eat really fresh fruits and vegetables, and mostimportantly, affordable. Then I realized how muchI missed it back in Oceania. I went for short walksaround the city and enjoyed the sea, but it wastoo cold to swim still.

After few days my time in Sitges was over andI was going to stay in Barcelona, my friend toldme about the Monastery of Monserrat, a beautifulstone building placed in a rocky mountain. I wentthere to check it out.

For my surprise, they had many vegan productstoo. But the specialty was a stone ground choco-late. It was one of the most delicious thing I haveever had. It was crunchy and hard, but differentfrom any kind of chocolate I have tried, it had alsosome spices, like cinammon chocolate.

I was looking for people to hang out with on theinternet, and I stumbled upon a guy who wasinterested on tea cerimony in China, Korea and

Japan. I only knew the japanese one, becausemy ex-boyfriend used to do it. So it was a good

opportunity to broader my knowledge about asiaWe met at a traditional chinese tea house in thecity and I learned about his experiences in asiancountries, and that different from the chinese and

japanese alphabet, korean has a normal phoneticalphabet with a funny way to write it.

It was end of February, I met a guy who told me itwas season of Calots, a kind of green onion thatthey grill, and you eat them with a creamy sauce.

He rst told me, too bad its not vegan, but wegured out it actually was and I could eat my rstvery traditional and vegan food in Europe.

While in New Zealand, a kiwi friend connectedme to one of his friends in Europe. He workedfor the Cirque du Soleil and always travels arou-

nd, which I found fascinating. He was in Barcelonawith the circus.

We went out for a coffee and he kindly offered meto watch the show that night. I went accompaniedby one of my new hosts. I was delighted.

Barcelona couldnt have been better. I left thereas if it was my own city, and felt tempted to comeback sometime, perhaps for good.


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Vienna

Austria was the rst place I was going where Ididnt know anything about the language. I lear-

ned few german words using some apps on myphone, but I wasnt even able to order a coffee.

I was hosted by a vegan guy and his friends, allmusicians. They had a group where they sangsome satirical songs. I felt extremely comfortablein the short but friendly stay. I walked around thecity and took many photos, some of my all timefavourites, including one of a guy with a giraffemask that was walking on the street for a movieor something.

One night I went to my friends show, I couldntunderstand a word, but I liked the melody andwas a pleasure to see everybody laughing with

them on every joke-song.I went nally to my next, and somehow, nal des-tination. Germany.

I had no idea what to expect and was really ner-vous and excited. But I had a good feeling aboutit. I was tired of jumping around and needed tosettle, even though my plans so far were RussiaLondon, USA, and south america by bus until would reach Brazil again. If I could survive the trip


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Searching for a new home


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First city in Germany was Munich, I was hosted

by a vegan girl and her atmates. She was goingthrough a life change too, and was good to talkand think about our lives and experiences.

In the city I went to some of my favourite restau-rants here in Europe, a vegan restaurant with atraditional german approach and a vegan japa-nese tea house. On the weekend I stumbled upona vegan festival that was happening in the city. Itcouldnt be a better way to start my trip throughGermany and consolidate it as the most vegan

friendly country in Europe, in my opinion.

When I went back home, my host had few friendsaround. One of them have seen me at the teahouse and we become friends after that.

My german friend from Hamm messaged me, andas a joke, told me I should try the Bavarian tra-dional foods, weibier and the weiwurst,laughing because I dont drink alcohol and Im

vegan. I found both in an anderson-friendly ver-sion. Alcohol free white beer and vegan whitesausage. I had the vegan bavarian experience.

Thinking about him was hard, because I still hadthe feelings from our time in New Zealand. Hewas going to host me for some days at his familysplace and show me around, and after that I wasgoing to Dortmund for the a vegan cake class.

On the way to Hamm, I stopped rst in Cologne

to see the famous Cathedral, and I stayed with avegan man and his daughter. I spoke in englishwith him, but she could only speak german andfrench. And once more I had to use my limitedfrench to communicate.

But I couldnt see much interesting thing in Co-logne, and I was only thinking about the one whowas coming to pick me up soon.

Few days later he came to drove me up to his

hometown, while we talked about life and plansMy heart sank when he told me he was back tohis boyfriend and that I would forget him at themoment his cold heart touches mine. But I washappy and grateful for having him as a friend.

He showed me castles, statues, told me storiesand I could see the country from a different per-spective. It was another world, and felt it wasexactly like the Germany we picture from a third

world perspective. A quite and nice life, withbeautiful nature and friendly people.

It was a great but a tough time. The mixed feel-ings were hard to deal with, and I was still strug-gling with the lack of future for myself.

I wanted to keep traveling and see where lifewould nally take me. During that time, I got amessage from a brazilian friend who was living inBerlin. I didnt know she was there, since I was for

Searching for a new home


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so long abroad, but nally I had a connection inGermanys capital.

From Hamm, we drove down to Dortmund formy vegan cooking class. During that time I gotin touch with a company in Frankfurt about a joband also planned to visit the main ofce of an an-imal rights group there, that I helped the austra-lian branch a while before.

The life in Germany started to take shape.

Dortmund somehow I saw as the Portland of Ger-many. A small city, but with an alternative scenethat stands out. They had a vegan supermarketand a vegan caf, which was hosting a cake dec-oration class.

I couchsurfed with a girl that we easily connected

My classes were all in German with some expla-nations in english only for me, but I learned a lotand back to my hosts place, we were cooking


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and baking together to put in practice what I justlearned. We also practiced some photographyand we had few days of fun.

I went to Frankfurt to visit the company and theanimal welfare group. It was the beginning of thespring, and I had a colorful reception of the ow-ers and the trees. Frankfurt was the only city inGermany so far that looked like a modern west-ern city, with its many high glass buildings.

There I also saw the biggest population of peopleon suits and tuxedos. And the Blockuppy, relatedto the occupy movement, was there, protestingagainst, social injustices, the bankers and wealthycompanies in the city.

I stayed in a hostel because I couldnt nd any

couch. The job interview was ne, and the organ-isation was also quite pleasant, but I noticed thattheir approach is not exactly my approach to an-imal rights.

I booked my trains to Bamberg and I was on myway to meet the friend who lived with me back inCuritiba. It was nice to see him. He was living withhis mother and the two cats. His mother doesntspeak english, so we talked a little bit in German,and I could explain about my familly, my niece

and my trip. I was feeling already integrated inthe country.

After few days with them, we would take the roadto Leipzig, city that he used to live. We wouldstop to pick up another friend, she was turning18 that day, so I made a cake to celebrate her rstyear of adulthood.

She lived in Weimer, and somehow the name of

the city sounded familiar, but it wasnt like a nameI heard from the TV or from history books, it wassomewhere in a specic time and space. He toldme her address, I looked up on the map, she was

just accross the street from Bauhaus Universitt.Aha! I knew it. I learned about the city on the arthistory books. After meeting her we went to walkaround the university, but they explained to methat the best buildings were actually in Dessau.

But still it felt like I have found a very secret trea-


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sure. Then we went to our next destination.

Leipzig was the rst city in Germany that I felt likeI could live in. We stayed with a vegan guy, whohas also vegan cats, whats rare even among veg-etarians, and I felt very comfortable. It remindedme of my dogs. The city had also good veganrestaurants and a young lively community.

We went for a walk around the neighborhood.Near the house there was a park, kind of a zoo,but you could just walk in. It had some wild ani-mals. In another part of the city, there was a biglake that we visited, and made up for a nice view.

But I felt that the nature there is not something Ireally enjoyed.

Soon I would be in the famous Berlin. At somepoint, thats all I could think of. After being bornin So Paulo, big cities are not so exciting for meanymore. But the german capital was, somehow,still promising.

While I was talking to my friend about easterngermany, I realized that we were close to Prague,and he told me it was closer from Leipzig thenfrom Berlin to there. I knew a raw foodist guy inPrague and contacted him. He was open to host

me for few days. It would take me a bit longer toget to Berlin, but I would have the chance to seeanother country, and struggle with another lan-guage. I said good bye to my friends and headedeast to Czech Republic.

Prague

I got a ride share, and when I arrived in Prague,the couple who drove me didnt have a GPS and

got lost. We arrived in the city but they didntknow how to take me to the city center, so theydropped me off somewhere near a bus stop. And

just before we arrived, we were talking and I real-ized that Czech Republic dont use EURO!

I was lost in the city with 50 in my pocket. Luck-ily I saw an ATM there. I went to get some cashout, and I had the options of: 1000, 3000, 5000,10000. I was just going to spend the weekend,

how much is a lot of money, and how much is lit-

tle money? I went for the third option, guessing itwould be somewhere around 40.

I went to the bus stop, there was no map and didnt know which direction to take. I asked somepeople but none of them could speak english. saw on the other side of the street the ticket ma-chine, and next to it, three drunk and agressivemen shouting while the police was coming tocalm them down. I walked to the machine, theystarted shouting again, this time at my direction

The machine accepted only coins and I had notesNot the best reception in the city.

I walked to a store in front of the bus stop to buysomething and get some change. Luckily it wasa organic shop and they had some vegan stuffbut I didnt buy much because my host was rawfoodist, or better to say frutarian, and I promisedmyself I would only eat what he eats at his place.


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I asked the seller if she speaks english, she shakedher head and mumbled some things in czech. Igot the change, thanked her and walked out thestore.

I looked around and saw a young guy around 20years old, and asked if he speaks english. Ofcourse I do, he replied. Finally! I explained tohim where I wanted to go, and he told me, youget the bus X, get out on the stop Y then take thetrain Z.

Ok, all names were in czech, I started to mentallyrepeat the name of the stop to not forget, he goton the bus and told me your bus must be thenext!.

I had to run to buy the tickets before the bus ar-

rives. When I was getting closer to the machine,more nasty czech words were shouted at me. I re-alized that there were some english explanationson the machine, but it was too late, I just wantedto get out of there, so I pushed the rst buttonand grabbed the ticket. The bus arrived, I hurriedup and jumped in. I was still repeating the nameof the bus stop in my head, but everytime a newstop was announced, more it sounded wrong theone I had on my head. After about 15 minutes astop that sounded right. I got off, looked right

and saw a subway entrance. Finally.

I made my way to the city center, I found my hostand had some rainy days and a long walks aroundPrague. Eating basically fruits, and one day I hada raw meal and the last day I couldnt resist andate cooked food at Loving Hut, the only all veganrestaurant open.

I left Prague with no deep memories, just happy

to go back to Germany, where at least I could un-derstand some basic words.

After almost 2 months in Europe and almost 1 andhalf year in total travelling, I was starting to feeltired to be on the road and wanted really badly tond a place to call home.


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Berlin

I was checking my trip plans again. Stay for fewweeks in Berlin, go to Russia since I already hadthe tickets, then London to visit friends and thenwould go to the USA. After that, I would try togo down to Colombia, practice some spanish andride south by bus towards Brazil.

Sounded like a dream plan. But on the other hand,I had no more energy to travel. My body asked forpeace. My brain asked to be sane again.

I arrived past midnight in Berlin, in a very weirdplace in the city center. Concrete and construc-tion sites all around. Looks like the whole Ger-many is still being rebuilt, on every city I went to,there were some road constructions.

I got into the subway with some people from thecar share that came with me from Prague. I askedan american girl The place I have to go is closeto the Rathaus, do you know where is it?. Whichone? There are many Rathaus here, she replied.Rathaus Neuklln, I showed her on my phone be-cause I had no idea how to pronounce it.

Take the line 8 and then change to Line 7, butstop at Hermannplatz and not in Hermannstrae,ok?. And then she ran to catch her train that was

coming.

So many new names. I saw my train coming too, got in, looked at the map and nally understoodwhat she meant. I sat there and looked all thosepeople around. Young and adults, all kind of na-tionalities, style, and languages. It was a fridaynight and everybody was going to parties. I satdown and made myself comfortable, nobody was

looking, nobody noticed me.

I think I will like here, I thought, while I enjoyedto be an invisible tourist.

I arrived at my new place, the neighborhood wasstill awake somehow, some people in bars and atthe convenience stores. Mostly middle easternlooking people, maybe immigrants. I found theplace, rang the bell and went to meet my friend.

Almost everybody at the at could speak portu-guese.

I saw my new room, a small, dark and windowlessroom, full of stuff. But with a warm and soft bedand people who I instantly connected. I felt safethere.

On the following days I met people, explored thecity, the trains, the vegan places, the queer par-ties, the fetish clubs and the 3.50 falafel.


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I had the intention to apply for a student visa andcome back to Germany after this trip, but my bra-zilian friend told me that I would actually have toapply from there, so I could just get my visa now.

I had a lot of thought on it, and my dates to Russiawere closer, but I decided to give it a try. I talkedto my parents and within two weeks I had all thepapers to apply for my visa and I had started mynew german classes. Now, I just needed to go thethe foreign ofce to apply for my student visa.

Soon was the day for the interview. Even thoughmy friends recommended me to go with a ger-man speaker person, I went alone because I didntwant to bother anybody with that trouble.

The lady at the ofce started speaking every-

thing in German and I just said Ich spreche nichtDeutsch, saying that I dont speak german, shestared right in my eyes and replied Ich sprechenicht englisch. I took a deep breath and saidLangsam bitte, so she speaks slowly.

As she asked me the questions, I was saying Jato everything, I just wanted to get out of thereFew things I could reply properly, like my date ofbirth, and personal information. But I was afraid ofher, and when she started to ask more complicat-ed things I just said Entschuldingung, nochmabitte, many times, until she was convinced that really couldnt speak german (after all, I was in thecountry to learn the language) and she started totalk to me in english with a think german accent.

The germans do know how to make you feel badfor not speaking their language. Its not Brazil any-more, the easy way of doing things.

I was really missing that brazilian comfort, the bra-zilian welcoming hug.

When I arrived home and told everybody that got my visa, everybody came to congratulate meMany tight fearless hugs.

I was nally at home.


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VISUAL INSTANTS


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People

In these almost 3 years on the road, I metmany many people. I probably had dinner,lunch or just had a chat to share life anddreams with more then 150 different peo-ple, from different parts of the world andways of living.

The following are some photos of peoplethat Ive saw or met, but it doesnt makeanybody here more special then the others.

It was hard for me to select the photos, andthere are many that, even though I lovethe shots, I had to leave them out eitherbecause it was too personal, or because Ithought the person might not feel comfort-

able having her photo here.The photos here are only until June 2012,much more are still to come, with people Imet after that.


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New York, USA - 2010


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Champaign-Urbana, USA - 2010


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So Caetano do Sul, SP - 2010


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So Paulo, SP - 2010


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Braslia, Brazil - 2011


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Braslia, Brazil - 2011


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Curitiba, Brazil - 2011


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Curitiba, Brazil - 2011

Ok, lets ignore the mess that was my house during this process of getting ready totravel. This was Tobias, the last dog I rescued from the streets. Later on I found outthat Tobias is a very common name in Germany. But dont feel offended, my friends

named Tobias, it is actually an honor for you to have the same name as my dog.


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Before anybody says but what heck he was doing in a horse racing and a rodeo?,dont worry. I went to take photos for some activists about the treatment of the ani-mals on those places. But when I took this photo of the amazon, I thought, so hereis the point of view of the people who comes to support it.

South Australia, 2011


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South Australia, 2011


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Christchurch, New Zealand - 2011


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Wellington, New Zealand - 2011


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While I was walking around Barcelona, I heard asound of a fanfare and tried to nd where it wascoming from. Suddenly I saw many people on hors-es throwing candies to the crowd. Some of the fam-ilies had an umbrella to catch as many candies aspossible.

Barcelona, Spain - 2012


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In Brazil I had some tea cerimony classes and I really enjoyed it. In

Barcelona I met a guy who taught me about Corean and Chinesetea cerimony while a chinese tea cerimony was being made forus.



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Ok, she appears twice in this book (you have to guess the other

photo), but I cant help if I met her on New Zealand and thenagain in Spain.



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In Barcelona, its tradition to eat a vegetable that looks like greenonions, but bigger. Its grilled and you dip it in a creamy redsauce. My friend told me sadly, its not vegan. I asked why, hegave some thought and exclaimed. Hey, it is vegan! you have totry it!. My rst traditional all vegan food in Europe.



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Vegan Schnitzel in Vienna.Vienna, Austria - 2012


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Vienna, Austria - 2012


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When I went out to explore Vienna, it started snowing and I thought.Oh, maybe I can get some nice shots. Then I saw the lady crossing

the street, the horses looking at me, and I pressed the button. I gotsome more photos from that day. The next day it was a clear sky andI saw this giraffe man walking around while someone behind him waslming. I pointed my camera when he was looking to cross the streets.


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Munich, Germany - 2012


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Prague, Czech Republic - 2012


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Prague, Czech Republic - 2012


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Berlin, Germany - 2012


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BrazilCuritiba, PR

Braslia, DFSo Paulo, SPMongagu, SP

Porto Alegre, RS


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I rarely took photos while in Brazil, so I have almost no good photosfrom the cities. But the thing I like most is the nature. This road goesfrom So Paulo to the coast, and is my favourite route since I was akid. But dont worry, my country is much more then what I show here.


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United States of America

San Francisco, CAPortland, ORChicago, IL

New York, NY


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In San Francisco I went to a famousbuddhist center and I found this bud-dha in kokeshi style. I also love thesound of those bells. So I decidedto buy both and take them with me

during my travels.Even though I rarely meditate and Imnot religious or spiritual, they becamesomehow my temple. This was in myroom in Chicago.


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New York City when it looks pretty


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In Champaign-Urbana, a student town near Chicago, I wentto watch this show of traditional japanese music. Shamisenis the funny guitar and Taiko the drum. Just like I used tosee in Brazil. Right, Chicago. Bottom image, the vegan cor-ner at Portland, Oregon.

In San Francisco I met a guy who worked with the LandlessMovement in Brazil and he had the ag on his room. Myfriend told me that my country is trendy in the USA rightnow.


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My rst baseball game in Portland. I watched a bit through the gates, but I still dont understand it.


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Australia

Adelaide, SAVictor Harbor, SAMurray Bridge, SA

Canberra, CMelbourne, VIC


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The city here is Melbourne, a lively andfun city. I regrettably lost most of myphotos from this trip. The other photoswere around South Australia.


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New Zealand

AucklandChristchurchWellington

PictonMilford Sounds

Franz Josef and Fox Glacier


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When I was younger I had a stuffed toyhedgehog that was my favourite. Herein Wellington I saw a live wild one forthe rst time.

My friend in Christchurch had a couchon the tree. Couchsurng wild!

Sometimes New Zealand is animal unfriendly, especially when it comes to possums


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Two of my favourite spots in New Zealand. Kenepuru Sound and the bay around Wellington


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France, Spain, Austria

ParisChambry

Saint-Laurent-du-PontLyon

BarcelonaSitges

Vienna


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Top, Paris. Bottom, Saint-Laurent-du-Pont.


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The famous Notre Dame on top. Chambry area, Lyon andParis, clockwise.


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Pa

meatless adventures en

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