Tag: My Brazilian

Chapter 34 @ Rio’s Carnaval… a short clip from the most insanely incredible party in the world…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNfml01oQS4[/youtube]

On the 19th of November last year I left Australia on the most exciting adventure of my life thus far – a crazy fast tracked expedition around South America. A desire had been growing ever since I’d noticed the incredible energy of my Brazilian friends in Tokyo. Brazilians seem to sing and dance through life. Their language, the way they walk, the way they talk – so sexy, relaxed and cool.

I’d also begun writing a number of books, wanting to communicate particular ideas or my crazy experiences, but none of them had been quite right. Yet it was one year ago now that the stars aligned in my favor. I had travel buddies, my ticket, and a pen and paper – something inside me told me this was my book. A travel novel/ spiritual journey – Eat Pray Love meets Bill Bryson but with a little chick lit thrown in for the fun of it…

Synopsis/back cover:

With wild fantasies, insatiable curiosity and deep faith, Juliet sets off on a fast-tracked expedition around South America. Along the way she strips lust, love and life down to bare facts, honest truths and confronting realities. Join the adventure: follow Darwin’s footsteps in Galapagos, explore ancient Inca mysteries, and chase men across salt-lakes, deserts, volcanos and coastlines. Learn, laugh, cry, dance, and fall in-love. A tale of friendship, love, and connecting with a universe that conspires to make everything you dream come true. This travel memoir, biography and spiritual journey is revealing, challenging and peace-inspiring.

Three months flew yet felt like three years. The journey felt like the book was already written, we were just playing out our roles in its movie (which I believe will come one day too). But back in Sydney my studies stole my time and only now are the stars are realigning in my book’s favor. This month I’m going to write as much as I can. And then try to find a publisher… in the meantime I thought I might share a few snippets and film clips with you, posting them on their one year anniversaries.

The girls visit the equator, change hostels, Juliet teaches a Pilates series that Rachel and Lola (and readers) can do every morning before they get out of bed. They visit a museum and journey through the history of South America, learn about indigenous cultures, learn about Amazon cocoa plants from a scientist, and party with Senor Soul (from the Lima-Guayaquil bus) and two English guys from their hostel. Juliet has her first confronting experience with poverty. Very hungover the next morning they make their way to the airport.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDM6AMO7gtE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlQ46sp1feQ[/youtube]

Travelling from Lima in Peru to Guayaquil in Ecuador on a 30-hour bus ride without so much of a 10-minute pit stop to remind our legs what the solid ground feels like. The “solid” ground wasn’t so solid for a few days after our eventual arrival. Senor Soul and Senor Romantico, our new Ecuadorian friends, kept us entertained.

Chapter 1 is short and based in Sydney, so I’m skipping that and introducing you to Chapter 2… Buenos Aires…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNzgaf1Og5s[/youtube]

…

A little snippet:

Stepping out of the taxi and onto the streets of Buenos Aires I had to pause and double-take. For a second I thought we’d hopped on the wrong flight – was I in South America, or Europe? Images flashed through my mind of my first step onto the streets of Paris, up the metro escalator onto expansive Avenue de Champs-Elysees, looking up to see the Arc de Triomphe and Place de l’Étoile, (the massive round-about where twelve streets meet), and my boyfriend standing there awaiting my arrival. Waiting to tell me that after five years it was over. Paris, the alleged city of love was alas not the city for my love. I trampled down on these thoughts, compressing them back down into the deep pocket of my memory where all hideous experiences and feelings hide, and returning to the present to look around: this was Buenos Aires?

You expect to feel a strong awe when in Paris, but this was South America, the “third world”, and I was not expecting it at all. I felt a sense of grandeur, of rich history and a wealthy past. The street ahead was the widest I’d ever seen, Nueve de Julio Avenue. Literally this means 9th of July, named after Argentina’s Independence Day in 1816. With twelve lanes of traffic and an extra four at each side, it takes five sets of traffic lights to cross the street – and is not something you want to do in a hurry. There are cars everywhere, and the old European-style buildings line the street sport billboard advertisements, graffiti and artworks. It has a raw dirtiness similar to Paris too, everything appears run down and un-maintained, reminding you of the highs and lows that this city has experienced. In its heyday it was as New York, London, Tokyo and Paris are today. I guess every up has a down and even the popular cities of today will one day fall. Maybe this will be sooner than later if the present economy crash and Japanese recession are anything to go by, but I hope not. I wonder which city will be the next New York? Maybe Shanghai or Dubai? Is Sydney still rising or will it crash too?

… please let me know if you have any feedback for me (encouraging or critical), or if you know a good publisher or agent…… thanks!!!