The Sound Of The Rains

This Sunday it was raining in Brasília for the first time since mid May. Everyone have been waiting and asking for the rains to come, as it has been very dry, some days the humidity even went down below 10% which is extreme, less than in the desert. And the rains are supposed to come now, even though maybe only in October, people say September is early and it was only a rather short rain, one night.
But nevertheless you can tell the difference. Nature has only been waiting for the rains and it was so ready.
One thing that has changed too is also the sounds. The birds are even more lively and loud in the mornings. But the main new sound is something that I don't really know what it is yet. I would guess it is some kind of cricket, but it sounds different from the ones in Europe. It snarts with a little hesitant knacking sound but then increases to something absolutely not hesitant. It has a very lound, constant and long tone. You can here it from very far and you hear many at the same time. Very interesting, and a little annoying. But aparently it is a sure sign for more rain, people say.

Minas Gerais

Last weekend I went to Minas Gerais to visit the famous colonial towns there. We flew into Belo Horizonte and from there drove in a rented car to Ouro Preto where we spent the first night. The Saturday was spent just walking around in Ouro Preto and enjoying this beautiful town. It is really nice!



Ouro Preto

Coming and leaving

My time in Brazil is quickly coming to an end now. On Friday I am doing my last day at work here and then I will have a weekend in Brasília before I go travelling on Tuesday for a couple of weeks and then go back to Sweden.
It has been a great time here. Although Brasília is strange place and it for sure took some time to get into it and I still think it is probably one of the worst places in the world to come to as a single expatriate over the age of 35, I still kind of like it.
I have worked a lot but still I have invested a lot of energy in getting to know people and creating some kind of social base. After six months it is starting to pay off, but then it is time to leave. And for sure you notice that people are not as keen on investing time in you, as they know you are soon leaving. I can understand that, it is completely rational behaviour, but it makes me a little sad. I have met so many lovely people here and I would have loved to stay here longer, but it is time to leave.
Somehow one comfort is, that I seem to meet lovely people whereever I go. Which means there are a lot of lovely people out there and there will be many more lovely people to meet whereever I go. At the same time I am really bad at saying goodbye and leaving. And it is for sure not getting any easier with time.
Therefore it is a strange combination I have. I am restless and love to go to new places and I get very easily settled anywhere and can build myself a social base anywhere, but still I hate to say farewell and leave. It is a bad combination. At least in the sense that I am making it very hard for myself.
I must admit, I am a bit sad now. At the same time it feels good to be back. At least for a start. There are a lot of things that I have missed, but at the same time I know it wont take long before I am bored to death with life back home in Stockholm... but I will try not to think about that now. You never know what life has waiting for you!

Travels but not blogging

I have to admit I have done quite some travelling that I haven't been writing about or posted pictures from. Partly because some of it was work related and hence very busy, and partly because I have worked so much and been very busy I didn't have much energy to write even when I had time. And when time has passed it feels less relevant to write about it.
Work took me to lovely Rio again, but no time on my own there. Then to Sao Paulo, where I actually took some time off this time, very enjoyable. Nice city!! I think I could like it there too.

Then time for some nature and wildlife in Pantanal. Very nice and relaxing! I took a lot of pictures and maybe mostely of birds, but unfortunately we did not see very many other animals. Nice anyway.

I would have liked to post picture but got the message that I have used my quote of pictures and could not be bothered doing anything about it now. Maybe later