Brasilia, Berkeley (California): at last, around the world!

I’m currently in my hotel room, sitting in a bed for the last time before I return home. The next time I experience this comfort, it will be in my childhood bedroom in Berkeley, California, a place I know better than anywhere in the world. And yet, the idea of traveling for 24 more hours and ending up somewhere I’ve been before — not to some foreign city in some foreign country halfway across the globe — feels novel, even uncomfortable. I have to admit, there is a part of me that is incredibly excited to crash in my own bed and hibernate for several days, eating only comfort foods and talking only to my loved ones. And yet, I already long for another adventure and more of the joy and growth I’ve experienced this summer. I guess this is what they mean by the “travel bug.” Consider me bitten!

This week in Brasilia has been both productive and restful. Monday and Tuesday were loaded with interviews, which all went better than I could have hoped! Brazil recently passed a new integrated fire management policy that centers indigenous, traditional, and local knowledges — very progressive compared to the other countries I’ve been to this summer — and several of my interviewees happened to have worked on research projects that piloted the program. I also talked to state firefighters, who offered a very different perspective than other first responders I’ve connected with. I wrote in the last post about how kind everyone I’ve met here has been, and these participants were no exception. On Tuesday, I had two interviews scheduled three hours apart, and I was almost late because of how well our conversation was going and how hospitable everyone was. 

Between interviews, I made time to visit the Santuário São João Bosco, one of many famous churches in Brasilia. This was one of many stops on my architecture tour through the city, which took me the rest of the week to complete. Brasilia is famous for its very unusual design and the history that accompanies it: the city was built in less than five years and designed primarily by three architects after the national government decided to relocate its headquarters from Rio de Janeiro in 1956. Brasilia is shaped like an airplane, with most notable buildings along the body and residential and shopping areas along the wings. I don’t know much about architecture, but I have to admit, the national cathedral, museums, and congress buildings were pretty mesmerizing to look at. Unfortunately, most museums were closed ahead of Independence Day on September 7, but the views from the outside were honestly just as fun to look at. 

My favorite excursion of the week was to Brasilia National Park. While just outside of the city, it is the largest park in an urban area in the world (at least according to Wikipedia). There are dozens of miles of hiking along pristine rivers and woodlands, and you can see wildcats, capybaras, and even giant anteaters if you’re lucky. Unfortunately, almost all of the trails were also closed. But I was able to visit a crystal-clear watering hole fed by the river — and see the monkeys playing around it! They seemed to be very accustomed to all the visitors crowding their native habitat, as they would run up to unsuspecting sunbathers to steal bits of food. Still, seeing them playing around in the trees was unbelievably cool. Wildlife sightings have been a surprising highlight of this trip, and I’m so glad I was able to end the journey on such a high note!

I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention all the Brazilian food I ate here. You can’t sit by the pool without treating yourself to some traditional street-side açaí, of course, smothered in condensed milk, peanuts, and many other delicious toppings I couldn’t tell you the names of. According to the people I’ve met here, Brazilians like to eat a big lunch, which means most of the restaurants serve a midday buffet that you pay for by the kilogram. Mashed and candied cassava, too many kinds of beans to count, buttery farofa (a kind of dried cassava grain) mixed with vegetables or meats, and salads doused in punchy lime dressings. What more could you ask for! My hottest take is that carne de sol, which is beef that is sun-dried before it’s roasted, is much better than Argentinian asado. But don’t tell them I said that!

After checking out of my hotel room on my final morning, I felt a little unsure of what to do: how do you pass the time on a day that feels as significant as this one? After storing my luggage, I ended up going to two more of Brazil’s vast parks. First, I went to Parque Olhos de Agua, where I sunbathed on the bank of a bright blue lagoon and tried my hand at bird watching — not a whole lot of luck, but I did find a Brazilian version of geese (??) that were black white poca dots all over them. Next, I went to Capybara Park (in hopes of finding some capybaras, duh), but was treated instead to a beautiful view of the city. Smoke from a nearby wildfire filled the sky over the course of the afternoon, casting that characteristic golden-hour glaze over the water, the coconut trees and rocks by the beach, and Brasilia’s skyline. It felt like a fitting — or maybe ironic — way to say goodbye to this trip. Still, the peace allowed me some time to reflect on how far I’ve come over the past 12 weeks, both literally and figuratively. 

One of my biggest worries before embarking on this trip was that I would feel like I took it all for granted. 12 weeks is a long time, and yet, it flew by even faster than everyone warned me it would. What if I felt like I’d wasted my days? What if I took my rest time a little too seriously? What if my fieldwork hadn’t been as fruitful as I’d hoped it would be?

There were days this summer that I thought this worry would be true. Some days when I was eager to explore but could barely find the energy to walk around for more than an hour, days my interviews fell through or fell flat, and days when I felt overwhelmed by all the learning curves I was struggling to overcome. And yet, on my final night, I knew it couldn’t be any more false.

This summer, I hiked in the Andes mountains, the Australian coastline, and the Panamanian rainforest (thank you layovers!). I swam in the Aegean Sea and the waterfalls of the Brazilian savannah; I biked on a Greek island and the Portuguese coast. I ate souvlaki in Athens, gelato in Rome, fresh fish and wine in Porto, fufu and goat stew in Kumasi, asado in Buenos Aires, and açaí in Brasilia. I saw monkeys, sloths, flamingos, parrots, bats, kangaroos, and so, so many cool lizards, all with my very own eyes! I made it through a Greek summer, a Patagonia winter, a Ghanaian wet season, and a Brazilian dry season. I talked to some of the most inspiring people I have ever met — heard stories of community care, of building climate resiliency, of unwavering love for one’s home no matter the adversity. I relied on the kindness of strangers, and I made it out the other side! 

After 13 flights, four long-haul buses, a handful of trotros, and too many train rides to count, I’m on my way home. Before I left, I made a list of all the ways I wanted to grow this summer — I now know this was a fool’s errand, because as much as I did grow, it was in ways I never could have predicted. I have learned a new way of existing in the world that’s defined by an unwavering trust in myself, a self-confidence completely beyond what I’ve ever known that phrase to mean. My heart is bursting with pride and gratitude for the forces that made this all happen: the strangers I met along the way who were inexplicably on my side when I needed it most, my mentors who have guided me through it all, and my loved ones who pushed me to make it happen. Many of those people are probably reading this blog post now, and I hope they know that thank yous will never quite be enough. Instead, I am determined to keep living in and building upon the lessons I have learned. And hopefully, do all this research justice! 

Thanks for sticking all the way through these blog posts. But if you’ve gotten this far, it means I am officially … a circumnavigator!