It's been forever since I blogged about Brazil, or Brasil and I come to this moment as I first return to traveling since the start of Covid-19. I have never stopped loving my friends in Brasil, or reaching out to them on Whatsapp or telling them about my life. I am finally here to do the same on my blog.
As a flight attendant with a major company, a step up from a regional airline, but not a legacy carrier I enjoy all of the perks of being a world traveler: standby anxiety, limited sleep because of late night packing, and stress eating as I plan an execute my trips.
One such stressful trip three years ago resulted in me losing my Canon EOS 5 MarkIII camera. With accessories like microphones, and lights and necessities like batteries and cases and filters, that camera cost me well over $3,500.00. WIth that camera I had been creating footage for a documentary that I entitled Why Brazil?
One morning returning from a "red-eye" (overnight work trip as a flight attendant) I decided that even though the "loads" (number of empty seat indicates) were making the success of me making it on a flight to Brazil looked sketchy I was going to try. I packed all day with basically no sleep except 2-3 hours of dozing while thinking about what I wanted to shoot while in Rio this particular trip. Not only was I figuring out how much of my time would be spend in Rio and which friends I could squeeze in seeing, I also tried to plan how long I could go to Saquarema a place close to my heart where my goddaughter Isabel's grandparents, aunt, and uncle and father lived by this time.
Part of the reason why getting ready to go to Brazil was always stressful, was that I never took the time to really study the camera that I was blessed to own, and even more unfortunate, I never followed up on my initial training in editing, and my attempts to learn the Portuguese language.
By this time, I had hours and hours of footage saved on various portable hard drives and no defined story line except for rough synopsis that I put together for film funding competitions that I repeatedly failed to win. I was winning about loving the Brasilian culture, the people, and a real firsthand knowledge of many of the political challenges of the country and reaching a point, that I realized that those same challenges were shared by poor people in every country including my own, the United States.
I got to the airport that evening about an hour and a half before the flight, having paid for a taxi with too many bags. I tried to check in at the kiosk which I never have luck with, and I ended up in line for assistance at the American Airlines counter. Having checked my bag, which contained at least 3,000 silicone bracelets that a friend who is a tour guide in one of Rio's favelas had requested that I ordered, and bring to Rio, I put on a pitiful face and presented my crew I.D. to anyone I thought would help me get to the head of the TSA line so that I could make the flight. I made it to the gate in time to go through the usual agonizing process of waiting to see if I'd be assigned a seat, only to finally get a seat assignment, on a plane that had mechanical problems and never left that night. We were told to return in the morning when the airline promised that a replacement plane would take us to Brasil. As I write this, now I wonder what would have happened if I'd listened to my instincts and my sleep deprived body, and not returned to the airport would I have finished my film by now.
I returned the next day only to have further difficulties, and be told to return later that day. I took the bus home, exhausted after waiting to retrieve my checked bag and dragging everything on the bus. I couldn't afford to call out sick from any work trips to free up enough time to make going to Brasil make sense. Extremely disappointed, I got home and dragged everything to my bedroom to realize that I didn't have my Canon camera with me. I wasn't sure if I left it in the Uber going to the airport that second time, or on the bus returning for the last time to go home. I called everyone, Uber, American Airlines, the Bus company MTS. I tried everything, and I didn't get that camera back.
It is now 2020 and we are in a pandemic and rather than take "COVID Leave" as many flight attendants did, I worked my ass off, and I finally have a new camera, its the Canon EOS RP, a mirrorless camera which is lighter but still presents a huge learning challenge for me, but this time I won't be stopped. I will continue this journey with new faith in my ability to get up, dust myself off and keep going, and never giving up. Part of the strength comes from the opportunity the United States has a country to change the person in the White House and I will be there on November 3, to be counted.
Why Brazil? Because pre-Covid in December of 2019 when I last visited Rio and Saquarema, my Goddaughter's Aunt and Uncle had laid a square of concrete next to their home, and they intended to create a luncheonette (small restaurant). They were running a food delivery service of artisan sandwiches under the name "El Jefe". This October 2020 when I returned Brazil. "El Jefe" was a working restaurant and I watched the concrete being poured to add two more rooms to the restaurant to expand. Whether in December or January, I will return to Rio and Saquarema and I wouldn't be surprised to see a completed three room restaurant. I am like "El Jefe"; I am on my way and the only way I could fail is if I give up.
I am rushing to pack for work...I promise to add pictures later, I hope everyone stays safe and healthy.
