Crossing Brazil off the list

Going to Brazil to travel is something I have thought and dreamt about for over ten years. Now, I finally did it.

I must admit, that I used to be a little nervous about going to Brazil. I heard lots of stories about crime and how there was nearly a 100% chance, that I would get robbed a few times while there. It definitely played a role in my considerations about going there.

Becoming an experienced traveller over the last years, and especially over the last four and a half months, (almost) nothing can scare me anymore, and I didn’t even think twice about going to Brazil. For good reason, because (of course) nothing happened to me. I did not get robbed, beat up, raped or abducted. As always, the world is always a very dangerous place, when viewed from the safety of ones couch at home.

Staying in Brazil was a different experience from the rest of my trip, albeit a good one. For so long, I have travelled really fast, visiting places intensely for a very short time. Get in, train, meet people, eat, see the place and get out. No time to relax, worry or get bored. In Rio, I decided to stay for two weeks and it felt very different than the other places I have been.

Many places, people told me, that I needed to stay longer. That 2-4 days is too little time. In fact, I think I did just as much, and some times more, in places I have visited for 2-4 days, than I did in Brazil. When I had so much time, it was just another pace, and more time was spend on relaxing and doing nothing, than on feeling pressure to do something before it was too late.

I did have a great time in Brazil though. I wish I could have trained more, but holidays, weekend and then being sick unfortunately made that difficult. I did however, go some very interesting places to train and got some experiences, I will value for the rest of my life.

I have enjoyed staying with locals during my trip and experiencing their every day lives. In Brazil, I spend my whole stay in a house full of gringos, who were there for training. I did not get to see much local life unfortunately, but it was really fun to stay in the Connection Rio house, hang out with all the guys there and make a lot of good friends, who I hope to see again one day. On top of that, Dennis Asche (the guy who runs the house), was the best connection and help I could imagine in regards of getting in touch with people, arranging visits to gyms, places, etc. He knows everyone and was doing all he could to help me get the most out of my time there, which I appreciate immensely.