Morro do Sao Paulo = home for now

*PLAYING GREEN DAY'S - WELCOME TO PARADISE*

Dear mother,
Can you hear me WHINING?
It's been six whole months since
Since that I have left your home

It makes me wonder why I'm still here
For some strange reason it's now
Feeling like my home
And I'm never gonna go

Pay attention to the cracked streets
And the broken homes
Some call it slums, some call it nice
I want to take you through
a wasteland I like to call my home
Welcome To Paradise

I work 6-hour shifts 8-14hrs or 14-20hrs split between me and another girl. She’s a local and seems pretty nice. She has been working with Francisco for 2 years, has a child and likes living on the island because as she told me “sempre tenho trabalho”. Morning shifts suck cos I have to wake up early and serve breakfast, late shifts suck cos I miss out on the whole afternoon.
I get café-de-manha but am on my own for the other meals unless we have a full house and the hostel plans dinners. I have my own room and am free to do as I please with my own time. With a 10-minute walk to the nearest beach and 30-minute walk to a different paradise, I have waaaaaayyyy too much time on my hands. Unfortunately, there is no internet here. Only a few hotels have it and the handful of Internet-Café’s around the island aren’t always reliable. On top of that… I HATE paying by the minute.

I am loving and hating the island.

I am loooooooving the breathtaking views and being able to call this paradise home (for about a month). The weather has been nice for the most part and every day I get to chill out at the beach of my choice. Working at the hostel is simple, easy and quiet.

I am fairly disappointed with the touristy environment of it all... no culture, just shops. I am beginning to resent tourists for their destruction of everything beautiful by over-consumption.

I think I will only be here for about a month. I am working on an escape route... either working some more in Salvador in another awesome hostel (more details to come) or volunteering at a farm near Chapada Diamantina. (Since Lee told me about this place and I read about it I think I fell inlove)

I think it is challenging to be here without anything to do and not much to look forward to but the beaches. (why am I complaining, right?) I have time to relax, time to spend alone and do as I please, read, write and chill… yet I stress about not having anything to do? I need to wind down, enjoy the simple and quiet lifestyle… but this is proving to be harder than I thought.

I have been reading (a lot), catching up on old blogs, listening to new music and walking. Coming from a somewhat hectic lifestyle, this is unsettling… to be so… free.

There are four beaches here, with a 30-minute walk, you are able to see all of them. I read and swim at the First Beach, I tan and pray at the Fourth Beach since it is practically deserted. Second and Third beaches are always busy, full of tourists and sellers and have the most waves (by waves I mean like 1-foot waves). There are two main streets with shops, restaurants and pousadas/hotels that lead to the beaches and there are three other roads through the hills with the houses, restaurants and shops for the locals.
Although there are some boat trips to visit other parts of the island, it is still possible to reach them by foot, bike or car… I intend to do so in the near future.

Although, I am definitely enjoying the peace, quiet and enlightening solitude I do miss having friends. Having just arrived and depending on travelers to be source of entertainment and company is an unpredictable and limited social life. The cool locals that I’ve met are older and are busy working. I know that transitions take some time and I have to really settle before I can have those wonderful stable relationships, but I am impatient so I am bored and lonely in paradise.

Right now I am considering my month in Morro do Sao Paulo a time-out, a pause, an understatement, a short introduction in order to prepare for the next chapter, in order to clear my head and wake up to the reality that is my new life. We are crossing this bridge now. The adventure is beginning. Thanks Ivan.

I hope to take pictures soon.