Experience of a lifetime · Aug 5, 12:32 PM

We are headed home in a few hours. This has been the experience of a lifetime for Deb and me. It has been many years since we have been able to share six weeks together like this. Deb was able to rest deeply for the first time since she/we started having children. We are very grateful.

We are also grateful for all the wonderful new friends we have made here in Brazil. My buddy Stuart and I had many delightful conversations about how to change the world sitting out by the ocean listening to the surf and enjoying cigars.

Stuart is studying Brazilian and Nigerian film at the University of Minn and is nearly finished with his Ph.D.

Adam, studying Brazilian music at Toulane University added another delightful dimension to our get-togethers and opened me up to a whole new world of Brazilian music. Caroline, also a Ph.D student at Toulane, and a scholar of 20th century Mexican literature, frequently joined us and added a feminine touch.

The four of us went to a “rocki-rolli” club last night and listened a live Brazilian rock band until past 1:00 am. Debbie joined us for the ocean-side portion to say goodbye.

Last night we also went up to the Pão de Açucar with Hannah, Jen and Brooke to get an awesome view of Rio and Copacabana.

This morning Deb and I enjoyed a trolley-car tour of the mountainside Santa Teresa neighborhood overlooking downtown Rio
with our dear friends Jenn and Brooke, who are off to the Amazon next week, and from there to Peru, Ecuador and Colombia before returning to Miami in September.
We enjoyed getting to know Chassah from our Latin American studies program in Miami better as well.

We have thoroughly enjoyed all of the other friendships we have made: with Elizabeth, a lovely and energetic Mexican girl with a passion for justice for the indigenous peoples of Mexico from the U. of San Diego.

Also, it was a pleasure to meet Grant from my alma mater, Ohio State University.

There were also many others from the University of Florida (Sarah and Aimée), Vanderbilt (Jennifer and Hannah), and Stacy from Yale Univresity.

This has been a wonderful opportunity and we look forward to staying in touch with all of our new friends in the months and years to come.

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Comment

  1. WELCOME BACK!!!

    — Brian · Aug 6, 03:40 PM · #

  2. Dear Joseph and Debbie…..you meet 2 people ….and somehow you feel like you have been soulmates for forever…..thanks for loving Adam as we all do…...I have really enjoyed this blog and your links Debbie….especially since I ‘was there’...I wish you both well….knowing that the world is ‘small’...and somewhere we may meet again…..God Willing…with love…and thumbs up on all your travels and adventures…..Lynn Beebe

    — Lynn Beebe · Aug 8, 09:36 PM · #

  3. thank you Lynn, it was really nice meeting you, and I really enjoyed hanging out with Adam over the summer. Hope we can stay in touch.

    — Joseph · Aug 9, 07:07 AM · #

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