The people or the place?

 My family ended up in Brazil this year because I didn't want to go to London.  My daughter had been begging to go somewhere during spring break.  It was her senior year and she had never been out of the country.  She and I had been trying to take a trip to London for the past two years with no success - once cancelled because of Covid and once because my mother in law, who was supposed to take us, broke her arm a month before the trip.  I was sick of planning for London.  I wanted to go somewhere else.  

Meanwhile, my husband had become good friends with a family who was visiting Utah but who lived in Florianopolis, Brazil.  I had met them but wasn't as good friends with them.  They had done a lot of hiking and camping with Craig.  They invited us to spend spring break in Brazil.  In a temporary moment of weakness, 
I agreed that it was a good idea to travel 6,000 miles to spend the week with people that I didn't know well.  So we went.

I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had googled the area, and I knew it was beautiful.  Their son is a surfer and he had posted several photos and videos of sun......water......dolphins........    That appealed to me.  I had visions of lying on the beach all day.  As I researched the area we were going to, I focused on the beauties of it.  I made a list of places that I wanted to see.  

I still have that list, and I laugh whenever I see it.  I look back to my idea of the kind of vacation we were going to have, and I roll my eyes at myself.  I had no idea.  I had no idea on what it was going to be.

It was the people.  

The people were what made the trip.  

It's a little hard to explain.  Let me give an example.  One morning we were walking on the beach, me and Ellie and Mu.  A dog was running loose and had run up to us, scaring Ellie a bit.  The dog's owner called to her and came up to us, apologizing for her.  I assume that's what he said anyway, my Portuguese isn't exactly the best.  He and Mu started talking, greeting each other like old friends.  I assumed that he was one of Mu's neighbors from the way they were conversing.  It was only later that Mu said he had never met him before.  The man - Harold - kept directing comments at me and Ellie, and after a few minutes, Mu told him that we didn't speak Portuguese.  Elas nao falam Portuguese. 

When he heard that, Harold turned to me.  He put his hands up, palms facing me.  He motioned that he wanted me to do the same and we pressed our palms together.  He stared at me hard for a few seconds before he dropped his hands.  He then turned back to Mu and spoke to him in Portuguese, but I could tell what he said.  "There.  We communicated.  She doesn't need to speak Portuguese.  As long as there is love, she doesn't need to speak the language."

He was amazing.  He was so open and loving.

And that happened over and over again, all week long.  

It was the people.  As beautiful as Floripa truly is, it's the people who make it wonderful and special and amazing.  

If you go on this trip with me, we really will see some beautiful places.  The beach is beautiful.  The trails are beautiful.  The lake is beautiful.  The city itself is beautiful.  

But the people are the most beautiful.