Parati… para mim!…

I wish we could all chose our last place on Earth to spend our own very last instants of this life the best way possible…

Sorry, I don't mean to be morbid at all. It's just that I've found myself some years ago pondering the possibility of definitely leaving Portugal and settling somewhere else for the rest of my days. I know I was only indulging myself with that characteristic we Portuguese like so much to call «universalism» of the Lusitanian soul – that strong inner voice calling us all one way or the other, sooner or later, to leave this western European strip of land, and to travel about in the world…

All in all, we may be about 200 million people speaking Portuguese, but the truth is wherever you go you're somehow bound to hear someone speak in Camoens's and Pessoa's idiom… It has happened to me! Quite far away from Belém, as a matter of fact, in North America, which is not that odd anyway, if you consider what emigration has meant in Portuguese culture ever since the 15.th century…

I've somehow fallen under the Brazilian spell. In the 50s an uncle of mine had left for Rio, and only some years ago he was still very much alive and kicking in his eighties, having a great time in São Paulo… So I guess I was destined to listen to the Brazilian call…

And then one day 'it' just came over me like a flood of unspeakable beauty!
It's Parati I would like to write about, but I'm not so sure whether or not I can. Not much, just an appetizer, for the photos speak for themselves. The colonial town lies on the Rio de Janeiro-Santos axe, on the Atlantic Ocean, on the shore of the magnificent Ilha Grande bay. The place is just what you may easily consider a paradise on Earth, and it has no less than 300 (!) enchanted beaches!

But there's somehow more to it than just its stunning beauty. When I first saw it in a movie I finally understood it: if I ever believed in reincarnation I most surely had to admit I've lived there before. Have I?

So now you see, Minge, what I meant when I answered 'yes' to your question about my ability of portraying myself living in Brazil. With just a slight difference: whereas you've been to Portugal already, I've never been to Brazil… Yet!

Just when I was trying to gather some more information about the place a few hours ago, here is what I've come across:

«International Literary Party at Parati!»
Quite a few well-known Portuguese speaking writers have been invited.
Sponsored by FLIP, great lexicographic electronic devices!
Next July 4.th to 8.th

Could I ever wish for a better place to be? I don't think so…
Oh if I only could…
Parati… for me!

I advise you to google 'Parati', and you'll come across some very interesting sites, a few of them with pages in English!

(Also meant as a dear homage to Carioca, Lê, Ricardo, and all other Brazilian blogger friends.)

RIC