LIESBETH IS BACK IN TOWN

Hello kids, guess who’s back! After months of anticipation and endless shouting here on the site and on Instagram the countdown kept getting shorter and I finally boarded the plane to Rio de Janeiro on December 25th. Sun, warmth, and lots of fireworks on the 31st were the biggest reasons to go, and those three elements were abundantly present. But I can honestly say that this trip was a thousand times more beautiful, fun, and amazing than I could have ever hoped – no matter how cliché that sounds.

The idea was to spend a day in Rio and then go play on Ilha Grande, an island a few hours below Rio. After that, I would return to Rio for New Year's Eve (quite a spectacle, see this video) and then travel north, to Salvador to be precise. From there, I would take buses and trains back towards Rio and then back to Amsterdam. But that went a bit differently. As in, I never really left Rio at all. I can't quite explain why, but that city did something to me. The combination of city and beach, the incredibly lovely people, the intense joy of life they have there, the never-ending views, and a new adventure on every corner, I just couldn't get enough of it.

I stood at the foot of Cristo, looked out over all of Rio from Sugarloaf Mountain, accidentally ended up at the top of a Favela where I found myself in a café with a live samba band and a view over Ipanema Bay, saw the most beautiful sunset in the world from the Arpoador rock, danced deep into the night with liters of caipirinha and until my feet hurt, spent hours on a boat around Ilha Grande and jumped with a kite on my back off a mountain and felt like a bird for half an hour, floating over the city.

Without exaggerating, it was a series of highlights. And of intense moments of happiness. 2014 was quite a special year, with a few months before departure a crying marathon due to sad events and especially when I stood on the beach of Copacabana on the 31st, surrounded by three million ecstatic Brazilians, watching the 20-minute fireworks show, I felt that everything was going to be alright. It was as if I was high as a kite looking up at the sky and from all the emotions and moments of happiness, a tear just rolled down my cheek.

By the way, I celebrated New Year's Eve together with Kim and Lotte, two girls from the Netherlands who read Amayzine and had emailed me that they were also in Rio, and whether I would like to meet up. And oh, it was fun, Kim and Lotte were a blast to be with and the three of us went from beach to party and back again. Other notable travel companions are my guys. Two Australians, Charlie and Dylan, and one from the UK, Chris. I spent most of the time with them and soon we formed a band called “Dutchie and the Boys.”

It’s always the people you meet that make such a trip so special. I cherish warm memories not only of the country but also of those and all the other people. You can bet that you will hear a lot about the trip and about traveling in general in the coming time, because where the heart is full, the mouth speaks over. And now for the last time my Instagram hashtag: #LiesheartBrazil.