ITACARE - Bahia, Brazil …. 5 years ago.Surely one of the most glorious places on Earth with a moving abundance of natural beauty.I nearly didn’t make the decision to go even though I was very drawn to the idea. I spent ages dithering and talking myself in and out of it. Weighing up the reasons why not to. It was a 5000 mile trip to drink Ayahuasca tea and sit in sacred ceremony at the Spirit Vine Retreat Centre and I was planning to make the trip on my own.After several flight changes to get to Ilheus, a taxi driver with no English picked me up from the airport. The sun was just setting and it started to pour down with rain soon after. It seemed like we were driving forever in the middle of nowhere in pitch black darkness. If I hadn’t been so enthralled by the wonder of it all, I might have realised how open I was to potential danger and been scared.When we finally arrived at our destination, halfway across the world, I stepped out of the car to be greeted by a friendly voice in a familiar accent. In a bizarre coincidence, it turned out to belong to an Indian guy who grew up only a few streets away from my childhood home in Bombay, India. So much for the fears about spreading my wings so far away from home on my own. The world is such a small place sometimes.Never mind the geography, the place called home is already within each one of us, always available and waiting to be claimed.Merry Christmas!
Christmas Day 2016 in Itacare, Bahia, Brazil