• Brazil,  South America

    Copacabana Beach, hut 143.

    “In your country, people never give you anything for free?” Do they?! – People from Portugal are friendly, kind, but the general rule is if someone is too generous they want something from you that you might not want to give in return. This rule becomes stronger being a girl traveling in a foreign country, on my own. Yet, this stranger, afro-brazillian, chubby and sweaty, stands hands on knees leaning over with the friendliest smile in his face when he invites me to take a seat in one of the chairs his hut is renting, but for free. Here, at Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, I was quite happy lying…

  • Brazil,  South America

    Porto de Galinhas

    When you visit a new place, do you ever wonder why it’s called that?! Porto de Galinhas literally means Chicken’s Port. But why? Back in the 17th century countries all over the world started abolishing slavery. Sadly, Brazil was the last country forbidding it completely with the implementation of the Aurea Law in May 1888.  However this only gave them reasons to do it clandestinely, selling slaves for higher prices. The slaves were then hidden under the chicken cages in the ships traveling from Africa and arriving here. This area was not very well known at this time which made this practice easy to get away with. The password “there are new…