Week 4 - 5 girls and a Volkswagen Beetle
My last full week at Iracambi has come around so quickly. I feel a whole mixture of emotions at the moment. I'm so sad to be leaving such a beautiful place, but equally excited for the next step in this adventure. I'm off to Rio next week to meet up with my husband and we'll be travelling across Brazil and Argentina for about 10 days (stay tuned for the obligatory Instagram pictures- probably involving copious amounts of wine)
This week was about reviewing as much of the new website as possible. The bulk of the content is there, so it's about tweaking the design, checking links and CTAs are working etc. There will still be more to do when I get back so I've offered to keep working with Iracambi in my spare time to help them over the last few hurdles before launch. I also presented my social media plan to Rogeria, who was fully on board and we'll look to roll this out with the rest of the staff in the next few days.
On Tuesday night I went with Rogeria and a couple of volunteers to visit Tony, an artist who moved here from Barcelona for work and basically just never left. This was quite the event because being in the middle of the rain forest doesn't afford many opportunities for night life. We set off in Rogeria's trusty VW Beetle for the 25 minute journey (or 45, depending on whether you use British or Brazilian estimations of time). Tony's house is a total treasure trove of paintings, hand carved wooden hummingbirds and animal masks. I even bought one myself to take home with me, which just perfectly captures the hills and trees surrounding Iracambi.
After a couple of hours it was time to head back. About halfway home we got stuck, and I mean really stuck. Rogeria told us we'd have to get out, stand in the shin deep mud and push. Given that we had no idea where we were and it was pitch black, this whole episode should have been unnerving but it was actually pretty funny- probably helped by the 2 glasses of beer we'd had. Eventually the car was freed from the mud and we were able to make our way home. Hats to to Rogeria here, she stayed so calm the whole time and knew exactly what to do.
The next few days were marred by the biggest thunderstorm we've had so far, which knocked out the electricity for almost 24 hours and resulted in terrible flooding across the state of Minas Gerais. It consequently meant no WiFi, so when the rain finally subsided on Friday I joined the other volunteers for some more tree planting.
All together I've lost a full working week due to the weather, which has been disappointing as I've not got as far as I hoped on some elements of my project. But I've learned from the team here to take every day as it comes and to not get overly anxious when things happen that are completely outside of my control. Life here is constantly adjusting, and your plans for the day can be completely overturned in an instant. Taking time to breath and remembering that the world is not going to end because you didn't send an email has been a huge lesson that I hope to take back with me.
This weekend the sun came back so we took the opportunity to hike up to another waterfall for the afternoon. It was the most beautiful one we've visited so far and was really the perfect way to spend my last weekend here, made even better by some homemade caipirinhas!
My last few days at Iracambi will be spent packing, frantically trying to get my socks dry and (the hardest part) saying goodbye to the wonderful people I've met along the way. All in all this experience has been an incredible adventure from start to finish. I've learnt so much and the whole journey will stay with me for years to come.
This week was about reviewing as much of the new website as possible. The bulk of the content is there, so it's about tweaking the design, checking links and CTAs are working etc. There will still be more to do when I get back so I've offered to keep working with Iracambi in my spare time to help them over the last few hurdles before launch. I also presented my social media plan to Rogeria, who was fully on board and we'll look to roll this out with the rest of the staff in the next few days.
On Tuesday night I went with Rogeria and a couple of volunteers to visit Tony, an artist who moved here from Barcelona for work and basically just never left. This was quite the event because being in the middle of the rain forest doesn't afford many opportunities for night life. We set off in Rogeria's trusty VW Beetle for the 25 minute journey (or 45, depending on whether you use British or Brazilian estimations of time). Tony's house is a total treasure trove of paintings, hand carved wooden hummingbirds and animal masks. I even bought one myself to take home with me, which just perfectly captures the hills and trees surrounding Iracambi.
After a couple of hours it was time to head back. About halfway home we got stuck, and I mean really stuck. Rogeria told us we'd have to get out, stand in the shin deep mud and push. Given that we had no idea where we were and it was pitch black, this whole episode should have been unnerving but it was actually pretty funny- probably helped by the 2 glasses of beer we'd had. Eventually the car was freed from the mud and we were able to make our way home. Hats to to Rogeria here, she stayed so calm the whole time and knew exactly what to do.
The next few days were marred by the biggest thunderstorm we've had so far, which knocked out the electricity for almost 24 hours and resulted in terrible flooding across the state of Minas Gerais. It consequently meant no WiFi, so when the rain finally subsided on Friday I joined the other volunteers for some more tree planting.
All together I've lost a full working week due to the weather, which has been disappointing as I've not got as far as I hoped on some elements of my project. But I've learned from the team here to take every day as it comes and to not get overly anxious when things happen that are completely outside of my control. Life here is constantly adjusting, and your plans for the day can be completely overturned in an instant. Taking time to breath and remembering that the world is not going to end because you didn't send an email has been a huge lesson that I hope to take back with me.
This weekend the sun came back so we took the opportunity to hike up to another waterfall for the afternoon. It was the most beautiful one we've visited so far and was really the perfect way to spend my last weekend here, made even better by some homemade caipirinhas!
My last few days at Iracambi will be spent packing, frantically trying to get my socks dry and (the hardest part) saying goodbye to the wonderful people I've met along the way. All in all this experience has been an incredible adventure from start to finish. I've learnt so much and the whole journey will stay with me for years to come.
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