The morning lit up a beautiful sky. I somehow managed a few hours of sleep in the last part of the night. It was really cold, but i had managed. Good thing i had brought warm clothes along. The morning involved following a long winding path on the beach to get to the outhouses, and hanging out talking with a few of my friends. We had received news from our priest that he would meet us at 9am this morning. At this time, our group leader left for a bit to meet up with him, while another small team of our group went out to find a supposed starbucks nearby. The crowd was beginning to wake up, and the noise began to rise. People were singing, talking, some were even going for a swim. It was a cool sight out on the water - brazilian battleships were patrolling the coast. The military had a huge presence at this event, which made us feel much more secure. Slowly, our group began to reform - the people who went home came back, the starbucks group returned, and finally, our priest arrived to meet us. It was a joyous reunion. The final sunday mass was about to start on the beach. We were very far down the beach so it was very hard to hear or see anything. We had some of our group with radios, who would tell the group what was being said. Our priest however, had something special planned for us. He threw on his vestments, got out his things and made an alter out of a cushion. He was going to do a mass for us so we got the full experience. It was such a cool sight to see - perhaps once in a lifetime. Our last big celebration together. We were some of the only ones to receive communion this far back on the beach. He first gave it to us, and the remaining was given out to people close by. Our stuff was kind of trampled on with people coming up to try and receive it but it was fine - just sand. Finally, everyone was in suspense. It was time to announce the next world youth day location. Turns out, the next will be in 2016 in Krakow, Poland! That will be a cool one. Who knows, perhaps i'll be a group leader for that one. I have a fair bit of travel/wyd experience now. Anyway, this is when things got a bit sad. I finally had to say goodbye to my group. Although my flight was at 10pm at night, and it was only noon, I still had to expect that the traffic would be chaos and i still needed to make the hour and a half commute back to pack my things and about the same amount of time to get to the airport. Recreio is a little far out of the way of most things. So, i stood in some pictures, gave everyone a hug and as hard as it was, i finally left. As I started my trek alone, it was starting to sink in that this experience, in this place, with this group was over. Had I been a more emotional guy, i imagine i would have left with tears in my eyes, the same way most of my group left Paulinia. Instead, with a smile on my face, I looked up to the heavens and said thank you. With that, it was time to move on; i took off running down avenida atlantica, my cape flapping behind me. I ran most of the way there and got to the busses before most. The volunteers really didn't know how their busses work, so i was directed all over the station before getting on the right bus. In the line, i met another wyd pilgrim heading home. She was 17, and came from a city a few hours away to take part in the final mass and vigil. She spoke very good english, so we talked about our experiences throughout this time. As it turned out, she and her group were on all of my transfers, all the way to Glaucio Gil where i left. On the last bus, her friend even tried to teach me a brazilian dance. I'm not the best dancer to begin with, so trying to dance on a moving bus was an epic failure. She said that I was at least better than the Argentinians (Argentina and Brazil have a bit of a rival thing going on). I got to my house, and went through all my things. I needed to pack efficiently this time as now, I had accumulated more things from wyd to fit in my bag. I managed to make it work somehow. My homestay gave me a little gift to remember them by - they have been so generous to us and really wished that I had something to give them. I definitely will when i return one day. At 4:30, i was ready to go. The guys from the house decided to give me a ride to Alvorada station which was really nice. They helped me pick the right bus to the airport, and as it turned out, i was the only one that got on it. The ride there was a really scenic one, as if rio wanted to say goodbye to me. I jumped off at the airport, and made my way to checkin. I was early, but better early than late. Somehow my bag was still under 23kg (i think they're just being nice to me). I wandered the airport for a little bit before moving to the gates. I got some wifi and started studying spanish. I'm going to need it now that i'm off to Ecuador. At my gate, i met some Argentinians that went to world youth day. They gave me a little prayer medallion from their country as a gift. It's amazing how much generosity i've seen here. I don't think i bought a single souvenir in brazil because people kept giving me stuff. Anyway, the plane ride was really short. I had a great window seat that gave me the most amazing night view of Rio as we left. I then closed my eyes for what felt like a second and we were landed in Sao Paulo. My next flight isn't until 8:45 this morning, so until then, i will have to stay awake. Wish me luck!
The people i met on the bus
No comments:
Post a Comment