My Journey to Rio; The Adventure Continues- Part 2

Because God provides

Today is the feast of St. John Paul the Great y'all!!

Also known as Pope John Paul II..just in case you weren't sure who I was talking about.

There's a quote from him that I think is quite fitting for this post and is something that should inspire us and motivate us instead of terrifying us. Don't be afraid to walk with God.

Right..so where was I?

After 24 hours of travelling, we finally arrived in Rio!

...but not without drama...


I did mention that I had prepared meals in advance right? I had cans of tuna (sounds innocent enough, not so?), some cauliflower wraps, some steamed ground provision, some dried seasoning, some fruits and some stewed turkey wings. Everything was already cooked or canned.

All was well in the food department until we got into Brazil...

Apparently in my research on Brazil, I didn't realize just how strict they were about bringing food into their country. Of course we Trinis are masters at smuggling food in. but I..rather naively I suppose, declared that I had food, but I figured, well it was cooked, so it shouldn't be a big deal right?

EH HEH??

Well, they confiscated my fruits, dried seasoning, ALL MY MEAT, INCLUDING the cans of TUNA. I was left with the cauliflower wraps and I think some ground provision. Of course I protested, in my halting Portuguese, but to no avail. I had to watch an agent spray some blue chemical all over my food and declare it destroyed.

I. WAS. DEVASTATED.

If I could have lain down on the ground and bawl I'd have done it. My food, which was supposed to get me through the first few days was GONE. Not just gone, chemically sprayed into oblivion.

I frantically messaged Rosemary about what had happened, and her ever so calm response was "Don't worry about that, God will provide". If allyuh could have seen my face when I read that eh!! Don't worry that all my food was gone and I was in an unknown country with basically nothing to eat?!! Hello, remember me? The one with the digestive conditions? I can't just run into a McDonald's or a KFC at the airport you know.

Anyway, once I composed myself, and had my cauliflower wraps, (which were absolutely delicious might I add) we got a taxi and tried to give him directions to where we were staying, while also trying to contact our hosts.

The first image we saw of the Christ the Redeemer statue, backlit in the night was absolutely BREATHTAKING! No amount of pictures and videos does justice to actually seeing it in person. I would totally make another trip JUST to go back to see the statue.

We arrived at our place of lodging for the next few days until we were to separate to the parishes/locations to which we were assigned. Excited, we decided one time to take a lil walk around the neighbourhood with our host to check out the area...and not even two stores down the road was a FRUIT SHOP!

I was staying two doors down, from a FRUIT SHOP.

Allyuh hear nah! God mussy was laughing at me for despairing.

We rounds the next corner, lo and behold another grocery, one that opens late and on literally every corner there was a juice bar. Brazilians are health fanatics and their juice bars or Sucos, are world renowned for their crazy flavour combinations. EVERY SINGLE THING in the sucos is fresh; there is no syrup in a bottle being mashed up with ice and being labelled a "smoothie". They have the fruits artfully arranged and you just tell them what combination you want or you choose from their extensive menu.

The next day we went to an English mass at the beautiful Nossa Senhora da Copacabana Church (Our Lady of Copacabana). And then we went to an open air market. Now Brazilian open air markets are not like the ones we know about in Trinidad. First of all, they let you TASTE THE FOOD. Once you approach a stall, they will cut off a piece of whatever you're looking at so you can taste it and show you that it's good quality. Secondly you can pay BY CARD! There were point of sale machines, in the market!

Check the spread nah! A container of strawberries cost 6 tt!

look the mango cut for you to taste!

If you see people!

Nossa Senhora Da Copacabana Church

Front Entrance to the Church

At our guest house

After two days of roaming about Copacabana, it was time for us to head to the Basilica to find out where we would be placed, location wise. We had already been informed previously what general areas we'd be working in. Stevie was in "communications", Akil was in "sections and tents" and I was placed in the "French catechesis sessions" because I speak fluent French. The catechesis sessions were broken down by language to accommodate all of the different countries. Of course I was just super excited about that because I got to speak French all day, something I hardly ever get to do.

Of course you want me to tell you that everything went perfectly; we went to the Basilica and we received our location placement and were whisked off to our new lodgings right?

WRONG!

More drama!

As the day wore on, it became painfully clear that some of us had no place to stay. The organisers were using a rather rudimentary system (an excel spreadsheet) which contained the placements of THOUSANDS of volunteers. And there were several spreadsheets and they had to find the right one so that we would know where we'd been placed. And some of us were not in the system. Most of us who has been misplaced (ha ha) were in the language section. Evening turned into night and the numbers dwindled. They told us we'd find out where we were placed the next day when we went to collect our volunteer packages. So some people were saying well we'll just sleep in the church. However, the parish priest was having none of that; we couldn't sleep in the church. So of course panic was setting in now! We definitely needed somewhere to stay. Suddenly, this lady showed up and started rounding us up and telling us, we can sleep at her house, just follow her, so I'm thinking, what house could possibly be big enough to hold all thirty-something of us.

So I said, well at least I have somewhere for the night, thank God.

A metro ride and a short walk later we arrive at her 'house'

The woman lived in a PENTHOUSE APARTMENT! With a rooftop jacuzzi and an UNINTERRUPTED VIEW of The Christ the Redeemer statue! If you see that place! Three bathrooms, a massive living room, a huge kitchen. It was unbelievable.

What is the lesson here, class?

GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES!

Pressed down, shaken together and running over allyuh!

Please ignore the snow animation. I have no idea how that got there.
Trying to transfer pics from the Cloud via multiple devices results in this weirdness

One HALF of the living room area

View of Christ the Redeemer from the rooftop My camera didn't do it justice at all

My Polish friend and I taking selfies

I thought it could write this story in two parts, but clearly a part three is needed!


Stay tuned for the rest of my adventures in Rio!


xo

Renz

My Journey to Rio for World Youth Day- Part 1

Otherwise known as, God ALWAYS provides:)


I've been meaning to publish this for nearly TWO years now...

But better late than never right ?? *toothy grin*


Now I'v been hearing about World Youth day for YEARSSS..When I was first told about it at Church, I was too young to go and of course when I heard the cost I thought to myself: "well hmph,..doubt I'll ever find myself at one of those" and, "How could they POSSIBLY raise all that money??!!"

So I basically put it out of my mind..but the thing is, as a foreign language afficionado, I love to travel and I LOVE experiencing other cultures...I have a bucket list of places and foreign immersion experiences I MUST have before I die. I remember joking with my (then boyfriend) husband the year before about going to Brazil for World Cup..little did I know...

Fast forward to November/December 2012, I saw a post about signing up for World Youth Day Rio as a pilgrim or Volunteer. Curious, I clicked on the volunteer sign up and saw that they provided everything (accommodation, meals, transport) and you just had to find money for the plane ticket and the volunteer package. I talked to some fellow church members to find out what the experience at WYD was like and became even more tempted to apply. Additionally I had studied Brazilian culture at university, so it was appealing on several levels; because I'd get to experience a different language and culture, as well as fulfiling my curiosity as to whether all those things I learned about Brazil was true.

I thought to myself..hmm...I wonder if I could raise that money in 7 months boy???..well let me apply, the worst they could do is decline my application to be a volunteer..

Now mind you, at this time I had just started my business, so WHAT ON EARTH I really doing planning a pilgrimmage to Brazil, while managing a startup eh? My reasoning was, well I dunno how long I'm going to be in the business, but now I'm actually able to arrange my schedule MYSELF so that I can take the time off, instead of having to beg my superiors for the time, so really, why not? And for some reason I felt compelled to go to this particular WYD event. Also, other than the US, it really wasn't  going to be any closer to the Caribbean than Brazil any time soon. So I applied.

In December I got a letter stating that I was indeed chosen as a volunteer and I'd have to submit some other documents accepting the position and they' provide further information on training and the timeline and other things that would be required.

*cue excitement*

*Proceeds to google search cost of plane tickets to Brazil* ...

But where I finding 10-12 grand for a plane ticket? And I don't want to go through the US..

Talking to my mother about the money issue, she was like "Why you worried about that? You get through to be a volunteer, God will provide". Listen eh allyuh, to say my mother is my biggest supporter is the UNDERSTATEMENT of the MILLENNIUM!!

I swear to you, if I told my mother I wanted to be the President of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune AND Mars, she would not bat an eyelash. In fact, she would probably start making plans for the installation of family quarters in the presidential suite for each planetary location.

The following January for my birthday, she gave me an envelope with some money in it, marked "Road to Rio" to start me on my savings. Unwavering support I tell you.

As time progressed, I met six other people who were planning to go as volunteers. This was the largest "volunteer posse" ever from Trinidad, as most people go as pilgrims. There was nothing in place by the Archdiocese to help those of us who chose to go as volunteers, so we had to basically figure out everything on our own.


February arrived and we decided to meet up and really start planing and preparing for our pilgrimmage to Rio. We  were supported mainly by Rosemary of the Living Water Community who provided A TONNE of help, in terms of spiritual, financial and emotional support. People like to talk about people in the Church being judgmental and stingy and unsupportive. That was not my experience on this occasion. They put their necks on the line for us many times, never once questioning the financial feasibility of the kind of money they put out or whether they would even get a return on their investment. They fronted the money when we decided to hold a fundraising concert. They PAID for our tickets long before we were able to finish raising the money to pay for said tickets. They sent out letters on our behalf requesting donations to help us get to Rio. In fact, on the very day we left Rosemary received a cheque which covered the money they had put out and then some. We even had spending money! Do not underestimate the power of a coin drive!

I talk about this as if it was all smooth sailing, but it was five months of plenty prayers, plenty begging for donations and plenty support too. The seven volunteers was whittled down to three; and of the three of us, one guy wasn't even sure he would be able to go as he had started a new job and was still on probation. The planning, organising and execution of the fundraising concert was another challenge, mainly done by Volunteer Stephen who specialises in such events. (btw check out his page here). Did I mention during all of that my sister had a baby like three days after the concert with a false alarm the night of the concert? See me driving up to the hospital at midnight with her and my mother in tow.

And while I was excited to go, I was unsure of how I'd manage my diet there as I had only started the paleo/SCD diet that February. Being in a foreign place where you don't speak the language very well is a challenge for people with normal digestive systems, far less when you have a sensitive one. How do you say "I have food allergies" in Portuguese? But I had a sort of plan and I trusted that the Lord would work out the rest.

D-day-July 12th, 2013, we ready to go ! Or were we?? Mind you we had done some preparation, but we really didn't know what to expect. We were literally going with God..

And thus began the journey to Brazil..we had to travel from Trinidad to Suriname, then Suriname to Belem in the north of Brazil and then the longest leg (because Brazil is massively huge) from Belem to Rio in the south..

Three planes and almost 24 hours later...

At the airport

My Brazil inspired nails

We met a friend who was travelling on his own as a pilgrim

Stay tuned for Part 2 :)

xo

Renz

Fun with Food! When you can't have the traditional stuff

Hello there!

I know it's been absolute AGESSS!!

But I can totally explain...

Well I got married, moved to another country..and had to start my salon business all over again..but more on that in another blog post...(after all, I have to get you to come back to this blog somehow right ;))

I put up a post on Facebook today and I was reminded of how much I have been shirking my blogging duties, so I decided to finish one of the four drafts that have been sitting here forever...

But I digress...

Today we're going to talk about one of my favourite things, FOOD!

And although it may not look so, for those of you who know how 'long and lingay' I am.. I LOVE FOOD!

So most of you all know I'm on a special diet to control my IBS and acid reflux...and I get asked all the time " Ermahgerdd!! so what CAN you eat??!!"

The answer...lots of things..they just happen to not be processed foods..

One of the most painful things about this diet however, was having to give up sweets and pastries; I have a notorious sweet tooth, and I was known as the "snack machine" at university. Anybody could pass by me any hour of the day or night for something to eat.

Soo I can't have delicious jam, jelly, sugar, cheese and custard filled pastries, or ice cream, or cake, or...anything...conventional..

But I'm telling you, it's possible to have goodies even on a restricted diet..or even if you just want to have nice goodies but without all those processed flours and additives that usually go into such things..

You just have to be open to using unconventional ingredients or typical ingredients in new ways. You also have to understand that it's probably not going to taste like conventional food items, but that isn't necessarily  a bad thing. I find it actually tastes better :P..but I'm biased...

So since discovering alternative flours..such as plantain, sweet poatato, cassava, tapioca and coconut flour, I have been having a TIME making paleo goodies..I also now have a pinterest board that I create every year with my paleo Christmas menu. Yes this is serious business!

I have other boards on there with paleo real food recipes for everything under the sun :) I could make something different every day and never be bored for the rest of my life...literally...


Did you know you can make pastelle from PLANTAIN?!!

Yes that's right!
This is the recipe right here!

Now conventional flours do not work like regular ol' wheat flour, and there are many blog posts that explain how they work and talk about ratios and all those fun math cooking calculations (so exciting!)..but I like things that have been tried and tested so I usually just follow a recipe from a well known paleo blogger who has put out a cookbook...because recipe testing with alternative flours is expensive, and the way my wallet is set up...well you ketch my drift... me can't afford to waste a bag of flour trying ah ting...

Pictured: some muffins I made a while back. I think they were banana

..annd when I'm feeling extra lazy and want some goodies that taste EXACTLY like good ole conventional flour and sugar filled cakes and pastries and whatever other dessert I feel like having, I just call up my girl Nathalia Lee of Pink Chef Catering. When I tell you, people CYANNOTH tell the difference! She is amazing and she can make ANYTHING to suit your specific dietary needs. She makes ROTI, you hearing me, ROTI from alternative flours and BUSS UP SHUT TOO!!!! You can hit her up at 1-868-752-8528 or email her at nathalialee@yahoo.com. Oh and she's also at the Upmarket every month. Well now that I'm in another country I shall have to find another grain free baker...but that's ok..I usually only have those things on special occasions anyway...


So bottom line..have fun with food...try something different..yuh might like it!

xo

Renz

p.s I dyed my hair purple a few months ago..but I'm bored with the colour so I'll probably change it..will probably do a blog post on that when I do :)