vacation for my vacation

I´m in Brasil to get to know my family, improve my português, and volunteer when needed. Learning a second language, getting familiar with a different culture and handling family dynamics can be tiring....but no doubt about it - I am on vacation. So the fact that I went on vacation, while I am on vacation, is a little redundant. But while in Brasil, do as Brasilians - go to the beach! I went to Ilha Grande, an island that is a part of the state of Rio de Janeiro (also a world famous city). The weather was horrible nearly the entire time but the friends and scenery were well worth it.

Given that I was at a very remote beach, with little sun, lots of rain, and no internet connection, our entertainment options were limited. We improvised very well - with card games Uno and Spades, videokaraoke, a crazy clothing competition called "miss ridiculous" (which I came in 4th place), caipirinhas and lots of dancing. Satomi, a great woman from Japan, taught us how to use chopsticks - properly. Fred, the Swede, taught us how to sing Jingle Bells in Swedish. And Jonathan is the one who taught us how to play spades. (I´m not sure what I contributed but I definitely benefited). The vacation was a package deal, not something I prefer to do but was well worth it because we met some fantastic people. Almost everyone was impressed with our language skills and the international flavor of our group. I really had a great time with all of them.

Without a doubt my biggest concern was the food. The greatest difficulty I have with being vegan is other people´s frustrations with preparing food and traveling. I am vegan for environmental, social, and health reasons. Given those reasons, in an ideal world, I would eat all natural/local/seasonal produce, with minimal packaging or shipping, farmed by myself or those that receive a living wage. However, I don´t really have a green thumb (I nearly killed all my roomies plants when she went to Paraguay for 2 weeks), I like sweets, and when I´m traveling I don´t have the control over what type of produce people buy. As a result, I eneded up eating a lot of french fries (which I love but hardly ever eat), melon, and white rice (I actualy prefer brown) on this vacation. I hope the beans I ate weren´t made with bacon but I´d rather not think about it. I made sure to take my own food, mostly junk food consisting of amendoim (peanuts). I´ve fallen in love with "japanese" style peanuts (which satomi assures me they don´t have in Japan). All in all the trip got me thinking alot about how I eat. Sometimes I regret I can´t just go over to someone´s house and eat whatever they offer, but my desire to live a life in alignment with my values outweighs my regret. I´ve been vegetarian for almost 13 years, during which time I knew I should have be vegan - based on my values - but it wasn´t until April 2006 (after reading Great American Detox Diet) that I finally made the switch. And now I think I may need a few years to do this vegan thing well.

Unrelated to my trip:

I´ve also discovered cake mixes here that are animal product free (vegan by default - though not really in alignment with my personal values) that work with the soda can recipe. Here is how it works - you add a can of soda to the cake mix and bake. I´m not a big soda person but I LOVE guarana - a soda particular to Brasil. This type of cake is gooey, sticky, sugary, and yummy. I also bought some agar agar which I still haven´t figured out how to use and I have a large bag of shitake miso which is so salty and delicious but I have no idea how to use more then a tablesppon at a time. Any suggestions???

I´m starting to think about my 2008 resolutions. I usually make about 25 or 30. I already know one, I plan on baking some type of vegan bread once a week. Please send me recipes (pizza dough, breadsticks, rolls, etc)

I will be missing out on homemade cranberry sauce for thanksgiving. If you have some - eat up.

I look back to two months ago - when I suffering over my exboyfriend and no friends - and I couldn´t feel farther away from that time in my life. Amen!