A miraculous New Year!!

Nothing could have prepared me for the miracle that was New Year’s Eve in Rio De Janeiro…

Forty years ago, I set off on my first travel journey. I was 16 years old, had just completed Grade 10 and had absolutely no travel experience outside of summer camping trips with my family.

Throughout the school year, I went through an extremely rigorous interview process with our local Rotary Club in Simcoe, Ontario. The Club had 2 spots available for local high school students to spend a year abroad on Exchange. There were tough questions, scary scenarios to consider and at the end of it, we were asked to make a list of the top 3 countries we would like to spend a year – my choices were Australia, England and New Zealand.

I received a phone call in the spring to advise me that I was a successful candidate and that I would be spending a year in Bolivia. I will admit that I did not know much about Bolivia but I did ask them if they received my list…. But they told me that they made the decision to send me to Bolivia because I was the youngest candidate and that the people were wonderful there. They also said I had a strong aptitude for languages so I would be able to make the transition to Spanish easily.

I definitely warmed to the idea but I will admit now to what I was terrified to disclose to anyone at the time — I was really scared. But, as the time went and everyone was so proud of me for making this massive decision, I grew more and more afraid. I had never been on an airplane, I had never packed a suitcase except for a week at summer camp, I was having trouble sleeping and became exhausted in the weeks before.

There were going away parties, my cousin, Debbie, packed my suitcase for me and I tried to prepare myself for my first solo travel experience not knowing what to expect travelling to South America on my own. My parents booked my flight on Eastern Airline from Toronto through Pittsburgh and Fort Lauderdale to Miami where I changed planes and navigated rechecking my bags before I departed through Panama and Lima to La Paz. In Lima, the plane had mechanical issues and a 5 hour delay. It was then that I realized I could not communicate with anyone. No one spoke English and I had never had any exposure to Spanish. I was exhausted, alone and scared.

When I arrived in La Paz, I was greeted by Rotarians from Oruro and my first words in English in several hours. We got into a car and exited the airport for a 3-hour drive to Oruro. As I looked out the window, my exhaustion got the better of me as we passed extreme poverty in the barrios of La Paz and mud hut after mud hut enroute to Oruro. What had I done? There were lots of tears…

When I arrived in Oruro, I met my first host family who lived on the outskirts of town. I received a visit from my fellow exchange students in town – 6 from the US and 1 other from Canada. They had travelled together a week earlier and were already settled in. This group of young teenagers would become lifelong friends sharing a bond of this very unique experience.

There were as many host families as there were of us. Because I was so far out of town with my first host family and was attending school in the centre of town, it was difficult for me at lunch/siesta to head home and back to school on the collectivo everyday. I spent many days at the home of the Rosas. Their daughter Gabby was younger and just so adorable.

We became friends on Facebook awhile back and it was great to stay in touch. Earlier this year, we did a Galapagos cruise on Celebrity and I sought her advice and booked it through her. Earlier this week, I saw her posts of her family including her sweet mother vacationing in the Rio area.

At the last minute, I booked an excursion for Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf for New Year’s Eve. I messaged Gabby and she said that she ironically was also doing Christ the Redeemer with her family that day. I messaged her at 9:30am when we were on our way, messaged her at 10am when we arrived — within minutes I heard her beautiful voice and it was a tearful, emotional reunion with both her and her mother. I met Sergio, her husband, and her beautiful children who were as gracious as the entire family. It was absolutely a miracle — a miracle that completely blew me away given the sheer number of people there that day. It was a zoo and somehow we found each other. The miracle of that happening was not lost on any of us. It was 40 years when we all last saw each other…. And somehow, in a crowd, seeing one of the Wonders of the World, we reunited for an incredibly special moment.

And so the day began, I was emotionally rocked but could not believe that it did not have some incredible significance that I should be looking towards for 2024. Miracles do not just happen— we could not have been more fortunate.

We were exhausted but we powered through to New Years. It did not disappoint. Fireworks at Copacabana Beach from the vantage of the Serenade of the Seas moored with a perfect view along with 5 other large cruise ships.