Back in Rio, I barely had time to get reaquainted with my home, much less even begin to recover from the long whirlwind of people, places, travel and events before it would all start right up again.
Finally got a few hours sleep in my own bed while a pair of my pet vultures flapped their massive black wings out on the sunny balcony overlooking the bay. Seeing them sitting out there as I fell asleep reminded me of that song “Death is Certain” that Iggy wrote after spending an afternoon on my balcony in Rio. After just a few hours, we woke up in the afternoon and went to the Paderia for fresh bread, eggs, coffee and fresh orange juice. Then we got back on the bike and rode over to my regular spot by the beach.
I pulled the motorcycle up onto the big rock at the end of Copacabana — just in time to meet my dear friend Sebastian Elsaesser there. Sebastian had just arrived from Germany, via the Amazon jungle city of Porto Velho, where he had been conducting one of his intensive self-realization workshops in a prison for habitual murderers.
Sebastian is a paranormal phenenomenalogical psychologist; a powerful witch doctor with a PHD. He used to be the Director of one of the largest mental hospitals in Europe. Sebastian revolutionized treatment programs there by nearly totally eradicating the use of harmful psych medications on patients and initiating a highly effective regime of holistic therapy and “alternative” treatments for those under his care. A shamanic spirit-worker by vocation, Sebastian has been teaching, working and studying in Brazil for decades now with the likes of Chico Xavier, the famous Brazilian medium and psychic healer.
Sebastian had just finished conducting a week-long workshop in my neighborhood in the hills above Rio and was now enjoying his first and last day off before heading north to Bahia for his next adventure — after which he would head back to Germany. For now he was just chilling, sitting at my open-air office by the waves.
As Tali and I rode up onto the rock, I could see Sebastian was already hanging at the table with our dear friends, filmmaker Romulo Fritscher and his wife, the great Brazilian songstress, Paloma Lins Costa. We sat down and ordered some fresh coconuts all around, then caught up with our friends there, sitting by the waves sipping cool coconut water and swapping news.
After awhile Sebastian and I took our leave from the others and walked down the stone stairway to the sand. It was time to greet my Mother, Iemanja, Princess of the Sea. Sebastian dove right in the water and swam out quickly beyond the breakers, while I stayed closer to shore, body-surfing wave after crashing wave, smiling as I bonded again with my sparkling happy home. And once again I was reminded why I love living in Rio above all other cities. Where else can a grumpy, cyinical anti-social writer have such an “office” to do his solitary work from?
Finally, after months on the road all over the world, constantly surrounded with all sorts of people and social happenings I was really longing for some peace and solitude. And this is where I go to get it. But I’d still have to wait for any kind of real break. The next day Eugene and Gogol Bordelo would be arriving in Rio with all their raging demons of wine and song…
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Sounds like you have some very spiritually powerful & helpful friends… Wish there were more people around HERE like that.