Mission Accomplished or You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

It wasn't Mission Impossible, not even a particularly difficult mission, just a very tiring one. I had got it into my head that I must revisit my old school and my favorite playground as a child. They are located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, not too far from the Argentinian border, about sixty kilometers apart. It took a two-hour flight south from Rio, followed by a six-and-a-half-hour bus trip and a forty-five-minute taxi ride to arrive at my first destination, the ruins of São Miguel das Missões. Now a beautifully-maintained UNESCO World Heritage site, this was a pretty deserted place fifty-some years ago when I was a tomboy with a predilection for climbing on buildings and trees. This time around, I had a blast walking in and out of the ruins, stepping over stonewalls, or just plain sitting there in the dark with the full Moon behind the trees and a chilly wind blowing on my back. This is still a remote area of rolling yellow and green hills with immense skies above; earlier that evening I was treated to a rare sight: a huge Moon was rising in the East as the fiery red Sun was still high in the West. The next day, I took a bus early in the morning to the town where I was born. I didn't recognize my school until I was inside the new building looking towards the old. I can't tell you how happy I was to climb the wide wooden steps again; I almost felt like I was thirteen in a homemade swing-skirt dress. I think I must have been very happy there; in any case, it was in that building with the gable windows that I learned everything that made a difference in my life: self-discipline, Geography, and languages.


I took this picture of my foot stepping on a patch of native soil. It is as red as I remembered it. And, as you can see, this middle-aged prodigal daughter was wearing a very 2008ish pair of Capri jeans! I'm back in Rio for a couple more months; I know I can leave now...It's mission accomplished!