A new year is coming... everything will be different.

One more year is going away... It's common to hear, year after year, that "this year went faster than others".

Indeed.

We are so conditioned to our "regular lives" that we wake up, day after day to do more of the same.

More or less it's what happens to this country. The government has done nothing for the economy in the past 12 years and here they are again (the same was reelected)! People concerned only with their own lives just voted for the same… and Brazil will have more of the same. Null economic growth. Struggling to keep the internal consumption alive (by temporarily decreasing some taxes) and leading people to get dangerously indebted. As a consequence, national currency has been deprecating more and more.

When talking to my educated colleagues and friends, nobody can understand why the things are going in this way.

So, besides the regular routine, Brazilians also have to worry about the short term future, high taxes with no return and unemployment. It’s a pity but everything built in the economy in the years before Lula’s government is already destroyed. And I will not even mention the corruption scandals of US$ billions in Petrobrás (government’s oil company) and in every public works. It is incredible what the Brazilian government is doing with this nation. While other countries are growing 4 to 9% per year, Brazil will not reach 1%.

Of course this bad managed economy will negatively interfere in our trip. Everything we buy outside Brazil, we face a surcharge of 6,38%. This money goes directly to the government pockets… and only to their pockets. Not to mention the constant devaluation of the national currency.

So, if for the Brazilian people the situation will be more of the same, we will really put all our forces to have a different year.

2014 ends a phase of our lives. From now on, everything will be different to us.

We want to learn, we want to share, we want to live different experiences and become better as people.

  

We wish you a 2015 with all its challenges, but also with simplicity and modesty. We can be better people. We can live with less goods and more compassion. 

Love, peace and travel! :)

See you on the road in 2015!