A Year of Nomading in Photos – the Zaia Family Journey Wraps Up
As I write this post the girls and I are one week away from returning to our home in Austin, Texas. It’s hard to sum up a year of some of the most memorable experiences in our lives in a blog post.
Years ago I realized that by making my profession mobile our family could contemplate long term travel. As someone who grew up in a bi-lingual household but hadn’t maintained the language for my children, I was very keen to remedy the situation by spending time in a Spanish speaking country. As life takes its turns, however, we became good friends with a Brazilian family who invited us to come to experience their home country. So, my plans for spending a year in a Spanish speaking country transformed into 6 months in Portuguese speaking Brazil and 6 months in Spanish speaking Mexico.
There have been so many highlights this year that it would be impossible to name them all. Instead I’d like to present you a photo tour of some of our experiences. Here are 4 slide shows about our year.
The Wonders of Nature
We’ve experienced the incredible natural beauty of the island of Florianopolis, Brazil as well as the mountains of Urubici, just 3 hours drive into the mainland from the island. While in Brazil, Sophia, our 15 year old was also able to make the journey to Iguazu Falls on the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. In Oaxaca, we’ve also seen the beautiful beaches of Mazunte, the expansive mountains of the state of Oaxaca and natural wonders such as the springs and rock formations of Hierve el Agua.
Learning Abroad
Our learning started before our departure with computer Portuguese from the Rosetta Stone. At that time I wrote a post showing Mia in the process of learning Portuguese. After three months in Brazil, her Portuguese had improved dramatically. All three girls attended a Waldorf school in Brazil (Escola Waldorf Anaba) to maintain continuity with their schooling at the Austin Waldorf School. They had the opportunity to see how Waldorf education could morph from one country to another. Ariana and Sophia also enjoyed bellydancing and African dance classes while we were there. Another highlight was a surfing class we all got to participate in – we even got to see penguins next to us in the ocean!
Oaxaca turned out to be an amazing place to learn as well. We took advantage of Mexican dance, drawing, cooking, and ceramics classes at Casa de la Cultura Oaxaquena. It was beautiful to see the girls’ skills develop in each of these areas. Sophia even had the opportunity to perform with her dance class in the Teatro Macedonia Alcala, a gorgeous historic theater in Oaxaca’s central district.
Mia experienced three months of private school in Oaxaca and while we made the decision to return to homeschooling, it gave us a flavor of the Mexican education system and she made some great friends in the process. Ariana and Sophia home-schooled using a combination of online learning and material sent from their school in Texas. Combining this academic learning with the creative offerings of Casa de la Cultura gave them a nice balance in their week.
History and Culture
There is no greater way to understand the history and culture of an area than by experiencing it through immersion. From seeing the Guarani Indians on our Brazilian island to hearing Zapotec spoken in local markets, we were fascinated by the diversity of cultures in the places we experienced. These were living examples of the roots of these two civilizations which were then strengthened through our visits to area archeological sites such as Mitla and Monte Alban, as well as visits to areas of interest such as local churches, shrines and markets and experiences of present day cultural traditions through processions, festivals and rituals. What amazing richness we found!
Friends and Loved Ones
This year has also been incredibly rewarding in terms of time with each other. We have bonded on a new level as any group of people will who meet challenges together. I feel so fortunate to have spent this quality time with the girls before they go off to their own lives.
We were also pleased to receive many visitors from the U.S. including friends and family. It’s great to be able to share some of our joys of travel with them and to spend time together in new places. I believe in all we had 6 sets of visitors.
But one of the true riches we have gathered has been the friendship of the Brazilian and Mexican people we have come to know. It’s through these human connections that our year has really reached a level of fulfillment that we couldn’t have known without them. In addition, we had the surprise experience and pleasure of adding Ana, a Swiss student, to our household during our stay in Oaxaca. Ana has become like part of the family and has enriched our lives during our stay here.
