Chapter 3 - Abadiania, Brazil

G’Day All

Well my Rio adventures behind me, I found my self once again headed to the interior pf Brazil, to a small rural community in the middle of nowhere, well an hour and half by car from Brasilia (capital of Brazil – created much like Canberra or Washington DC). Why I hear you ask? I came to Abadiania (Aba-je-arn e-a, Portuguese at least Brazilian Portuguese has no D sound – so D are pronounced like J – bit of trivia for the day), to spend time at the Casa de Dom Inacio, a spiritual healing centre. Again I hear you ask why? Last year I came here out of curiosity, as I had heard so much about this place from friends in Australia, In addition I was suffering terribly with tinnitus, imagine the screeching wailing sound of a slipping fan belt of a car, and put that inside your ear and think about never been able to switch it off and you might come to an approximation of what I was experiencing. I came to the Casa, had spiritual surgery and within two weeks of returning to Australia – the Tinnitus was virtually gone, now I just have a tiny sound left in my ear, which most of the time I can ignore, and do.

Since I was coming in this direction, well you get the idea, decided that two weeks of meditative bliss in a town that feels like you are in paradise (once you have been through a day of adjustment – it’s a bit of a culture shock) and to get rid of the last of my Tinnitus for good and also to treat my eyes, as my eyesight has been getting significantly worse over the last 12 months – 20+ years sitting in front of computers has finally started to take it toll.

So I arrived on Sunday, to my Pousada. Monday I arose and did the usual walk around town, thinking to myself, what the hell have I done!! Went to the Casa (home/house) and did some meditation and slipped back into the feeling of been at home. The Casa is owned and run by a spiritualist by the name of Joao. Joao is often referred to as John of God – not by himself, but if you want to know more about him, do a google search on “John of God Brazil”. A most humble man, who acknowledges he does nothing, that only the healing power of god provides healing. Now before you start all freaking out going – OH MY GOD – Peter’s joined a cult … notice I wrote god with a lowercase ‘g’ signifying the universal energy/divine presence in us all. This place is a place that while is very spiritual, embraces all faiths and beliefs. I can only tell you that to cure Tinnitus is a miracle as there are no western cures for it and I had tried a bunch of other alternative treatments with no success… my last trip here was not only a miracle for me, but I witness many other miraculous things take place for other people.

On Tuesday I went to Anapolis, which is a large town about ½ hour drive from Abadiania. The only place you can do banking, get to travel agents etc (it virtually impossible to do a lot of things over the internet here in Brazil – unless you are Brazilian). So I had decided to catch a bus, arrived at the bus stop, waited … waited … waited … and waited some more… just as I was asking someone if the approaching bus was the one to Anapolis … it kinda slowed down and just as I was able to read the sign on the bus (small sign), the bus was going by, I stuck out my hand in the international sign for signalling a bus – he slowed down a little more, but I think he decided it was too hard to stop so he accelerated and kept going.

So here I am at a bus stop on the highway, now having to wait another hour for the next bus. I had noticed a little earlier that cars pulled up at the bus stop and people waiting at the stop got in. Just after my bus went by, another car pulled up and a couple of the other people at the stop were getting in. One woman looked at me and said “Anapolis?” I nodded my head and she waved me into the car. So here am I getting into a car with a bunch of Brazilians, having no idea what would happen next. Turns out on of the passengers’ lives in Sydney, originally from Brazil. The driver took us to Anapolis and dropped us off near the heart of town. One of the other people in the car indicated that it was $3 real for the driver, which was only $0.35 more expensive than the bus. And got me there much faster than the bus… it was great sitting in a car with a bunch of people and not understanding a word they were saying.

Got to Anapolis and the moment I arrived realised I really didn’t want to be there, small ugly city, population 260,000 approximately. I wondered around for a bit, ended up the local cemetery – this was really peaceful and nice to wander around. Some observations about Brazilian cemeteries, 1) they have the most amazing mausoleums – they are mostly made of glass, a glass door, with glass windows that can be opened and many had top windows that were swung open – they all had little alters with the photo’s of deceased loved one – they were like little shines, prayer areas for the surviving family members. And of course the universal truth – the more money you have the larger your mausoleum. 2) Almost without exception every gravestone contained pictures of those buried there, the pictures were always oval and surrounded but a gold metal frame. Nearly every burial plot was a family plot – I saw very few single burial plots.

After leaving the cemetery, I hightailed it back to Abadiania, was planning to catch a bus, but the taxi driver I got to take me to the bus station, indicated he could take me to Abadiania. So I got him to drive me back to my Pousada, cost me a lot of money – but hey.

So spent the rest of Tuesday just hanging out in a hammock, resting, snoozing, sleeping, it was divine.

Then the Casa week begins - Joao is only at the Casa three days a week, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. There are two sessions a day. You can do a couple of different things; you can sit in the Current rooms, which is basically three hours of intense meditation, or you can go before Joao with a list of issue/questions/problems etc that you need help with. Joao is a spiritual medium who incorporates a number of entities – usually only one at a time; the entities provide information on what you need to do to heal the condition you are presenting with. Now regardless of whether you believe in this or not – it matters little, the results speak for themselves. My tinnitus was healed and I witnessed a number of miraculous events and healings the last time I was here.

I sat in current on Wednesday morning, and then went to Joao the medium in the afternoon, requesting further healing with my Tinnitus and Eyesight. He told me to come back Thursday morning. Which I later found out was because the entity who would be incorporated the following morning would be better able to help my particular condition. So I returned Thursday morning. The closer I got to Joao in the line of people, the more I wanted to cry – it was such an intense feeling, a releasing of sadness and overwhelming sense of joy at the same time. I came before him and he told me through one of the interpreters to come back next Wednesday morning for eye surgery – indicating he would be doing visible surgery. I was then directed to sit in current and meditate for the next couple of hours – it was extremely intense and sublime at the same time.

Normally when you are directed to receive spiritual surgery you are a given the option (at surgery time) to receive invisible or visible surgery. I opted for invisible last time – this time it seems I don’t have a choice. So I am just a little petrified. Eye surgery involves having your eyes scrapped with what is simply an ordinary kitchen knife – without any conventional anaesthesia or any other sterile conditions we would come to expect in a western hospital. I have seen this procedure down now several times and have meet several people who have had it done – it is extraordinary. After surgery as part of the recovery and healing process you are not allowed to read for 8 days – so this will be my last email to you for a while and I will not be able to read any of your replies until I am in the US.

I spent Friday in current and mediating for the day and it is now the weekend, there is not a lot to do in Abadiania, although I seem to be having fun nonetheless.

Friday night is the Vegetarian feast at Frutti’s and a live band – so hung out with a bunch of people, having some of the best vegetarian food I have ever tasted, then watched the band for a while – Indian sitar music mixed with Brazilian drums and other Brazilian/African instruments… was a lot of fun – did a bit of flagging in the back of the crowd – never flagged to Sitar music before, so that was fun….

Saturday night, the owner of our Pousada had a little family get together with some of her nephews playing guitar, drums, percussion, so we danced away Saturday night to Brazilian music. Again I did some flagging – so have now flagged to traditional Brazilian music as well – it was a blast – had a couple of the kids trying to flag with me. I think they were a little amazed at the whole flagging thing.

Have had a relaxing day today – Sunday … there was a service at the Casa, run by Ron Roth, this Padre from the US – it was interesting – but a little too evangelical for my liking and their repertoire of music was amazingly limited, give me a Baptist Gospel choir any day. Sunday evening (just got home to add to the email) was spent at Café Central – they had live music tonight – which consisted of a guy playing a Pan Flute with a background of CD music. Remember those terrible Telemarketer ads for some terrible Pan Flute player, who played all the old classic, but with a Pan Flute – well he now lives in Brazil near Abadiania…. I am trying not to be judgemental – but it certainly did not float my boat.

Some other observations about Brazil for your enjoyment and amusement. Brazil gives definition to the phrase “Paper Thin”, toilet paper, hand towel paper, paper cups, even plastic cups… unbelievable thin …

Brazilian highways have the most marvellous invention – “Retorno” – every couple of kilometres there is a Retorno – basically a U turn bay in the middle of the highway so you can turn around and head back the way you came… handy if you lost, handy if you just drove past the entrance to a friends house and its on the other side of the road … at least you don’t have to drive 40Kms to the next town before you can turn around…

Today (Monday) I am head back into Anapolis again – this time to get money from the ATM machines. Was a much better experience, hung out with a new friend, Craig, and we also had someone who lives in Abadiania with us and know Anapolis well, was able to point out where a few key places where – like the HSBC bank etc. I hopefully will spent the rest of today relaxing and Tuesday as well in preparation for my surgery on Wednesday morning …

So the next time you hear from me ….

Enjoy the photo’s