Hurry Up and Wait

One of the healing aspects of being in Abadiania.
Of being in Brazil.
Of being in South America.
Of being in the third world.

. . . is that life operates at a more sustainable pace.

Being present in the moment, being with the people you are with . . . is most often more important than "getting things done", more important than "going places and doing things".

"Waiting" or just being is a very natural way of life.

A friend from Austria told me a great story about waiting for a bus here.
The busses through Abadiania from Goais and Brasilia supposedly leave every hour.

She got to the "bus station" to go to Brasilia and waited.
30 minutes went by.
60 minutes went by.
90 minutes went by.

She and her husband began to get fidgety.
There were Brazilians waiting when they got there and they were still unaffected.
More Brazilians gathered and no one was acting as if anything was wrong.

2 hours went by.

How could this be? We have many things to do other than to sit here waiting.
Waiting for a bus that we don't even know is coming.

More time went by.
Brazilians continued to wait as if waiting is the most natural thing in the world.

Then the bus came.