The Good Life: Written 08-23-08

The Good Life: Written 08-23-08

I’ve stayed in some fab hotels in my times. Moving quickly to #2 on my Fab Hotel List is the Pestana Natal Beach Resort in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte – Brazil (#1 on my list is the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan I stayed in over Christmas break). Our flight was delayed over an hour and we arrived at the airport two hours in advance due to traffic being lighter than believed so I wasn’t happy waiting at airport for four hours on my vacation. Thanks to having the ability to fall asleep anywhere and the fiercest iPod on the planet, time flew by and a little before midnight Friday evening, we landed in Natal.

Natal (Portuguese for “Christmas”) is the capital city of Rio Grande do Norte, a northeastern state in Brazil. My child-like excitement for any place I’ve never been was placed in a box while exiting a section of the airport. Immediately exiting baggage claim to the central meeting location for travelers and their families, the stares began. I could see that this wasn’t a place as welcoming to Black travelers. It wasn’t the these-are-the-Americanos-we-are-excited-by stares that were often apparent in Salvador. It was more like, “what are you doing here?” stares that momentarily had me feeling much like a foreign tourist. With 80% of the population in metro-Salvador being of Black African origin, Salvador is the center of Afro-Brazilian culture in Brazil. Leaving Salvador was like leaving home. So I already know that Natal may be an every once in a while vacation spot but surely not where I ever rest my hat in a closet.

We arrived at the hotel close to 1am and God bless Brazil and all things holy, this hotel makes your heart beat fast and miss beats simultaneously. The color scheme is vibrant orange and red with funky art of many bright designs and colors to remind you the pleasures of being alive. I’m so thankful for color this morning. I’m so thankful for the sounds of the ocean today, still playing melody in my ear as I type, similar melody that danced in my ear while I slept peaceful through the remainder of my night after settling in.

During breakfast came much of the same stares – certainly not from the extremely attentive staff who seemed please that a Black man was in their presence, but more from vacationing families who seemed interrupted by a Black man’s presence in their paradise hideaway. There’s a continuous tape of “whatever gurl” deflecting the stares. I’m a Black man, traveling the world, stepping in the footsteps and into the life that’s ordained for me. Not one stare can distract me from that truth. “Whatever gurl!!!”

I have to know who sings this song. I got the wit to get my camera out and tape the end of a beautiful, passionate song by some female artist. The staff at the hotel couldn't tell me either. Do you know???