It was 4 a.m. in Paraty, Brazil. Dark, silent, almost deserted. I found myself sitting alone in the bus station, regretting that I hadn’t prepared better. The town felt safe enough, but wandering around a foreign place at night wasn’t exactly smart.
After knocking on hotel doors without luck, I gave up, returned to the station, and waited until morning. When the first bus finally rolled in, I went straight to a hotel and joined breakfast.
There I met a Brazilian couple who, after we’d eaten, casually asked if I wanted to join them on their trip into town. It was a 30-minute drive, and with their car, it would be much easier than the bus.
I said yes.
That weekend, we wandered bookstores, drank caipirinhas together, and talked late into the night at the hotel. When it was time for me to leave, they insisted I skip the bus. Instead, they offered to drive me home, a six-hour trip filled with singing and a mixture of Dutch and Brazilian songs.
It felt magical, though I couldn’t explain why until I later read David Whyte’s poem A Stranger’s Love.
Out of all the loves in the world (family, friendship, romance), a stranger’s love might be the most extraordinary. There’s no shared past, no years of investment in the relationship, and – most importantly – no established trust. Yet you choose to be courageous and open your home (or car) to someone you’ve only just met. You decide to choose love over fear.
It’s what restores faith in humanity. It’s our need for connection met by the unlikeliest candidate.
It’s also what I try to spark with Cultural Reads.
Travel becomes richer when you arrive with a sense of curiosity. When you take the time to understand a culture and invest in a shared context that facilitates connection.
That’s when a simple holiday can turn into a lifelong friendship and when your kindness and openness shape how people see your country and what they share with others.
