Far away, right here

The Little Prince of Exupèry was there. I could feel it in the air. When grandpa said we would pass by the island of Paquetá, I have not given much importance. There are so many places to visit in the city of Rio de Janeiro, so an island of 4,500 inhabitants where were shot some scenes of a famous Brazilian soap opera would be in the end of my list. But grandpa insisted. It was one of the places that he and grandma visited on their honeymoon. They wanted to go there once again.

The experience of visiting Paquetá is somewhat surreal. This small island is a very different neighborhood of the city of Rio de Janeiro - to get there the only way is by ferry.

So we fled from the hustle of the big city and went to the XV Square to take a ferry to the island. While hurried workers passed by us, running to start another day of work, we were going against the flow.

When we arrived and I put my feet in the island, I suspected that the ferry was a time machine in disguise. The old houses of masonry, the gulls, the stone streets and the carriages... every detail remitted to a Rio de Janeiro lost over the years.

We spent a day on the island. In the morning, we did a tour of carriage seeing the most beautiful views of the region. At the end of the tour, the Baobab found us, as a hidden gem. In the book of Exupèry, this tree is a nightmare for the Little Prince. As he lives on a planet that is a little bigger than himself, the Little Prince daily needs to do the toilet of his planet to find the seeds of Baobab, because these trees are giants also in real life and they can reach up to 25 meters height.

But in Paquetá, the Baobab isn’t a villain and it guards a legend: "Long-term luck to who kisses and respects me. But seven years of delay to every evil done to me". I did not have doubts and I kissed the Baobab immediately. Why risk seven years of delay? I was so happy to find this tree that was part of my childhood, when I dreamed of the Little Prince, his rose and sneaky baobabs that could dominate his planet in a heartbeat!

While returning to Rio de Janeiro, I note that the sun's reflection in the water left the sea all shining. It was like a thousand diamonds were burning around me. Grandpa was right. This trip to Paquetá was extraordinary. Amid all these bright lights, these stars in the ocean, I felt like I had also made a trip to the small planet of the Little Prince, the Asteroid B612. And after this experience, life would never be the same again.