Rosemary's Dream

Rosemary's Dream is a little piece of paradise. It all began when two friends from the Israeli army rented an apartment in Florianopolis. Their friends from around the world starting visiting. They cooked and worked out together. Eventually, they decided to make a business out of it, focusing on empowering friends from around the world to value life, love the world, and live their dreams.

They connected with a real estate agent in Brazil who mentioned a property that was perfect for their vision but it was not for sale. The two men met with an old lady named Rosemary, who owned the land. They spent hours touring the property, hiking, eating from the garden, and sharing their vision. Rosemary loved their idea and since she had cancer, she decided to sell the property to them.

My days at Rosemary consisted of waking up at 6:45am for a group workout, eating community breakfast, hiking on the mountain, swimming at the beach, walking along the water, hanging out on the hammock, and chatting with the volunteers. I did every hike on the property forward and back, got sun kissed, and relaxed. I became good at chilling for once!

When I checked in, reception gave me a green bracelet that is typical in northern Brazil. She told me that with each knot that she tied, I had to make a wish. She sent my photo to the what's app group chat to welcome me to the family. I was skeptical at first. I wasn't crazy about all the hugging. 

When I arrived I immediately climbed the mountain to Rosemary Rock. At the top, I recorded a video and sent it to baby Jackson for his bday. That night we had family dinner. The food is vegan (plus egg and fish) and everyone in the kitchen is an absolute wizard. 

Exosphere graduates (https://exosphe.re/) joined us, and afterwards Cormoran did a nutrition presentation. He started off dissing the American diet (he even called me out to read a slide aloud since I'm American) and I was certain that the program was going to be vegan propaganda. The kitchen did make us brigadeiro though, which is a typical Brazilian dessert that is sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder, butter and chocolate sprinkles!!! It had Katelyn written all over it. Even Cormoran tried a spoonful! But I saw him sneak off to spit it out over the balcony.

The nutrition program turned into an interesting conversation, and folks from around the world chimed in about their customs and traditions surrounding food. We discussed what each of us believed was optimal nutrition. I met Beana from Vermont, who bought a tiny wood cottage on a large plot of land. She dabbles is medicinal plants (I tried a plant called Jambu aka Spilanthes, which is ideal for sore throats since it numbs the mouth), and has her own chickens and lambs. She even slaughtered them herself before she ate them. She was into the Rosemary vibe but also made jokes when it got to be too much. She was a great person to shoot the shit with at the hippie commune.

The next day we had a family meeting where we talked about three things we loved. I said a warm cup of coffee, the sound the ocean makes when it sizzles on the sand, and going to a baseball game. After breakfast, I explored more of the mountain. 

Rosemary does not allow meat, dairy, or sugar in the house, so Timothy from Belgium and I snuck out for a sugary treat in the afternoon. He has been chilling at Rosemary for two weeks and plans to return in September for Rosemary's month long empowerment program called Heart Attack. 

I attended the Transforming the Patriarchy seminar, which I didn't get. The woman putting it on was talking about accepting feelings and rejecting meditation and I wasn't following. She was wearing her bleeding vagina skirt...