João de Deus, Day 1: Orientation

Tuesday afternoon

We arrived in Abadiânia at 2:00 p.m. after driving 90 minutes from the airport in Brasilia. The landscape is an enormous contrast from home—flat, dry, red earth with one story houses and wooden carts driven by horse along the way.

Hotel Rei Davi

Our entire trip was very last-minute, so we were seated in the last seats on the plane. As we rode from the airport in Brasilia to Abadiânia, the taxi driver, Marcelo, told us that the entire commerce of the town is built around the Casa de Dom Inácio, or as locals refer to it: “The Casa.” 70 percent of the guests who arrive each day are “gringos,” not from Brazil. On busy days, as many as 5,000 people visit The Casa.

After arriving at our pousada, we decided that it wasn’t a good fit, so we dragged our suitcases along the dusty main street until we found Hotel Rei Davi, a hotel located on a quiet side street. The price is $75 Reals per day (about $48 US) for a spotlessly clean and simple room, and 3 meals. For those of you who are familiar with my work, I received the name “Davi” during meditation this morning, and after we checked in, I connected the dots!

After getting settled, we went for a walk to the local hangout, Fruittis, where we were surprised to find a juice bar (green smoothies!) that sold vegan sandwiches, soups, and salads. Such a nice surprise.

Dinner at Rei Davi is served buffet style at two long community tables, and we learned that the other guests at the inn were a group from Greece, a few Bulgarians, and one lovely American woman in her 70′s. Dinner was served promptly at 6 pm and was over by 6:40, which gave us time to walk 10 minutes down to The Casa for orientation at 7:00 p.m.

View of Abadiânia from pousada door

The Casa grounds are composed of blue and white brick buildings and a center courtyard, full of trees and benches for seating. There were about seventy people at orientation, and I heard at least eight languages being spoken: English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Greek, Italian, and Portuguese. Our guide was a jovial American man with a beard who walked us through the expectations for Wednesday morning. The most memorable instructions:

• Everyone must wear white clothing while at The Casa.
• The doors open at 7 am, and first time visitors must pick up a “first time” ticket at the ticket office. All tickets are free, and simply serve as a way to count the number of people present.
• By arriving at this time in the morning, we’ll be placed in the 8:00 line, and after waiting in the main hall, we’ll be invited to go before “The Medium.”
• Everyone may ask up to 3 questions of “The Entity,” the used name for João de Deus when spirits are working through him. Translators are provided to interpret the questions.

Sign hanging inside pousada

We were instructed to return to our pousada and to be in our rooms by 10 pm. In fact, the entire town keeps this rule, and everything shuts down except for the street cats.

I’ll keep it short for tonight, because it’s after 10 and our wake up call is at six o’clock tomorrow morning.

Thank you for joining us on this journey…