Rooted Journeys . . .
Welcome to Rooted Journeys! Since March 2010, we have been recording our adventures in Brazil. We hope to keep you up to date with our experiences in the Brazilian hospitality industry as well as the ups and downs of immersing ourselves into a new culture, language and life far from home.
No matter where our journeys may lead, we’ve come to realize that ‘home’ stays with us. Home represents our roots – the character and values we’ve developed from our family, our friends and the places we’ve lived. Additionally, as with plants, roots represent the lifeline to the natural world and therefore, the truly authentic. Our personal and professional experiences have made us realize that hotels and resorts that are truly rooted in their surroundings – both the natural environment and local community – offer a sense of authenticity not found otherwise. Rooted Journeys represents our personal and professional search for authentic places and experiences that align with our core values.
Who we are . . .
We are Suzanna and Jeff Jones. We met at Duke University in 2000 and, together, have been dreaming up our next travel destination ever since. After graduating from Duke we moved to San Francisco, California where, over nearly six years, we developed a broad range of skills within the real estate industry. Jeff was a senior manager at The Concord Group, a real estate strategy consultancy. During his time at TCG, Jeff managed over 125 projects encompassing wide-ranging strategic issues across all stages of development and land use types (residential, commercial, hospitality). Suzanna was a designer at Hart Howerton – an architecture, landscape architecture and planning design and development strategies firm based in San Francisco, California. For nearly six years, Suzanna gained experience within each discipline working on a range of projects varying in land use and scale, typically high-end resort and residential communities in unique natural settings including coastal, desert and mountain.
Though not in San Francisco anymore, we’re continuing our careers in real estate and hospitality and learning first-hand about the industry in Brazil. We’re loving the hands-on, on-the-ground experience of contributing to the vital stages of a developing project.
What we’re doing . . .
After an incredible two-week vacation to Brazil in May 2009, we were immediately drawn to the country’s natural beauty and vibrant culture. We had the pleasure of staying at one of the few ecologically sensitive hotels geared toward active, upscale travelers in Brazil. Our time in Picinguaba heightened our awareness of the power of a truly authentic experience, rooted in environment, culture and wellness. By March of 2010, we had packed our bags, uprooted our lives in San Francisco, driven across the country (check out all of our fun stops along the way here) and relocated to São Paulo. We had resolved to apply our six successful years of broad exposure in the real estate industry to gain experience in Brazil’s hospitality sector.
After an exciting, busy, educational and ultimately successful five months working with Emmanuel Rengade (owner/operator) at Pousada Picinguaba and Fazenda Catuçaba, we’ve returned to Brazil to continue our personal and professional adventure. This time around, we’ll be living in Picinguaba with the backdrop of paradise as motivation. We will continue our work on the development of the hotel and villas at Fazenda Catuçaba while also contributing to operational improvements at Pousada Picinguaba. This provides us with an ideal opportunity to continue our exploration of the real estate industry in Brazil while also tapping into one of our newer areas of interest – the sustainable food and farming movement, for which our passion is growly rapidly.
We’re excited to find out where this path leads and hope you join us along the way!
Contact Us . . .
Please keep up with us through this blog; we encourage everyone to post any thoughts or comments. If you’d like to send us an email directly, please feel free – we’d love to hear from you!
Email: Suzanna.Jeff@gmail.com
April 4, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Beautiful words. We are very proud of you both.
April 4, 2010 at 6:52 pm
This is TOTALLY cool!!! We can’t wait for your next entry! We will wait with baited breath! Today is Easter Sunday…we hosted 10 for brunch…Aunt Toni’s Strata, Aunt Kit’s Sausage Ring and Aunt Janet’s German Pancake!!!! Life doesn’t get much better…unless you’re Jeff and Suzanna
Be safe, happy, healthy and enjoy your journey!!!!
XXXOOO! The Coops
April 4, 2010 at 7:04 pm
heartwarming,thoughtful, and wonderfully rooted. In full agreement with Kathie, beautiful words.
April 4, 2010 at 8:30 pm
This is fascinating and I wish you both luck and good fortune-I will be following your journey and living vicariously through you! Love Aunt Patti
April 5, 2010 at 9:22 am
Goooood job! congratulations! looking forward to hearing/seeing more. xo Janet and Bill
April 5, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Good luck, guys! All my love and best wishes for a safe and exciting experience! I can’t wait to hear more!
xoxo,
Jeri
April 5, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Loved reading about your travels across the country! Very much looking forward to hearing about your adventures/experiences in Brazil!! Hope you are enjoying your language classes (can’t believe its 30 classes a week). Tyler and I will live vicariously through you over the next five months. Enjoy every minute of it!! xoxo Megan
April 5, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Where did you learn to write so magically? :+)
What a wonderful introductory post–looking forward to the photos, funny moments, adventures, epiphanies and all else you will certainly share in the coming months in this forum.
All the very best!
Rena
April 5, 2010 at 9:58 pm
You r the 2 cutest people I know! Have an amazing experience and be safe… I look forward to reading all about your adventure
April 6, 2010 at 6:57 am
This is fantastic! I am so excited for you all. Maybe you can write a book when you’re done, you absolutely have the gift of painting a beautiful picture with your words. I love and miss you both!
April 6, 2010 at 8:28 am
Are you ready for guests yet?
April 6, 2010 at 8:55 am
Suzanna and Jeff,
What a wonderful adventure you all are on, and I look forward to reading all of your upcoming posts! I completely agree with Kathie…beautiful words. (And we all know where you learned to write like that—5th grade— Rena didn’t really need to ask, did she?)
Have a fabulous journey! Looking forward to the next post, and so proud of you!
Love,
Kit
April 6, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Congrats on the follow through! You two are so inspiring. Consider me a follower!
April 6, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I’m so excited for you guys and this incredible adventure you’re undertaking! I hope it’s full of fun, excitement, discovery, inspiration, new friends and many many moments of bliss. Let me know when you’re ready to start building the kitchen
xxx
April 7, 2010 at 4:17 pm
This is thrilling and inspiring…. Best wishes on this adventure, can’t wait to hear and see what unfolds!
April 7, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Zan! I am so happy to read about your amazing adventure and to know that you are living out such an incredible dream! It’s a bit ironic that when we’re finally reconnecting after all this time, you are farther away than ever!! I miss you and wish you the best of luck…I will keep reading and will keep you in my thoughts.
Love,
Jackie
April 7, 2010 at 10:41 pm
What?? Freaking awesome!! This is what I get for being a bad friend and being out of touch lately…
We are so visiting you!!
Yay!
Love Meg
April 8, 2010 at 7:00 pm
mm booty has been transferred to kf.
April 10, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Superbe! Nous allons vous suivre pas à pas…
Boa Sorte, esteja feliz e seguro!
The Best of Luck to both of you
Michèle
April 13, 2010 at 10:37 am
I saw the gmail buzz and had to check it out. Love the website. I’m very excited for the two of you. BTW, no word on our Cable television debut but I’ll keep you posted.
Hope all is well and enjoy the heat and humidity.
G
April 14, 2010 at 8:48 pm
What an adventure and an opportunity! Remember sunscreen. Jean
April 19, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Miss you guys! Sounds like a HUGE adventure! We are following along at home….
December 4, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Just got this address through two Sweets who spent their day with me – I guess you can imagine whom I’m talking abt!
)!! I’m v happy for u – hiking Corcovado up is awesome, and I’m glad to knowing that u did it! Try “Mr Sugar” next: 10 mts rock climbing – it’s unique!
I’m very glad to check that you’re postings abt us: Brazilians. Please keep me updated!
Yours Always, Martha
P.S.: Knowing abt João drove me jealous… just kidding