At 29 years old, he is on his sixth passport because he fills them with visas and stamps long before they expire.
Brazilian Nataly Castro arrived home a few days ago, in São Paulo, to treat severe anemia after visiting 180 countries in the last 16 months, embarking on a rapid trip around the world.
This journalist, daughter of a teacher and a cabinetmaker, intends to visit 200 countries and territories to conquer Guinness records.
Her grandmother, who sold her car to help him, remembers her as a child studying a globe.
She receives with a coffee in the house where three generations of the family live together.
More than 200,000 people follow @viajesemlimites on Instagram some adventures that are funded with sponsorships.
Ask.
Brazil allows you to travel far without changing language or currency.
When did you first go abroad?
Answer.
On October 29, 2013, I went to Ireland with a scholarship from the State of São Paulo to learn English for a year.
Those medieval settings were like a movie.
Fascinating.
Q.
If it weren't for a storm, you would be in the Falklands now.
A.
That, but the storms delayed my flight, then there was another one and I missed the connection with the only weekly flight to the islands.
It was an invitation from the British Embassy in Brazil to promote tourism.
I took advantage of the fact that I returned to Brazil because I fell ill when I only have 20 countries left.
Q.
It's the Brazilian Willy Fog.
Have you read
Around the World in 80 Days
?
A.
No, but I have read stories from people who read it.
Q.
Does this Guinness thing involve a lot of bureaucracy?
A.
Yes, the record I want to beat is around the world in 18 months, I have been there for 16. I have to hurry.
I document my trip daily with photos and video, I have six passports, tickets and in each country I need two witnesses to fill out a form for Guinness.
Q.
What a stress.
A.
Very much! You have to take care of the logistics details.
Study the map, organize the route, clothing for local customs…
Q.
When are you leaving again?
A.
As soon as possible.
I need to treat my anemia and get funds and sponsors to finish.
I want to visit the 193 countries recognized by the UN, the two observers (the Vatican and Palestine), Taiwan, the four countries of the United Kingdom, I count them separately... so up to 200, including territories.
Q.
What was Afghanistan like under the Taliban?
A.
Epic.
I applied for a visa in Pakistan, which is cheaper.
I had misgivings.
After an hour of waiting, the ambassador received me and said: 'Nataly, we like your project, we are going to give you the visa but tell the world that there is not only war here.
We have history, culture... You are the first woman authorized to enter and travel alone in Afghanistan.'
Q.
And once there?
A.
Many women and men approached me curious, others said: 'Call your guardian.'
But he didn't have one.
I was there 19 days.
A family put me up.
I tried to leave through the land border to Uzbekistan, but it was closed.
I started crying: 'For the love of God, let me pass.'
I had to return to Mazar-i-Sharif.
“Welcome back, sister,” the Taliban told me.
I disagree with his ideas, but I had no problems, I think because he was a foreigner.
I went to take a bus to Kabul and, surprised that I was alone, they called a Taliban leader.
They sat me in the middle of everyone while I consulted.
In the end, the boss made a safe conduct video, sat me on the bus next to a woman and asked four male passengers to protect me.
I think they saw it as an opportunity to show what's good about Afghanistan.
Q.
In other places it is also surprising that you travel alone.
A.
Yes, in many places it is still taboo.
I arouse curiosity but I hope to also be an inspiration.
You learn to love your own company.
And it's a chance to make friends along the way.
The visa for Kuwait required five months of paperwork and a pregnancy test.
Q.
How do you say?
A.
They said because I am single.
I guess it's so you don't give birth there.
A.
The Brazilian passport opens many doors, right?
A.
Impressive.
You can enter 170 countries without a visa.
One day I sleep in a five-star hotel thanks to a sponsorship and another day I take out my mat at an airport.
Q.
Why did you embark on this adventure?
R.
Around the world?
She had lived in five countries, visited about 20, and wanted to be a digital nomad.
I started investigating possibilities in 2019. I want to be the first Brazilian to go around the world.
Q.
I think you had problems in school and that's why you're so resilient.
R.
Problems?
Racism!
In class there were two or three blacks.
He was a good student and they didn't accept him.
He was systematic, since he was 11 or so.
He ate in the bathroom so they wouldn't harass me.
Very hard, because he who hits forgets, but he who receives does not.
I tried to commit suicide three times.
The last time, when I was 14, I was about to jump from the third grade, up here, but I saw a plane and I thought: What if I go to a place where they don't know me and no one judges me for my social class, my money or the color of my skin?'
I started dreaming about studying abroad.
When I got the scholarship, I was working in telemarketing.
Q.
What do you carry in your backpack?
A.
At first more luggage than now.
I wash every other day and every other day.
A GoPro camera, which is a sponsorship, mobile phone, computer and I had a compact camera that was stolen from me in Oman, one of the safest countries.
Q.
You say that arriving in Africa was coming home.
R.
Returning to a house I was never physically in.
Brazil received millions of Africans brought on slave ships.
I really wanted to connect with those roots, I have in Angola and Portugal.
I wanted to learn because our history has been very hidden.
Q.
Brazil is a mixed-race country, what is racism like outside of here?
A.
Now it went well in Poland, but on my first visit, in 2019 in Poznan, people were changing sidewalks.
A man apologized: 'They're not used to tourists like you.'
I learned to look on the Internet at the level of racial discrimination in each country.
They kicked me out of a hostel I had booked in Belarus.
'You're going to pay more for being black,' the owner said when he saw me.
I refused.
He called me a monkey, a slave, a black idiot... His hand shook as he typed the insults into Google Translate.
He kicked my backpack, I was afraid he would hit me, so I left recording a video and saying 'this hostel is racist'.
Q.
In some Sahel countries you did not leave the airport.
Does that count?
A.
Yes, it was in this final stretch.
Yes it computes.
I left the airport in Burkina Faso, about 20 hours, but not due to security in Niger, Sudan and Chad.
Q.
After traveling around the world, where will you calmly return to?
A.
To Iran, to Bangladesh, to Bhutan, to Ghana, to Vanuatu...
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