It was the beginning of the 20th century. First half. He left Beirut to search a better dwelling for his family - wife and child. He had a stall in the local market which had been bombarded. One day it was there, the other it wans't any longer.
He had been told there were great opportunities in a continent called America, so he got into the boat sailing to Rio de Janeiro. Once at the port of a strange land, he sat down and waited for someone who could speak his language. He simply trusted that. "That one has an arab look". And it was an arab indeed, who said he should go to Santos.
Santos used to be the main port connected to the trade of coffee, those years, and many immigrants ended up in São Paulo state because of that.
The Brazilian railway had also developed due to the coffee economy, and on this way between Rio and Santos he spotted a small hilly city which reminded him of Lebanon. So he decided to settle there.
His son received a letter, many months later, and repeated his steps towards this place called São Luís do Paraitinga, in the countryside of São Paulo state. He also sat down in Rio port, waiting for some arab face. He also understood what his father had meant when he wrote "it reminds me of Lebanon". A life tremendous change based upon a personal description in an old times letter.
The son became a Geography professor at the most prestigious Brazilian University, and told this story to an audience of students and scholars, at the moment of opening of a so new arabic studies institute. And I will never forget that old man watery eyes.