My tattoo

So my third to last day in Rio, I may or may not have gotten a tattoo ☺ Don’t worry, it wasn’t as rash as it sounds. I have been thinking about it for over a year and I felt like Rio was the place to do it.



It is the design of the Christian fish. Back when Christianity was outlawed in the Roman Empire, Christians lived under great fear. When meeting someone for the first time, to discover whether the other was a Christian, they would casually draw an arc in the sand in the shape of the upper swoop of the fish. If the other recognized the symbol, they would complete the lower swoop of the fish to indicate they were also Christian and the two would talk about their faith without fear. If the other was not a Christian, the swoop in the sand caused no suspicion and they easily erased it with their toe.

Under the fish, it says “Prov 3:5” in beautiful old script. The verse is the following:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your path.”

This passage has many meanings to me. First of all, when I was a child, my parents used to sing this proverb to me whenever I was upset. I chose to put it on my foot as a calming reminder that God is guiding my steps. All you need to do is trust Him. When I was confirmed, I chose this passage as my confirmation verse. Not only that, but Jesus taught us to be “fishers of men” and this serves as a reminder of that. Now, not only does it remind me of all of this, it also reminds me of my time in Rio and of the friendships I made there.

And let me tell you, the mere experience of getting the tattoo is a memory to go down in the books. I went to “Helio’s Tattoos” in Ipanema, which apparently is pretty famous. The guy that runs the place, Helio, is one of the most eccentric and artistic people I have ever come across. First, he called us into his small workroom to talk while he was painting a huge tattoo on a naked woman’s back. No one seemed to mind and he just kept working while we chatted. Then, while we were waiting to he brought my friend and I into a small room he came out to watch youtube videos of bossa nova to “unwind.” He also showed us his photography and took pictures of our eyes to add to his collection, which he wants to make into an art piece someday.

Finally, after about 2 ½ hours of waiting, brought us into his workroom and put in a music video of tango and turned off the lights as he chatted to us about his life as a former alcoholic and about his beautiful family. The tattoo itself hurt a bit, but not as much as I thought it would. It only took 20 minutes or so and he did an amazing job. Afterwards, he showed us pictures of his family and then began explaining to us how Spiritualism encompasses all religions. He talked about that for the next 10 minutes and even gave us a book on it. Did he realize he just put a Christian symbol on my foot?

Needless to say, I couldn’t have asked for a more memorable experience.