Why “Sempre Viva Travels”? The Story Behind our Name
I must’ve written down hundreds of possible names for the business before I stumbled upon Sempre Viva Travels in my sleep. None of them fell quite right, and I was about to just pick something that I didn’t really identify with just so I could start publishing my material. As I was reaching the deadlines I had set for myself, I actually found myself brainstorming in my dreams as I slept in my tent after a long hike in one of my other favorite places in Brazil, Chapada Diamantina. When the name Sempre Viva Travels came to me, it was a full body Yes, that’s it! That same morning I published my website.
"Sempre viva” directly translates to “always alive” or “everlasting” in English. Independent of all other meanings, this name to me feels really significant. As long as I am here in this world, I want to feel sempre viva—always inspired, present, and connected to the feeling that I’m really living and not just on auto-pilot. I feel that experiences like the one we cultivate for people in Brazil is doing just that…bringing people back to real life from our routines that sometimes we get a little caught up and lost in. To me, nothing says more “sempre viva” quite like sitting at a bonfire under a starry sky with great friends, or just existing out in nature, swimming in crystal clear waters, completely in awe of everything around us (which, by the way is pretty much our entire itinerary!).
Our name Sempre Viva, also represents a family of flowers that, long after being picked, still retain their form and color. While there are many different flowers that are considered sempre vivas, those growing in the Cerrado are among the most beautiful and close to my heart. Sempre vivas dot the landscape of Brazil’s Cerrado biome, and are most abundantly found in places like Chapada dos Veadeiros, where they grow on the rocky terrain with their star-shaped flowers in shades of white and gold.
Sempre Viva flowers are deeply woven into the cultural fabric of the local communities we visit, who have traditionally used them in crafts and decorative arrangements. While their popularity has led to conservation efforts and protected status in many areas, local communities have developed sustainable harvesting practices to preserve them. In Chapada dos Veadeiros, these blooms serve as both a symbol of the region's natural wealth and a reminder of nature's endless capacity to adapt and endure.
By naming ourselves after one of Chapada's most beautiful displays of nature, we root our identity in the very landscape we get to travel in. It's our commitment to creating genuine connections with this incredibly special region of the world, while also cultivating experiences that make us all feel a little more Sempre Viva.
