Jorge: An Incredible Journey Back Home

This is Jorge.

He will be 60 soon and is going back to Brazil to have a party. This is how his story can remind us it's never too late to reconnect, start over and find a place where we can feel free.

In 1984, Jorge was a 20 year old Brazilian sea turtle swimming near the coast of Bahía Blanca in Argentina when he was caught in a net and transported 600 miles inland to Mendoza aquarium in the Andes mountains, far away from the place he once called home.

For almost 40 years, Jorge lived in a small tank. In a nice aquarium, he had food he didn't need to hunt and medical care he didn't need to look for, and lots of people around, he was never alone. But something inside felt broken. He lost his ability to hunt, his freedom, his purpose. He became sad.

In 2021, over 60,000 people signed a petition to allow Jorge to go back home. But freedom didn't happen overnight. It needed planning, preparation, courage to face the unknown.

Jorge began a careful 3-year preparation in Mar del Plata to help him remember who he once was. Step by step, he was reintroduced to deeper waters, first shallow, then gradually deeper until he could dive again. He had to relearn how to hunt live crabs, competing with rays for food, building strength he'd lost, trusting instincts that had been sleeping for decades.

It wasn't easy. There were moments of doubt, of struggle, of wanting to return to the safety of what he knew. But slowly, patiently, his body relearned what his heart never forgot.

After 40 years of living a life that had both comfort and captivity, Jorge was released in the Atlantic Ocean in Argentina. They gave him a tiny satellite tracker to follow his journey, and guess where he went?

1,700 miles past Uruguay and Santa Catarina's coast, heading to Praia do Forte in Brazil where he was born.

At 60, Jorge is not retiring , he's having the time of his life!

He's throwing himself the ultimate birthday party, swimming through currents like he's doing the samba through the waves. He's navigating by stars he hasn't seen in 40 years, hunting prey he'd forgotten how to catch, following ocean currents his body remembers like an old favorite song.

Even when the waves get rough, even when well-meaning people said "Jorge, stay in the tank, it's safer there," he chose to live according to what mattered most to him: freedom, purpose, the wild call of home.

Jorge is showing us that we can celebrate who we truly are, no matter how long we've been away from ourselves. Sometimes the most important thing isn't what's easy it's what makes us feel most alive.

We can find our way back to ourselves, no matter how long we've been away.

This is for all of us still on our journeys back to freedom .

Laura.

Jorge