AN ABERYSTWYTH University graduate has written a book after her travels to Brazil brought her into contact with gangsters, drug traffickers and corrupt police.

It was reported in the Cambrian News in June that Caroline Lumiere-Koziol, 21, and Juliet Valentine, 22, both from Poland, were creating a documentary called Dreamcatcher TV about their travels to South America.

The pair, who met while at university in Aberystwyth, have travelled extensively together having hitchhiked across the USA, the Sahara Desert, and the UK, said they made the film in an effort encourage people to realise their dreams.

Now, Caroline is preparing for the publication of a book she has written, originally in Polish but translated into English, which will document her time in Brazil’s biggest city.

“The book is about my trip to South America, and about the challenges we met — it has a motivational format.” Caroline told the Cambrian News.

“One day I decided to take a bag full of dreams and go to one of the most dangerous cities in the world — the favelas in Rio de Janeiro. I hitchhiked through Brazil with some friends first and asked the same questions of people: ‘What is your biggest dream and what is your biggest regret?’ The dreams were always the same.

"I interviewed the mafia, police, gangs, drug traffickers. It was a very dangerous trip but we made it out alive, and all my thoughts were written there. We shouldn’t be afraid to live our life and take risks.

"There are people in this world who have nothing at all, and are very happy admiring every sunset and sunrise. Their dreams were so simply beautiful.”

And Caroline said she is already planning her next travels, which may include Africa and the Middle East.

“This is my first book which is going to be published, so I’m very excited,” she added. “I’m going for my next trip to countries such as Syria, Rwanda and Somalia.”

Reflecting on what motivates her to travel the world, including the more dangerous countries, Caroline said: “I remember once, as an 11-year-old girl, I watched a documentary about the ‘green lungs of our planet’ — the Amazon rainforest.

“It fascinated me that someone could reveal to me a different culture and a whole new world.

“It was at that point that I decided I too would devote my life to showing people those inaccessible corners of the world.”

The book is called Dream Catcher in Brazilian Slums. To learn more about the pair’s work and the project, visit www.dreamcatcherfilmstudio.com; or www.facebook.com/dreamcatcherfilmstudio.