Adventurers

Adrian and Phillip's path crossed mine here in Boa Vista for the wrong reasons: after being ushered through the Venezuelan/Brasil border without stopping, the checkpoint shortly before Manaus ended with a confiscation of their H2 Hummer shipped from Switzerland. To make matters worse, their plans included flying back home on the 14th, less than week away. So, with their vehicle seconded, and a visit to the lawyer and courts the next day, I convinced them this would all be a great memory soon, and we should go out and have some food.

These two buddies met 15 years ago from having girlfriends that knew each other. They got rid of the girlfriends and became best friends. They have gone on several trips, very fast trips together and expect to continue despite Adrian being married, and Phillip about to be in 2 months. Their women just know this about them, and it didn't even have to be said.

So, their trips have included Zurich to India, Zurich to Turkey, Zurich to China, by car. Their China trip went through Mongolia, and Russia. In Mongolia, as there are no roads in most places, they ended up ontop of a water bubble and were stuck up to the top of the car tires. Walking towards a light, Adrian, with axe in hand and mud up to his chest, walked into a farm house with everyone staring at him. A car battery was sitting on the floor hooked up to the light, which promptly went out when the farmer quickly unhooked it and threw it in the back of his car. With some violent pulls at the risk of damaging his car, the farmer was able to pull them out.

I was just so inspired by these two buddies who take breaks from their lives and take on ambitious, fast projects without causing any delays in careers or relationships.

This morning I had Joao call Nalmir to explain the plight of the two Swiss guys, and see if he could help. 10 minutes turned into 1 hour and a half, and he showed up, called the lawyer and found out everything was tranquilo: the guys just had to return to the border and get the paperwork. That was a relief.

Nalmir then kidnapped me after taking a spin on the bike and for two hours we burned around with his new cousin's car to the various government and banking offices to do his tasks. One stop at the dentist's office required a phone conversation, and a return to the office to prove that indeed the photo I took of her was not actually of her ass. Pretty paranoid I guess as a result of being in a macho society, and a tad full of herself methinks.

Finally back to his cousin's house for a huge meal of meat, then a 3 hour food coma induced pass out at the gymnasio. An afternoon of searching for a tailor to put my badges on the coat (it was closed) and practicing speaking in Portuguese.