… One Path

14 months after leaving New York City, 3 months away from our destination in Rio for Carnival, Harley and I parted ways.

Even with your best freind, 14 months is a long time to live with someone in a Kombi van - even one as loving as the beautiful Betty.

It wasn´t an easy decision to make, but right or wrong, at the time it was the only one. Things had just come to a point and I needed some time to myself - I think we both did.

We were in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on the eastern lowlands of Bolivia, 3 days from the border with Brazil.

Harley took the first flight to Sao Paulo, the most populated city in the southern hemisphere - 11,105,249 crazy Brazilians.

Betty and I kept on driving.

It was the first time in 14 months without Harley by my side. It was a strange feeling to be alone again after such a long time. This journey had long since become much more than just a road trip. It had become a test of character. A test of patience. A test of loyalty. A test of friendship. We had come so far together - had I failed myself and my friend so close to the end?

Part of me was in horrible doubt.

Another part of me was free.

At nightfall, after three days solid driving, 10km from the border town of San Mateos, Betty blew her CV joint again and we came to a sorry stop on the side of the dusty dirt road.

I sat beside Betty on the gravel and stared up at the great open sky full of stars.

Why this? Why now?

Had I made the wrong choice?

It was 2 hours before a truck came along and gave us a tow into town.

The next day it was hot.

The nearest parts were 3 days away back in Santa Cruz, or 6 hrs over the border in Brazil, where I would have to cross the border back and forth for one, where I would pay twice the price for two and where I spoke no Portuguese for three.

I took a walk into town to think things over.

That was when I saw her, sleeping in the long grass in front of an old run down shack.

She reminded me so much of Betty. She looked old, tired, rusted out. She´d had a hard life.

As I got closer I could see she had been sleeping for some time - she was gutted, the life ripped out from her; she was another mans’ dream. Through the hard grass I crawled in under her and saw the aged part I was searching for, still barely in tact.

And then I saw him. He was old, moving slowly out from around the back of the timber shack. I crawled back out from under his van and made a few steps toward him - he smiled and we shook hands.

He didn´t want to sell me the part. One day he would bring her back to life. They would drive together again across open plains like they used to. They would be happy. They would be free. Every part of her lost now would be another he would need to find again later on. He loved her.

He also knew that I needed his help and that to help others live their dreams is just as important as living your own.

He didn´t sell me the part.

He gave it to me.

If only we could all be so kind and loving to each other, so free of fear and doubt.

So Betty and I crossed the border full of thanks and flew across far western Brazil. In a week we would be with the ocean once again for the first time in over 3 months and then it was all down hill to Rio. Maybe I had made the right choice - this had been just another test - for me - alone.

2 hours flying down the highway, Betty lost power.

As if struck down by a higher force, she coughed and spluttered to an tired end. And then there was nothing. She would not start.

I waited a while and tried again. She started. We drove along for while, and then she stopped.

Start.

Stop.

Start.

Stop.

For the next two days that was the story of my life - start, stop.

Only 3500km east to the coast of Brazil and only 4000km west to the coast of Peru, in the middle of a continent I was stranded once again. This time I was alone. I had started this journey almost 2 years before in New York City and all I really wanted now was to stop. To be at home with my family and friends. To be in one place. To sleep in a bed. To have a bathroom and a kitchen bench and a fridge. All these little things that every day we take so much for granted. We only need so little - why then do we ask for so much? And more than just ask but search, tirelessly, for some thing that will make us happy, when all the while that thing is right there inside of us, we only need open our eyes to see it, open our hearts to feel it. Happiness is simplicity. Everything that will make us happy has been with us since the day we were born - since that day we´ve just been taught something different - that complicated is desireable, that consumption and accumulation of material wealth is our goal. Amongst all these things that have been created around us, these products and institutions, we have lost our identity. Who are we? It seems more and more that we are no longer human beings living on planet earth, but some other evolved species whose sole purpose is to destroy it, and ourselves.

Why do we always want to destroy ourselves?

Is it to hide from who we really are?

Why are we so afraid of that?

I didn´t want to start and stop anymore - I couldn´t - I just wanted to finish.

What was I going to do? I couldn´t just leave Betty there on the side of that foriegn road.  Is that what you do to the people you love? Is that what I had done to Harley?

I had a spare fuel filter.

I had nothing to lose.

Betty started up as normal. She drove for 20 mins. Then for half an hour. Then for a few miles more.

5 days later we were in Fortaleza on the far north eastern coast of Brazil.

Apparently, we were back in business - it had been the bloody fuel filter all along..

We celebrated Christmas early - Betty bought me a surf board and I surprised her with a cute little Brazilian bikini and an oil change.

South through Canoa Quebrada to Natal, Praia da Pipa and Bahia Formosa, to Recife and Porto de Galinhas, Maceio and Praia do Frances, Betty was basking in the sun of the beautiful tropical coast of north eastern Brazil.

The greatest year of my life was coming to an end.

Where did I want to be? Did it really matter so much where, but more who?

Who did I want to be?

We kept moving.

2 months after leaving Harley in Bolivia, 3 days before the new year, we arrived in Praia do Forte, 50km north of Salvador. I parked Betty in the sun as close as I could to the ocean, put on a clean t-shirt and locked up. It was mid morning, the beginning of a hot and dreamy day - palm trees and coconuts - it was paradise. I hadn´t walked 100m before I saw him walking toward me - black sunglasses, board shorts, skateboard and bare feet. I thought I was dreaming. Everything we had shared together, every lesson learnt, every place we had been together, connected right there at that point.

The universe had bought us back together. No phones, no emails. Just divided energy finding itself once again. All that doubt and uncertainty was worth nothing, I had done exactly what I was supposed to have done and now this was exactly where I was supposed to be. Never blame yourself for something that comes from your heart. Have trust in the order of the universe - it will take you to where you need to be - always.

Seeing Harley right there and then was the culmination of everything.

Now we are no longer friends.

We are brothers.

Forever.

To Rio we go…