The Transition Period

It is a very, very weird time for me these days. After spending 2,5 years living on a bicycle with an idea of cycling around the world, I have decided to attempt to sail down the mighty Amazonas river together with my newly acquired friend Peycho. To venture deep into the jungle, attempt to construct a floating raft and then try to drift down the Amazon River. I have not abandoned my bicycle, I am simply up for a little break and some designated to a different type of adventure.

I have various feelings associated with this project. Excitement and fear are the dominant ones, and they overlap in a weird fashion. Excitement for the project to begin: the quest to find the right materials and actually building the raft, testing the engine, speaking to local people in the process, seeing things grow. And excitement for launching it into the Amazon, starting the adventure.
The feeling of fear is more complex. I am afraid of the total isolation, the rugged untamed nature and possible dangers that lure in the Amazon River and Jungle. It is a kind of positive fear, as it have made me think a lot about what we should do and how. But some “fear” also stem from the fact that I don’t know if we will make it. Maybe the “floating raft” idea isn’t feasible as it is too slow. Maybe the current is too powerful. Maybe we will get lost. Maybe there will be dangerous drug-traffickers. Maybe the authorities won’t let us cross borders on a simple, homemade raft. Maybe we will be miserable. Maybe we will fail.

But this fear of “failing” is also what draws me into the project, it is what excites me. I have been cycling 43.000km through 30 countries across 4 continents at the time of writing. I KNOW that it is possible to cross continents on a bicycle, I KNOW it is possible to cycle around the world. I don’t know if I can sail down the Amazonas on my own homemade raft. This evokes a fear of failing but also a strong excitement to attempt it. Fear and attraction of the unknown is an expected reaction, I guess.

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” a famous hockey player once said. So I’ll take this shot.