"Bike to Brazil" Intro

Re-intro: Paul Joseph Park, from Mt. Rainier, MD, on the Northeastern border of Washington, DC. I first went to Brazil in 1999, when I was 18, with non-profit Amigos de las Americas. I stayed for eight weeks with a host family in the rural Northeast, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, near Natal. I enjoyed the culture, especially the warmth, creativity and beauty of the people, as well as aspects such as soccer, forró (a genre of music and partner dance), Portuguese, capoeira, and the beach. I had a girlfriend there, and I have stayed in touch with her and her family throughout the years (she has since married and has a daughter). I returned to Brazil in 2004 to tour the country by bus and to visit the friends I had made. I was convinced I wanted to spend more time there, to absorb more culture, especially the aspects I listed, and perhaps live there indefinitely.
After that second visit, I returned to Oberlin College, where I was pursuing a 3-2 dual-degree engineering B.S./B.A. program. I then switched tracks to pursue just a B.A., in Environmental Studies, to wrap up my studies quickly with minimal debt so I could make my way to Brazil to continue my life there. (I now want to complete a degree in energy (mechanical) engineering at a university in Brazil or the US.) Transition to Brazil would not happen so fast. After I finished my degree, I started the Mt. Rainier Bike Co-op, and I picked up a job at a Brazilian restaurant in Washington, DC to save up some money and practice Portuguese. I envisioned that my life would be partly in Brazil and partly in the U.S., but because of my environmental commitment, I did not want to make flying back and forth to become my lifestyle due to the greenhouse gas emissions associated with current airplanes. Meanwhile, a friend of mine had encouraged me to bike the 6 miles back and forth to work; I tried it, and I was inspired by that experience. At some point in the spring of 2006, I had the brilliant inspiration that instead of flying, I could--and here is where it started-- "Bike to Brazil!" In addition to being green, such a trip would bring together many of my skills: Spanish, Portuguese, my experience in Latin America with Amigos de las Americas, cycling, and bicycle repair. Also, I would get to see parts of the world that lie between my home and my destination, places like Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, the origins of so many of the Spanish-speaking immigrants with whom I played soccer, attended D.C. United soccer games, and practiced Spanish.
In addition, I could make my trip into a political-environmental statement, raising awareness and support around a cause I care about--finding solutions to climate change. I thought about what I thought most needed to be done to address the climate issue, and I came up with the answer of national, federal legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions. I did some research as to whether any proposals existed, and sure enough, a cap-and-trade bill called the Climate Stewardship Act had been proposed in Congress, and there was a campaign led by Environmental Defense to rally support. They had organized an online petition that had accumuted 620,000 signatures at the time I found it. I decided to support this campaign during my bike trip. I raised money for Environmental Defense, I collected signatures, and I directed people to the online petition. The petition I later found out had stagnated at 620,000, and it jumped up to about 650,000 within a few months of when I started promoting it.
My orientation to climate change and its solutions has evolved since the last trip; I now focus primarily on the development of breakthrough energy generation technologies. My first trip, however, thrust me into a world that has inherent value and interest: bicycle travel/touring. It is so exciting, fun, and empowering; the fact that it is emissions-free is secondary.
On my first trip, which spanned September 2006 to April 2007, I biked from Washington, DC to Chiapas (Southern Mexico, 4,500 miles) before suspending it due to the following series of events:
-losing my debit card, my only access to cash, in the Northern city of Cd. Victoria, and then waiting until I had an address I would send the new card to, where I could pick it up or wait for it
-later being robbed of $100 cash (1000 pesos), almost all of what I had left, by a host in the small town of Lerdo de Tejada, in the state of Veracruz
-returning to my friends' hotel in the city of Veracruz where I had a secure and supportive place to wait for the replacement card in the mail, instead of having the card sent to a place down the road and attempting to bike there with no cash
-it took six weeks for the replacement card to arrive by Mexican mail (lesson: use Fedex in Mexico if you need speed), and meanwhile the hot summer approached
Other factors that led to cutting it short:
-tires were wearing thin and I could not find the replacement tire I wanted; my handlebar stem was not long enough and I could not find the one I needed; the bicycle did not fit my riding style (this was a Koga Miyata World Traveller)
-I desired to visit Mexican friends I made on the road at their homes in Puebla and Mexico City
-I desired to attend my sister's wedding
After my card finally arrived in the mail, I biked to Chiapas, knowing that would be my stopping point, and from where I would bus to Puebla, visit a friend I had met in Veracruz, bus to Mexico City, visit some friends I also met in Veracruz, and then fly back home with my bike to attend my sister's wedding, work on the bike or get a different one, and regroup.
Since that trip, I have biked to New York CIty from Washington, DC and back (500 miles), and I have biked the 320 miles to Pittsburgh from DC along the C&O Canal and Great Allegheny Passage trails. From January 2008 to September 2010 I worked at REI in College Park, MD, where I was able to teach others about how to do bicycle travel and commuting, and sell them the needed equipment. And I have retooled my own equipment for another long journey; the most significant equipment change has been the customization of a different bicycle, built around the Surly Big Dummy frameset.
In September of 2010, I felt completely prepared to break free and take another long journey. So I quit my job at REI, and headed South, taking the bike on Amtrak and Greyhound to Texas, where I intended to take care of remaining business and feel things out before crossing into Mexico. I took some time in Austin and Houston to renew my passport, obtain my Brazilian visa, and make some final changes to the bike. In early November, 2010 I biked 600 miles from Austin to Brownsville, TX, across the border from Matamoros, Mexico. I spent some days there with locals who straddled the border, with roots in Mexico and the US, and who attended the University of Texas at Brownsville. I decided to take a bus from Matamoros to the city of Veracruz. A contact in Brownsville shuttled me across the border to the bus station, and I was off. In Veracruz, I of course stayed with my friends at their hotel, where I had stayed at for two months when I was waiting for my replacement debit card to come in the mail.
After four days there, I continued by bus to Cancun, where I attended a few of the events related to the UN Climate Conference, and had many a good discussion with conference attendees who were staying at my hostel, expressing my ideas related to breakthrough technology. After the conference, some tours of the nearby ruins, and some partying, I finally loaded up the bike and rode South three hours, 41 miles (70 km) to Playa del Carmen. In Playa, I stayed with a friend who I had met in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz on the first trip, who now works at a hotel near Playa. As I write this, I have am enjoying all that Playa has to offer including beaches, soccer, cycling, and nightlife. I will celebrate the start of the new year here.
Then the journey on bicycle will continue South to Belize, and is projected to go to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama (Colón); boat to Cartagena, Colombia; bike to and through Venezuela and to Manaus, Brazil; then boat down the Amazon to Belém; then bike to Natal, Brazil. There, I will stay at least awhile, and then maybe bike on South to Recife, Salvador, Rio, São Paulo, Florionopolis, and maybe into Argentina and down to Tierra del Fuego! Lots of potential here. I am commited to at least make it to Brazil, much of that by bike, some by boat, and perhaps some by bus.
As far as my environmental perspective, I am following mostly the train of thought promoted by the think tank The Breakthrough Institute, and leaders such as Bill Gates and Google, Inc. who are investing in breakthrough energy technologies. I am working on an article that I will post soon that explains my perspective.