Packed and ready to leave for the ferry boat to São Sebastião, from there with the bus to Cumbica and from there, a nightflight to Frankfurt / Cologne.
Even when Bianca signalized me that she would look after house and inhabitants for almost 4 month, I was still undecided. I was a little concerned about the distance because I know what it is to walk 25 km or more a day. I had done this already for about 3 weeks and close to 1.000 km from the border of Espirito Santo to Salvador in Bahia and I remember that I didn´t feel so good afterwards. So, apart from the physics, I had no idea of what it would be mentally after 2 month walking …..
Then, when I was lying on my bed thinking about the pros and cons, suddenly a crowd of screaming parrots appeared, flying into my orange tree. In principle this is nothing unnormal, there are always one or two parrots or tucans around but so many was unusual. This day I had no idea that this is just the beginning of many strange bird events to come but I already interpreted this as a sign, only that I didn´t know if it were a sign to stay or to leave.
But than I thought, man, this moment is never coming back again, if you don´t go now you will never do this and you will always hate yourself for that, go! It was sunday afternoon, April 20th, I hurried to my computer and reserved a flight for April 23. It was the less prepared journey of my lifetime.