Dearest friends!
48 days short of his third anniversary of travelling, Jean said "Good Bye" to America and "Hello" to Africa! Your eyes are not playing tricks on you... Jean really moved to Africa!
The months of May and June have been extremely busy... for everybody! Jean was learning Portuguese and discovering the happy Brazilian culture. There have been a few days of rain when he had to stay where he was and could not progress with his walk. He was trying to schedule an interview with a German reporter for Der Spiegel and he wanted this interview to take place before he arrived in Sao Paulo where he would be very busy organizing his departure for Africa.
One more time, all went marvellously smooth and when the article was published, on June 25th; again, we broke all records on the statistics of the website. From 1,907 visits on March 13th, it went to 7,004 visits on June 25th, when the article was published on Spiegel Online. Of course, a large number of visits on the website brings a large number of emails... some 100 new friends were added to our list of friends mostly from Europe but also from South Africa and Australia.
On June 7th, a filming team left Montreal for Sao Paulo. They met Jean around the 10th to follow him on his wwwalk while filming... all went well except that Jean was not getting ahead as fast as he had planned to. The filming team wanted some footage from Sao Paulo also... and they were leaving back for Canada on June 29th.
So, taking everything in consideration, Jean decided to ride a bus for the last 200 km. to Sao Paulo. People from the Canadian Consulate met him at the bus station and then I did not hear from him for a few days. He had many important things to do; the most important was to arrange his departure for Africa.
During the whole period, I was, again, concerned with money... How could we manage to pay for his plane ticket? Would we have to collect friends and family? Would Jean have to work for his fare, thus delaying his coming home? Would I have to forego my yearly meeting with him the coming Christmas? My mind was buzzing with questions! And then... there was MAGIC!
The magicians were "South African Airways", Mr. Ray Fankhauser, vice-consul at the Canadian Consulate and his friend Mr. Roberto Bisconcini. They shared the cost of Jean's plane ticket to Johannesburg. Thank you! We will be forever grateful to you!
So, on Canada Day, July 1st 2003, Jean left Sao Paulo, Brazil for Johannesburg, South Africa. Again, he was blessed with magic! When Jean was on the ferry crossing the Rio de la Plata, from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, he met a couple from South Africa who invited him to their home when he arrived there. True to their words, they went and picked up Jean at the airport and hosted him in their beautiful home. They kept him for a week, treating him like a star or a king. They even brought him to a mini-safari where he learned that the wild animals of Africa, lions, elephants, rhinoceroses etc. were mostly kept behind fences in parks. Phew! That was good news. A lot of people, including me, were a bit worried with what would Jean do when he came face to face with a roaring lion... Jean also encountered members of a legendary African Tribe, the mighty Zulus.
Since he wanted to start his walk from the southern tip of the continent, he had to fly to Cape Town, which is some 1400 kilometres from Johannesburg. Once more, the magicians appeared and sponsored his plane ticket. A million thanks to Mr. John Smith from Harvey World Travel and Mr. Kerry Groenewald from Comair Ltd.
In Cape Town, our new German friend studying there met him at the airport. He brought Jean to his apartment and guided him for a week. In one of his rare and short email, Jean told me that he was in the grip of an immense culture shock! He wrote: "I know I am still on earth but everything is so different here that I might as well be on another planet! I wish you could be here... you would just love it!"
I am sure I will love it... I am already looking for our next yearly reunion... somewhere in Northern Mozambique or Malawi. By then, my Tarzan will surely start to get the feel of Africa, but I will feel on another planet!
I cannot find the words to express our gratitude to our many magicians... some of them I do not even know about... I know Jean received new shoes but I have no name... and there must be many others... Anyway to all our helpers and sponsors, thank you!
On July 15th, Jean started to walk from the Southern tip of the continent. It will take about two and a half years to arrive in Tangier.
Till next time...
Luce