Bicycling 2,930 Kilometers for a Selfie With Uruguay’s President José Mujica · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

After bicycling for 35 days accompanied only by his bike, 28-year old Brazilian Carlos Eduardo Lemos de Oliveira achieved his goal: he took a selfie with Uruguay's President José Mujica.
Brasileiro tira ‘selfie’ com Mujica após pedalar cerca de 3 mil km até Uruguai http://t.co/FsaNyGNAmK #G1 pic.twitter.com/Fla6rfqc3f
— G1 – Mundo (@g1mundo) noviembre 24, 2014
Brazilian guys takes a ‘selfie’ with Mujica after pedaling almost 3,000 km to Uruguay.
The loneliness of the journey from the city of Alfenas, in the state of Minas Gerais — in the center of Brazil — all the way to Mujica's home, on the outskirts of Uruguayan capital Montevideo, allowed him to reflect about some aspects of daily life that we usually take for granted, as summed up by G1 website:
Viajar sozinho tem suas vantagens. Você faz seus horários, impõe seu ritmo, decide quando partir e como chegar. Eu sempre digo aos amigos que para viajar assim, sem companhia, é preciso primeiramente estar aberto a fazer novas amizades.
[…]
No começo você desconfia de que as pessoas vão te achar louco por estar falando sozinho nas rodovias. Então você começa a perceber que não existem pessoas naqueles lugares e, num estalar de dedos, você se pega cantando no mais alto tom canções que você tem pavor de ouvir quando está em casa.
Traveling alone has its advantages. You make your schedules, you set the rythm, you decide when to leave and how to arrive. I always tell my friends that for an unaccompanied trip you first need to be open to making new friends.
[…]
At first, you mistrust that people will think you are insane as you talk to yourself on the roads. Then you start to notice there is nobody in those places and just like that, you are singing songs out loud that you would never sing while being at home.
The meeting with Mujica, which was the purpose of the trip, happened on November 21. Carlos Eduardo wrote:
De um lado, uma bicicleta, de outro, um fusquinha azul encardido. Não poderia haver um encontro mais apaixonante do que este que tive com o presidente do Uruguai, José Mujica. Aliás, foi tudo muito despretensioso e quase nada programado. “Pepe”, apelido de Mujica, é um homem de muita simplicidade.
On one side, a bike, on the other, a blue, dirty beetle. There probably won't exist a more passionate encounter than the one I had with Uruguay's President José Mujica. Furthermore, it all was very simple with nothing programmed. “Pepe”, Mujica's nickname, is a man full of simplicity.
Twitter also echoed Carlos Eduardo's journey:
Como é bom ter sonhos, projetos e poder realizá-los !! http://t.co/VxBH2Re0uk
— Dr. Marcio Aurelio (@DrMarcioAurelio) noviembre 24, 2014
It's good to have dreams, projects, and being able to accomplish them!!
ESSE SIM É UM PRESIDENTE DE VDD http://t.co/vMAdZBFYlj
— raylson maercio (@raylsonmaercio) noviembre 24, 2014
This is a real president.