2022 Trans Amazonian Motorcycle Adventure: Day 52 - A Final Day of Leisure Before Flying Home

Today was a leisurely day to just walk around Manaus and get to know the city a little before taking our flights out tonight.

Walked around the Centro and got to see the real Manaus on a normal day ... lots of energy ... lots of sidewalk businesses and markets ... with the typical loud music everywhere spewing into the streets from all the businesses trying to attract customers ... lots of Venezuelans selling juices ... people everywhere ... all used to the incredible heat and humidity.

As I was walking passed the Manaus Cathedral, I decided to go in and cool off a little in the shade and I wrote the following:

"

I cannot stop thinking about a higher force.

I am sitting at the Manaus cathedral just observing people.

I constantly notice things that happen to me that everybody around me considers lucky or something more. Most of the good things that happen to me I would consider a result of observation and anticipation which results in mutiple potential successful outcomes to any situation. But sometimes this is not the case.

So sitting here and seeing people all around me praying with such devotion and faith on something bigger than themselves makes me wonder why certain things keep happening to me.

Is it a message or assistance of preservation for some unknown purpose or mission in this life? Or Is it really just coincidences?

Recently, after the Guyana-Brasil border, we were heading straight into what looked like a nasty storm and at the last minute, the road took a 45 degree turn to the right and we missed what I discovered later was a massive storm that caused one of our most experience riders to wipe out when the road flooded.

Or, riding alone in the remotest jungle for hours with no support, a weak front tire and challenging terrain, one small thing could have ended badly, but managed to reach safety exactly as dark was descending.

Or, just finding people around me that provide the last minute advice or information that shortly after prove critical. Why were they there? Why did I talk to them? Why did we talk about what we talked about?

Or, arriving at the hard to catch ferry as it was leaving the shore with 15 seconds to spare after a 2 hour hard ride full or random events?

Or, why do I meet people all over that rattle my worldview back to center. When I begin to forget?

Why do I tear up so much more easily as time goes by when I see human suffering? Specially innocent children.

Is all of this pointing somewhere? Am I not paying attention hard enough? Am I supposed to do something different? I need more.

This church has a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary as its center piece over the altar. It is in a niche with little child angels in clouds painted all around her. Why are angels always children? Is it because children are the closest creation to what the universe is? Then I see older people in the pews on their knees and their hands raised praying. What is the purpose of taking a child and layer it over and over with life’s experiences until the end. To create different roles in a grand evolutionary scheme? Or is it just to bring in more god-like children to this world to continue an evolutionary mission that we don’t know anything about?

So for now, until I know why or what my mission is, I will continue to observe and love and smile and hopefully make people feel a little better after they meet me.

A call is coming in on my phone even though I have no signal in Brasil. It is 2 angels, Alex and Pichi ... Is this a sign? Why this call specifically from them this very moment?

At night, we lucked out. We were able to go to a live concert with the Manaus Philharmonic as a farewell as we were all getting ready to head back to our respective homes late tonight. For me, it is a flight to Panama at 3am, then Houston, then Dallas.