Opinion – It’s Right There: For almost two years on the road, this woman from São Paulo takes the world on her bike

When the Covid-19 pandemic forced the planet to stay at home, many people discovered the delights of making the worst bread in the world, the horrors of videoconferencing apps in a house full of children and the thousand and one uses of hand sanitizer. But for Natachi Silva, from the east side of São Paulo, all this, added to her resignation from her job as a graphic designer, translated into a personal revolution: gathering as many belongings as she could stuff into her bicycle backpack, she left Brazil for a solitary journey that began in end of November 2020 and has already computed something between 3,000 and 4,000 kilometers traveled.

The first destination of her solo trip was Joinville (SC), where she stayed at a friend’s house. Exploring the region, she ended up heading to Urubici, where she began to exchange volunteer work for lodging and food in houses, inns and places along the way.

“I had always wanted to go on a trip like this, every weekend I already tried to see new places, but with the pandemic and the layoff, because I couldn’t quit, you know, like everyone who is stuck in the day to day, I decided that I didn’t want to stay in São Paulo any longer, under that pressure”, says Natachi. The first destination was the interior of São Paulo, but as soon as circulation became a little more liberated, it went to Santa Catarina.

“I moved to Joinville, I didn’t want to go back to São Paulo, but I didn’t stay even a month and I already left thinking it was for Rio Grande do Sul, or Uruguay, but I only got as far as Urubici, I fell in love, I did several stops, volunteers along the way and I explored a lot”, he recalls.

Volunteering, which arouses an endless controversy among backpackers around the world —some accuse the practice of being a cricket version of the old slavery, in which work is exchanged for room and board, while others consider it a valuable immersion in the reality of each stop—, had been Natachi’s livelihood for the last two and a half years.

“I would see where I wanted to go, go there and meet people who had never heard of volunteering,” explains Natachi. “I saw what I could offer to work in the region, I like to work with art because I am a designer, so I offered to paint signs to sign, decorate the places, and everyone accepted, it always worked”.

Feeding social media along the journey was Natachi’s best business card on this journey. “I arrived, I talked a lot, because arriving at these small places full of suitcases, people came curious to know my story, then I showed my Instagram, and they accepted that I stayed, they said what they had to do”, he says.

The 32-year-old pretty girl, with her clear eyes and physical fitness built up with every pedal stroke and walk along the country’s trails, naturally raises a question: how did she deal with the expected harassment traveling around the world alone at the strength of her pedals?

“In all that time, I only had one case of more ostensive harassment, one day I needed to hitch a ride in the Rio do Rastro mountain range, in Santa Catarina, but I was the father of a follower, I never imagined that I would be at risk”, he recalls. Fortunately, without further violence, she even considered giving up on going it alone, but rethought the issue, filed a police report against the harasser and moved on. She even bought pepper spray as an extra measure of protection, but ended up not carrying it around because, she explains, it makes her “more anxious than prepared.”

“You have to be optimistic, take care, of course, but without getting paranoid”, he evaluates, recommending that anyone who wants to start a similar journey choose tourist places, where the outsider will not be seen as a dangerous alien. “I already choose places where I know there’s no history of violence, even though it’s cultural,” she says.

The biggest problem that Natachi wants to solve as soon as possible is the weight he has to carry around, which includes a tent, pots, a stove, a sleeping bag, clothes for the cold, for the heat, and all that generous stuff that gives him autonomy —but also every other cramp. “I want to equate that, travel lighter”, he explains.

Talking to the blog in São Paulo, Natachi explains that the almost two years he has been abroad already demand a review of his luggage. “Two years is the time limit for most things, clothes, then you start having to replace them, until now I only bought food and personal hygiene products, but now I have to go back to consuming them, so I started doing some housework. graphic design, because it’s hard to make a living just by volunteering”.

Tough or not, Natachi can’t wait to hit the road again. “I came to vote in the elections, I already stayed for the end of year festivities, but next week I hope to be going back to the south”, he sighs. While your family’s hair stands on end, from here on the blog we can only wish you a good trip!