Eduardo
We’ve just left Eduardo who gave us an eraser on which he wrote ‘good luck’ in Portuguese. We were sad to go. He’s an amazing fellow.
Curriculum Vitae in brief
• joined the army at 19
• met his ‘wife’ at 20
(they're not actually married, apparently, that’s commonplace in Brazil)
• became a diving instructor at 34
• became a bus driver at 36
• sustained several bullets in the arm and narrowly missed having his head shot off in a failed hijacking
• moved to Europe as a truck driver aged 39
• as he turns 40 this year, he’s saving up all his money to bring his wife and two children over
• has two huge tattoos, one on each arm – one of a dragon, one of Jesus with a crown of thorns
• conducts conversations about religion, Spanish history and salacious references to women with a straight face
Appearances can be confusing and stereotypes even more deceiving. Eduardo’s not the kind of guy your parents would invite home for dinner with your younger sister, but he’s such a sweet teddy bear, really. We would have missed one of our best and most enjoyable rides had we balked at the sight of this fellow. I really hope he’s reunited with his family soon!