Yay for Friends

---

BERLIN Day 40

I had previously planned to head to Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic after Munich. But I received a message from my friend in Berlin telling me that he had to head back to Brazil far sooner than he had planned (as in within the week) and would therefore be unable to see me in April when I had planned to visit Berlin (when it would be a little warmer). As I did not want to miss a chance to say goodbye (you never know when you will get a chance to see again these friends from around the world) so I told him I would rearrange my plans and come straight the next day to see him.

So that is how I found myself in Berlin in the somewhat bitter cold a month sooner than I had expected. I arrived at the main station at 6pm with Carlos anxiously awaiting my arrival. We headed straight for his flat where his brother Paulo and friend Marcos met us for dinner before we headed out to a local bar.

I had meet Carlos when I first began working at Insomnia as he is very good friends with my coworker (at that time and now very good friend) Esther. Esther spoke of Carlos often as being an incredibly kind and caring person. I had not been able to actually meet him until a party she had at her flat (the costume party I mentioned back in June I think). As most people at the party were Spanish, Carlos took it upon himself to stay near me so that I would have someone to speak to in English or he could remind people to try to speak in English for my benefit. From that time I concurred with Esther’s assessment of him and enjoyed the times when we would run into each other at Esther’s parties. Unfortunately, Carlos had decided to move to Berlin with his brother in September. Since Esther had continued to speak so much of Carlos I felt that I new him very well despite having only spent a few hours here or there at parties. As apparently she spoke much of me to him as well, when she told him that I was heading to Germany at some point in my travels he demanded that I should visit with him and refused to allow me to stay in a hostel. So I did just that.

The four of us had dinner together and then headed out to a café/bar. It was a really neat atmosphere and they had free board games about for people to play. Carlos and Paulo joined me in sampling the various juice concoctions that the bar had to offer. We enjoyed spending a few hours chatting and then headed back to the flat for a good nights sleep before the big day touring about tomorrow.

---