Got a message from Stefan today. He was on a plane coming back from Brazil. He thought it was a good time to drop a line, so he replied to the group email I'd sent a couple weeks back.
He said that since Burning Man he'd been in Turkey, Germany, and Austria, before going to Brazil. I knew he was planning on going there. He and the other Swedes have gone there a couple times a year for over a decade. One of his favorite stories he tells is about how years ago he did ayahuasca in the Amazon jungle. He said that it makes you throw up for an hour, before anything really kicks in.
He lives in Zurich where he works for a global financial institution. He has a wife and kids. Being out of touch with them while at Burning Man was one of the biggest stressors while he was there.
He said he moved to Switzerland from Sweden primarily because of the taxes. He is not a fan of the tax policies of his home country. He is fascinated with the U.S. Republican Party. He likes shooting guns.
Most of the Swedes are like that. Once they get out of Sweden, they easily how paternalistic and repressive their society is, in many ways, despite their love for their country. For example, it's a big deal for Swedes to smoke pot openly, even in the U.S.. In Sweden, the government promotes a very domineering campaign designed to convince Swedes of the shamefulness of marijuana usage. It's difficult for some to break out of that, but once they do, they are among the best of the partiers.
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