Who is Rico?

To unveil the Mystery that is the Ambulance To Mongolia Team, or to answer the much asked question Who are these lunatics?, here follows the first of three blog posts about each team member. First out is Rico:

What is your full name?

Rico Pajarola

Where were you born?

Chur (small town in the south-east of Switzerland). Moved to Zürich at age 6 (or so, but that’s a complicated story).

When were you born?

1977

What did you study and where?

CS at ETH Zürich

What are you favorite spare time activities?

Going on trips like the Mongol Rally. ;)

How do you know the other team members?

Not really?

What do you think of the other team members?

Ask me again once I know you. ;)

What do you bring to the team?

Experience in getting lost in weird places.

What are your main strengths and weaknesses?

Patience (I think it's both a strength and a weakness).

What kind of travels have you done before?

Only counting “big” trips. InterRail in Europe. 2 months around (as in: along the coast of) Europe on a 125 cc motorcycle (and lots of other motoring trips, mostly in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal). A road trip through Spain. Hiking in Italy, Scotland, Bhutan. 3x Camino de Santiago: 2x walking the last ~600 km, 1x the whole way (2,500 km) from home on a bike. Biking in Tibet, Nepal, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, USA. And I just returned from a bike trip to Morocco.

How would you describe your driving skills?

<refuse to comment>

How would you describe your mechanical skills?

Can fix anything given enough duct tape.

What would you most like to do on the adventure?

If I knew that so precisely, I wouldn't have to go …

What places are you looking most forward to?

All of them! ;) I expect some of the highlights to be: Turkmenbashi, Samarkand, Pamir mountains, Taklamakan desert, Kashgar, Altai mountains, Gobi desert.

What is your biggest fear on this adventure?

Fear?