Three years on the road. December 2010 I went out of an ordinary (and very cheerful) life to do what I’ve been recognizing, in those numerous children’s books, as an adventure. I’ve been staying in some places not more than 3 days, I’ve been staying in others more than 3 months. I’ve been a monk, I’ve been a slut. I’ve been attacked and robbed, I’ve been saved and blessed. I’ve been sleeping in beds, hammocks, floors and sands. I’ve been in desperation and I’ve been in peacefulness. I took off bravely and I am coming full of fears. I took off knowing what I was doing and I am coming back without a single idea what I am going to do. I took off with a single heart, now I am coming back with two.
It is not a retrospection that I want to make. The journey was very personal as everybody’s journey is. Wherever. Inside or outside.
The following is no advice. No tips. No wisdom. It is an attempt to write a blog article with some thoughts I have in my mind coming to close a great adventure of mine.
If you ever go to Rio de Janeiro, go a couple of weeks before the carnival. It is like those few seconds before the climax, which are meant to be prolonged for they are the most pleasurable ones. And don’t forget Rio de Janeiro is not Brazil.
Stop learning English, Chinese is the last cry.
Buenos Aires is not the best place to go if you want to explore Latin America. Still is a damn good place to go.
Don’t try to be original. You are no one’s copy after all.
Bulgaria provokes three associations out of Europe – Stoichkov (watch out, not football), yogurt and gypsies. Be careful, you and your actions will be the forth to be added in someone’s notion of a whole nation. Generalizations are sticky and even wrong or partial, still they are important ready-mades most of the people use… we all use.
Read Sartre.
Share. Share if you have a problem, someone will have another point of view. Share if you think something’s wrong or something’s right. Ignorance is the worst thing I can see around me. On the road… or at home.
Don’t check ticket prices. Call me.
If you stay a more little bit in Cuzco, skip touristic plans, live there for a while and leave things happen it will happen exactly what you deserve to happen to you. In a different way than everywhere else. Cuzco is a mirror. It gives and it takes away exactly what it should be taken or given. Without a delay.
If you wanna write a book, take notes. Computers are fragile stuff.
Mosquitos eat you alive in Quintana Roo and Yucatan states in Mexico.
Don’t read Lonely Planet. The less you know, the better will be revealed before you. The planet is not lonely.
You won’t be felt more well-treated by any other but Colombians in Colombia. This is my generalization.
Listen to your body. And if you are fat, enjoy it fat.
A diamond is appreciated not exactly because of its qualities but because it is rare. So do the white race. It’s not a quality white people have ahead on. Neither a beauty nor intelligence. It’s been embarrassing experience for me being favorable because I am white. And favorable sometimes refers to robberies, whistling after and feeling as a strange element around the provincial streets. If you are white you don’t really have a lot to do about it but meet all its pros and cons without being an asshole to get advantage of it or to complain about it. And I know, it is a rasistic observation…
You can find really good yogurt in Mexico.
Look at the people’s eyes when talking. Sometimes they do not understand the words.
Good energy is your best immunity. However, you won’t have immunity to every shit.
The more fears you face the more new fears will come. But it is such a relief to have different fears in your life.
Ecuador is an under-estimated country in the map of Latin America. You will be delighted going there.
Do an annual check-up for your health. Seriously. I didn’t have a single caries before I left and now I have 17.
Do not keep what you read on the road. Books are not harmful stuff but a great load, which the flight company will overcharge.
Finally, whoever you meet, whoever you make love with, whatever you drink, whatever you see and pass thru, at the end everything you experience and everything is as it is only thanks to your imagination.
I am coming back home, by the way...
It is not a retrospection that I want to make. The journey was very personal as everybody’s journey is. Wherever. Inside or outside.
The following is no advice. No tips. No wisdom. It is an attempt to write a blog article with some thoughts I have in my mind coming to close a great adventure of mine.
If you ever go to Rio de Janeiro, go a couple of weeks before the carnival. It is like those few seconds before the climax, which are meant to be prolonged for they are the most pleasurable ones. And don’t forget Rio de Janeiro is not Brazil.
Stop learning English, Chinese is the last cry.
Buenos Aires is not the best place to go if you want to explore Latin America. Still is a damn good place to go.
Don’t try to be original. You are no one’s copy after all.
Bulgaria provokes three associations out of Europe – Stoichkov (watch out, not football), yogurt and gypsies. Be careful, you and your actions will be the forth to be added in someone’s notion of a whole nation. Generalizations are sticky and even wrong or partial, still they are important ready-mades most of the people use… we all use.
Read Sartre.
Share. Share if you have a problem, someone will have another point of view. Share if you think something’s wrong or something’s right. Ignorance is the worst thing I can see around me. On the road… or at home.
Don’t check ticket prices. Call me.
If you stay a more little bit in Cuzco, skip touristic plans, live there for a while and leave things happen it will happen exactly what you deserve to happen to you. In a different way than everywhere else. Cuzco is a mirror. It gives and it takes away exactly what it should be taken or given. Without a delay.
If you wanna write a book, take notes. Computers are fragile stuff.
Mosquitos eat you alive in Quintana Roo and Yucatan states in Mexico.
Don’t read Lonely Planet. The less you know, the better will be revealed before you. The planet is not lonely.
You won’t be felt more well-treated by any other but Colombians in Colombia. This is my generalization.
Listen to your body. And if you are fat, enjoy it fat.
A diamond is appreciated not exactly because of its qualities but because it is rare. So do the white race. It’s not a quality white people have ahead on. Neither a beauty nor intelligence. It’s been embarrassing experience for me being favorable because I am white. And favorable sometimes refers to robberies, whistling after and feeling as a strange element around the provincial streets. If you are white you don’t really have a lot to do about it but meet all its pros and cons without being an asshole to get advantage of it or to complain about it. And I know, it is a rasistic observation…
You can find really good yogurt in Mexico.
Look at the people’s eyes when talking. Sometimes they do not understand the words.
Good energy is your best immunity. However, you won’t have immunity to every shit.
The more fears you face the more new fears will come. But it is such a relief to have different fears in your life.
Ecuador is an under-estimated country in the map of Latin America. You will be delighted going there.
Do an annual check-up for your health. Seriously. I didn’t have a single caries before I left and now I have 17.
Do not keep what you read on the road. Books are not harmful stuff but a great load, which the flight company will overcharge.
Finally, whoever you meet, whoever you make love with, whatever you drink, whatever you see and pass thru, at the end everything you experience and everything is as it is only thanks to your imagination.
I am coming back home, by the way...