This was originally published on my old blog BackpackBook (Livro de Mochila), a project that blended literature and travel, sometimes just traveling in my lucid dreams. It ran as âNo ritmo da volta ao mundoâ on November 21, 2007.
It’s incredible how small things can work as a shot of encouragement. I was trying to sort out the mess in my backpack, where ideas and plans try to survive inside a chaos that’s still under control, when Adriano “who travels while he listens to you” Couto showed me a simple video with a simple song, which somehow filled me with enough energy to grab the backpack exactly as it was and carry on.
By the time I noticed, I was tapping my foot, turning up the volume, getting out of the chair and spinning around, spinning along with this quick trip around the world the video inspired. It was a small shot of encouragement while I wait for the semi-final result of the round the world prize, which should announce the real finalists this week.
Traveling to whatever’s playing
With the backpack still open, things falling out and others going in, I want to meet simple people with particular smiles, the ones who never lost the childish willingness to dance to whatever is playing, while others are deaf or pretending not to hear it.