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 âAno novo, velho mundoâ on December 20, 2007.
At the end of this 2007 I hitched a ride with the Christmas spirit, and I’m using it, along with a few other things, as an excuse for my absence around here. One of those things was a change of routine I’m still trying to adapt to. It’s a lot like an extended holiday, if you follow me. Well, I’m contributing to Brazil’s unemployment figures, though in my case entirely of my own free will.
Anyway, now that the time available for creative idleness has grown (still not very productive), I went looking for different experiences, new feelings, that sort of thing, you know how it is?
Hold on!
Don’t get excited and start thinking about something filthy. Not this time, anyway :D
What I meant is that in this admirable new routine some ideas came up and I put others into planning. I also dedicated myself to some altruistic Christmas adventures, which confirmed once again that you don’t need to travel far to find plenty of emotion and stories. I’ll tell you about that later.
A trip to the old world
This year of 2007 wasn’t significant for real trips, unlike the imaginary ones, which worked as a shot of something to make better use of the blessed year of 2008.
So I’ll start with an adventure to the old world, using a bit of the recklessness left over from a badly used adolescence. In January 2008 I leave to see Italian history up close and perhaps become part of it. I’ll be getting into Raquel’s luggage to go with her on a winter adventure through the land of the lost boot.
Accordingly, I’ve been studying geographic positioning by observing the sun and the stars, learning ancient languages, and analyzing the winds and sea currents, so that this voyage of rediscovery of the boot, by savages from the new world, doesn’t sink in the Mediterranean.
Of course, the best parts of these trips are wrong turns and communication problems, so I’ve prepared myself with the useful sentence “I’m lost, can you help me?” in several languages, German, French and Italian, complete with phonetic spellings so I can mangle them out loud.
Then I follow up with “sorry, I don’t speak your language” and the communication concludes successfully with everybody happy, me lost and the other person understanding nothing.
The baggage always comes back bigger
I’ve already saved space in the backpack for some books and a lot of stories. I’m sure the baggage will come back incredibly full and heavy, and I’ll find the strength to carry it all the way.
And may that end be a long way off.