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 âCinquentona mochileiraâ on September 2, 2007.
It’s the Kombi’s birthday (02/09). This adventurer is turning fifty years of production in Brazil and she must have a lot of stories to tell.
She has been all over the world. It’s hard to understand why, and plenty of adventurers picked her as their companion on trips anyway. Maybe it was the charm of the old girl, who knows. What matters is that she’s still standing, still strong, and ready for whatever comes.
Her generations changed very little. Even today, settling into one feels like going back in time. Her simplicity can be alarming and she never loses the pace. She’s still a traveler with a great spirit of freedom and adventure, a card carrying backpacker.
Despite strong criticism about keeping her in production, and about the manufacturer’s inattention, much of it justified, she carries on bravely hauling up to a ton of absolutely everything. Students, workers and thieves, tools, contraband and papayas, and a lot of adventure stories, a whole ton of adventure.
Safe travels, adventurer. Follow your road slowly and carefully, carrying plenty of stories along your trails, and always come back with the baggage bigger.
Anybody up for an alternative trip with this very experienced companion?