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 “Viajar de Kombi” on March 20, 2010.
Poetry, emotion and a great deal of noise always come along on a good Kombi trip. The video is a remix of moments from an experiment of a trip (me and Leandra) down to Rio Grande do Sul.
So? What is riding in a Kombi to you?
The day after, I put the original text from the video in the comments.
Riding in or driving a Kombi is:
sitting right on top of the wheel
having to leave her in gear on the way down
getting to 60 in fourth and wishing for a fifth
having to turn around and shout to talk to the lunatic sitting at the back
watching a waterfall pour out of the front when you brake on a rainy day
having a wind deflector, driving with your arm out, and squealing the tyres in reverse
parallel parking her fully loaded
stopping very close to the car in front
a constant fight with the play in the steering wheel
loading up the whole crowd at the weekend
going off camping without taking a tent
flattening every road stud on the asphalt
never having to hire a truck to move house
being in no hurry to arrive
and answering with pride when somebody asks what car you have: I HAVE A KOMBI.