Forgot some stuff

 

What did you do today?

Just watched some movies

Movies? Really?

Yes, 2 movies.

Was that it?

Yes, why?

Well, that means you forgot the cardio, forgot to build strength, forgot the meditation, forgot to train your brain with some equations, forgot to improve your creativity, to eat some fruits, forgot to tell your friends you love them, forgot to go for a walk to clear your thoughts, forgot to write on your diary, forgot to visit a new place, forgot to learn a new language, Bruno forgot so many things!

Yeah, I was planning to do those after the movie.

I don’t believe you.

It’s true! look, I even wrote it on my calendar:

8 am: watch the new rurouni kenshin movie

10 am:  watch monoke hime (again)

1 pm: going for a run

2 pm: doing 50 pull-ups (or more)

3 pm: vipassana meditation

4 pm: solve for x

5 pm: paint a free representation of a yet undiscovered world resting inside the mountain (and his inhabitants)

6 pm: tell Taiwanese people you love them

7 pm: eat 10 fruits

8 pm: go for a walk around Lake Matheson or lake mapourika (you get to choose)

10 pm: write the story of a stray puppy in your diary

11 pm: hitching a ride across a transatlantic heading towards eastern island (?)

Sometime after that: learn the islander’s language, maybe.

A glorious day

 

about 30

 

Man, I’m almost 30.

You’re not even 29.

Almost 30 is terrible!

Why?

Well, I’ve been wasting my life. I don’t want to turn 30 and realize I’ve never cycled around South America, never took the Trans-Siberian across Russia, never climbed Kilimanjaro, never saw the northern lights.

That’s crazy, what have you been doing with your life?

I don’t know, time just slept away somehow.

Just like that?

Yeah, I don’t know what happened!

It’s not too late you know.

I know, but still…

There’s still time!

Evolution of hitchhiking

 

Shall we use a sign?

Signs are for beginners, we are pros now!

We don’t need one?

When we started hitchhiking we used signs because we were shy, we didn’t know what to do or where to stand and wanted the sign to do the job for us.

And now?

Now we are pros, we don’t need a sign, or a backpack to look like backpackers, or a map to show our driver where we’re going or a compass, nor we need those books and glasses we used to carry around while hitchhiking to pretend we were harmless students.

So what do we need now?

A drink of course.

You mean an alcoholic drink?

Not necessarily, any drink would do it, sometimes even a fruit or vegetable, carrot, and apple especially because they are not messy to eat.

And how to do it now?

Drink in right hand, left thumb up facing the cars you want to stop.

That’s it?

That’s the magic of it you see, same as at a party, the drink conveys the message that you are very relaxed and they should pick you up because you are awesome.

Or drunk.

Either way.

About Ariel

 

Probably no other moment had a greater impact on my life as those 10 seconds when I was walking around the pedestrian street in Rosario, Argentina and saw a familiar face walking towards me.

It was Ariel Gutierrez, he was listening to some song with his headphones but he wasn’t just singing along, he was shouting the song, so loud everyone was staring and creating an opening for him to walk through as they thought he was just some crazy person screaming on the street.

But I knew him, I knew he wasn’t crazy; he was just special, like me.

And he didn’t care that everyone was looking at him or that they thought him crazy. He kept walking and singing and smiling and doing a little dance.

And I thought that’s the person I want to be, I used to admire him.

I thought I want to be happy and sing without caring what others would think.

I want them to know I’m special too and they should open the way for me because I’m also coming through and don’t care if they think me crazy.

I’m coming through anyway.

Note: Ariel Gutierrez was my best friend for a while, someone I would tell everything and trust with my life, then we fought because of some silliness and never saw each other again. He was probably also the reason I stopped eating meat. And I used to have a crush on his sister, who also had a crush on me, but nothing ever happened because I was 17 and scared of talking to girls, and she was also afraid of talking to guys, so we never talked, just blushed and giggled nervously.

Another day in NZ

 

Someone’s hiding in the dark

 

I’m always hiding in the bushes at night. Hiding from the people and the police because I find it sickening the fact that I live in a society that has to pay for sleeping, and frowns upon those who refuse to do so.

Often wondering if there are others like me out there, people hiding, in the same city, maybe in a nearby bush, people who are also wondering if there are others like them.

Probably there aren’t. Well, there are millions in poor countries like India, but those are people who don’t have a choice, so I don’t really feel as they are the same as me. Because I do have a choice, I do have a bit of money to pay for rent or for a hotel, and even if I didn’t, I know few of hundred people that would let me crash in their couch.

But still I choose to sleep on the street or hide because it’s my nature. Because it’s something I seek instinctively. When I’m just walking around somewhere I always keep an eye out for places to sleep, where I would be concealed from people, protected from the elements and the wildlife, where I can have a good night sleep.

And it’s not about the money anymore, it’s not about saving money it’s about doing what I feel like doing and about being by myself, because most days I don’t feel like socializing and talking to people, most days I just feel like walking around during the day searching or gathering food, and find a shelter for the night.

That’s what feels right, my body wasn’t designed to sit and play league of legends for 14 hours straight, it was designed to look for food and shelter, to survive the cold, the night, the predators (now we call them police), to adapt and thrive in a hostile environment.

It just feels right somehow.

 

About rainbows

These days I saw lots of rainbows in the glacier, because it rains every day, and was thinking what did our ancestors think about rainbows? and northern lights? and earthquakes? And those fireballs in Laos?

They should have been so confused!

I wonder if they were humble enough to admit they hadn’t the vaguest idea what they were, or maybe they just rushed to attribute them to some supernatural source, because hey, they were always high right?

Or maybe they weren’t, I’m not an anthropologist but I suspect they were always eating some hallucinogenic roots or mushrooms or fermenting some strange alcohol, because why else would they invent all this crazy stories and rules, gods, sacrifices, they had to be like really high 24/7, right?

Humans just started recording history accurately around 100 years ago, before that we have some sort of idea what was going on, but there’s lots of guesswork involved, like with the voynich manuscript, we understand there are some drawings of some plant and its parts, some recipes, and the rest is just speculations, hundreds and hundreds of pages of sweet speculation.

 

Whatever 17

 

Why do you always talk to yourself?

Because I’m crazy?

You are peculiar. We agreed not to use the C word, remember?

Ok, then because I’m peculiar.

And why is that?

Because I’m not good with people

And you know why?

Because I’m different somehow?

We are all different in some ways.

But I’m special.

In which way?

In the way that I enjoy conversations with myself more than with other people.

And why is that?

I’m not sure, maybe because I get to ask myself the right questions and challenge them, like a psychologist would.

And maybe also so that you don’t need to put the effort to get to know, interact and understand other people?

Maybe, but this way seems to work alright, so why should I change it?

Because people need you, they need to be in touch, they need to understand you

People know me too well already, they know I say what I want and I do what I want. They understand I’m not so good with people that’s why I talk to myself.

But some people need you to take a break from talking to yourself and talk to them also, they need attention.

They are old enough already, they don’t need me at all.

It’s got nothing to do with age, they need to know you are there for them; they need to know you care.

They know that already, people who read this know more or less where to find me, they know how to contact me and they know if they ever need anything I’ll be there for them. But I can’t keep in touch daily  because I’m always traveling and internet is a luxury in NZ.

They know that, but they think when you do contact them you could try to be nicer to them.

I’ll try to be nicer then.

But not in a condescending way.

I know, I know.

You’re not better than anyone else and you know that.

I know! And I’ve never implied I was, I know I’m a prick sometimes, but I’m trying to change that.

Thank you for your honesty.

I’m glad we understand each other, I need you, you know.

I know, you need me to tell you the truth and broaden your perspective of events and people around you.

And to be there for me.

Alright, you’re not getting emotional, are you?

Never.

At least 50 times a day.

You’re right, who am I kidding. I love you man.

Have a good night.

Whatever

backpacker hotels in new zealand

Why dont you want to stay at the backpackers’ hotel like all the other foreigners in new Zealand?

Because they are lame.

But it’s the norm, young travelers here are expected to stay at the backpackers’ hotel, didn’t you hear?

Actually, I did hear it, and it’s still lame. I’m not gonna pay for sleeping, at least not for sleeping in a filthy crowded place, for that I can just sleep on the street. When one pays for a hotel, one pays for privacy, if you’re not gonna get that why paying in the first place?

As I said, social conventions dictate that they HAVE to stay at the hostel, share the room with many people, and socialize with them, of course.

That’s nonsense, I don’t want to socialize! |What am I supposed to talk about with all these people?

I don’t know, you’ll think of something.

And what if I can’t afford it?

In that case you borrow money from someone and stay there any way.

Crazy, do you even know how expensive those places are?

Yeah, anything between 20 and 35 dollars for a dorm room depending on the city.

Alright let’s say its 30, that’s almost a thousand dollars a month for a dorm room, it’s just too much.

Well, you’re not in Asia anymore.

Regardless of the country, let’s say it costs 25 per night, and they have 15 rooms with 4 beds each, that’s more than 40.000 net profit a month and they don’t pay taxes, they give you no invoice, they don’t pay their employees because they always have someone working for accommodation, they charge you for things that are provided free in any other country, like internet and towels. There’s is not a single hostel or backpackers hotel in New Zealand that provides free internet and that’s like the very basic thing they should provide for travelers, well besides the bed of course.

How do you know so much about this places if you don’t use them?

Alright, alright, I did go to one in Auckland when just arrived in New Zealand, they said it was 32 dollars and then they said it was 5 more per day if I wanted internet.

Yes, they are a bit overpriced, but I think most people who stay there don’t really pay for the bed, but for the experience, they get to meet many people in a very very short amount of time.

Like speed dating.

Exactly like speed dating, you know they are young, they are on holidays and they want to have fun. What is 30 dollars if you can meet 20 people of the opposite sex in a relaxed environment and enjoy the sexy time with some of them?

I see. So they pay to hook up. That means I’ve been doing it wrong all this time.

It’s ok, you didn’t know. You thought they were just paying for a place to stay because they are rich and too good to sleep on the streets.

Well, whatever. I’m not all that into promiscuity anyway.

And you don’t have to, you can also meet that special someone there and you know you can actually find so many free stuff there. Things people left behind, like tents, sleeping bags, laptops, lots of clothes and gadgets.

Who would leave their laptop behind?

They just forget them or get tired of carrying them around so they leave them there.

So if I pay 30 I can get a girl, new clothes, a tent and a laptop?

And more, sometimes people leave behind food and shoes.

Food, girl and laptop? Really?

Really.

But still, 30 dollars, oh man.

You could always sneak in, worse case scenario they kick you out, they’re not gonna call the police, doors are always open and the staff doesn’t know most of the people staying there.

You and me? Sneaking in together?

Yeah, and him.

Him too?

Yes.

Alright, this trio could work!

 

 

 

To be continued…