Set off towards an infinite sea

“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. “

I imagine Colombo saying these words to himself and his men, before setting sail from the European coasts to undertake a journey that would change the conception of the World.
Now that I am going to travel to the same shores, to South America, I feel a bit like an explorer, even if my sense of exploration is more intimate and less scientific. I’m leaving for this adventure because I feel that’s the time to experiment, to challenge myself, because “we also travel to know ourselves”. How many times have I got on the boat leaving behind me the shore without even considered to look at it, the assurance that I would return when I wanted and it would be there to greet me.

A few days ago I embarked on the longest journey of my life: one of them you begin and you don’t really know when it will finish, because that’s a journey should be. It should be life, and life has not “The End”, it follows its route without worrying too much about what will happen. At the moment we’re putting deadlines we are not travelling, we’re just on a vacation. I could tell you that I started this journey because I wanted to see the world, discovering new countries, admiring nature’s wonders, a million times seen in the photos. After all, this historical time makes the distances incredibly shorter, why don’t take an advantage?

I did it because travelling is living another life, it’s being someone else; I did it because travelling is meet yourself.

If you are reading this article on the PachaMaMa’s blog, you already know that I didn’t leave alone, Marco is with me. Oh yes, he made many departures before: he has already been around the world, literally! (take a look at the StarWay to Sydney project) Nevertheless he wanted that was me the author this article, he said “It’s the first time for you”. I honestly didn’t understand what he meant: while we were at home, intent on pre-departure preparations, I had no big worries, no uncertainty or concern, I was just very excited to have taken a one-way flight to South America. Currently we are on way, the excitement has been replaced by the symptoms of jet lag and I begin to realize what Marco meant: having him next to me gives me a warm sense of tranquility, and yet I often feel alone, lonely living the feelings that come to me.

 It’s not something external, but rather waves of sensation that slowly emerge from the most inner part of me, as if travelling had ignited a rediscovery of myself that I think no  possible. When you are 30 years old you are convinced to know yourself well enough, that you have a clear idea of ​​what we can or cannot do, nevertheless from the first day I put my backpack on, I realized that there are so many things about me that I don’t know and that today I observe with great curiosity. It is not the world that is different, we differently behave.  I look around at Cali, Lima or Rome and I don’t see many differences; maybe the times will be different, but human habits are almost the same all around the world. People look at you in the same way, fashions come and go, what is vintage for us is current for them, foods are much more similar than we imagine.

We think we can differently behave in every place, adapting to situations, but it doesn’t work like this: the truth is being ourselves everywhere, always showing our true-self and opening up to what the journey will give us, because in a few days I saw this: when the journey starts it goes alone and everything comes, almost without looking for it.

Travelling is a great way to get to know yourself, to look for your true-self and then show it to everyone without fear: this is the greatest gift I hope to receive from this adventure.