When travelling I never go by the rules, I love to talk to strangers, I take photos of everything and I sleep in the street if the hostels are too expensive.
There is no point in being afraid of what might go wrong because I’m confident and trust my instincts and usually bad people tend to avoid me. It’s the art of the energy, I can only attract good energy, because I’m good, so do I believe, anyway.
Well, when in Santander, with no money, I managed to spend 4 hours in a corner with several layers of clothes on top since I didn’t have a sleeping bag; this lasted until the city hall workers came to wash away the dirt from the streets. Then it was all humid, with wind and rain and I couldn’t stand it. If only hearing the birds singing was enough to warm me up… Then I went to a hall of a bank and I stayed there for a while.
…I only saw the police once, one guy invited me to his house, the street washer was kind not to put water over me, people were always nice when I questioned them…
…The hours started to get heavy on my backs, I had to sleep somehow, but didn’t know where to go.
I wanted to be a street performer and the streets were empty as well as my patience. Oh, some more washing cars passing by, making sure the streets were perfectly clean…I returned to the bus station, needed to walk to warm up a little. I just spend 2 minutes there and the security guard told me they are about to close, but he was really considerate and let me stay there until the reopening of the station, so I managed to sleep a bit more.
A good looking guy comes and starts the preparation of dozens of different croissants and other cakes that awake every living cell in my body. Staying in the street gave me silence, a really long day and a hole in the stomach. I started to understand the importance of routines as I saw the window getting filled with the croissants which he embellished with icing sugar. His work seemed hugely important since there was a lot of people coming in the station early in the morning whose appetites needed to be filled.
I was shaking with starvation, cold and anxiety…10 minutes left to the opening of the croissanterie and my stomach screaming like a baby.
I felt pretty happy though because I felt so alive, more alive than ever before. I just wished for the sun to raise, that would make me feel confident enough to face the street and the people in daylight for the first time in my life.
I ordered a chocolate croissant and a glass of milk, but it wasn’t so tasty as it looked and smelled, I was really disappointed. But the music was ok and kept me going. On a full stomach I never feel alone, but my body was still shaking with excitement for the new day to come.
I really didn’t know what to do alone in a big city, but my goal was to go to the library in the morning and work all afternoon. I didn’t know what to do in the street, I was afraid, but I knew it was just like a big playground to be explored – maybe not so big as a huge and dangerous city, but it was like having sex for the first time.
To be continued...
