Life is a Trip

Ending my trip... and laughing at myself

julio_martinez — Wed, 8 Sep 2010 05:44:00 GMT

Today, it's been six months since I started this trip... and today, I'm back in Spain, back in Madrid... I'm coming for a friend's wedding, as planned.... but I'm also considering this trip over, finished... and this was not planned...

I was supposed to travel for 1 year... And here I am, announcing an early end of this trip, knowing it's the best, yet quite unable to explain why, unable to admit an error... But fortunately I've honesly looked at this ackward feeling... it's my ego, it doesn't like to fail, it holds to its own views, justify them at all costs, even when they are wrong... The ego ties you, it makes you anxious, it slows down learning... So today, I'm gonna laugh at my ego, I'm gonna laugh at myself... and I'm going to like it, I'm gonna enjoy it, I'm gonna learn from it.

When I started, my idea of travelling was happiness in itself, nice in itself, useful in itself, an end in itself... I would't openly say it like that, but it was just there hiding in my unconcious... and this unrecognized idea was part of the reason I started this trip, part of the reason that kept moving from place to place... it was part of my ego strategy for happiness.

I did travel, at first I enjoyed it a lot, as we all do when we achieve what we think it's good for us... But, after a while, you get used to travel, you get used to it as much as you get used to a car, to a status... It's no longer what it was at the beginning... it's a new routine, still lacking true purpose, seeing nice places is your new standard, that's simply what is normal... And you keep moving, travelling is supposed to be cool, everyone thinks so, people even envy you... just as with a car or a status... but it's no longer giving you real happiness... and you feel strange, you feel something is wrong somewhere, but you don't know where... maybe in next place it would be better, maybe another car, a higher status, going shopping... You try to find solutions out there... you make a lot of effort to reach those solutions, yet none of them lasts... we try solutions without truly analyzing the problem...

Every problem you experience has causes, but we only see the external causes... If we get angry watching a football match, we blame the players... But our problems have also internal causes... we don't recognize the simple fact that we trust our happiness to a football team, the ego doesn't allow you to recognize that... it holds its own views, it keeps you tied... You have little control over the external cause of the problem... but you can reduce the internal cause of your problem... You just have to be honest with yourself, honestly looking inside... And that's what I've done, and by doing so, I haven't failed... I have actually succeeded!

I've learned a lot in this trip... that was the true objective... what I really wanted. I have still a lot to learn, and I now know that I no longer need to travel to do so. However, once, travelling truly helped... two years ago, in Nepal, I read a book which compared Western and Buddhist philosophy, I read just for curiosity... a few things sounded a bit strange, but much of Buddhism made a lot of sense... And the best is that I didn't have to believe anything of it... the Buddha himself said "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense"... Since then, I've seen much of this philosophy as logic, true, good, practical, useful in everyday life... it has influenced my way of thinking, my level of happiness... Buddha also said that his teachings are just a map, they are not the territory... the territory you have to discover it on your own...

I know some would be probably quite surprised, but I felt I couldn't finish this blog without giving credit to what has inspired me so much... Anyhow, in this territory of life, whether you look at any map or not... I wish you find success, I wish you find happiness...

Photos: Indonesia

julio_martinez — Sat, 4 Sep 2010 18:11:00 GMT

Java, Bali and Gili Trawangan

redefining success

julio_martinez — Mon, 9 Aug 2010 10:16:00 GMT

3 weeks in Australia so far... here, it is all what I imagined it to be... nice beaches, beautiful nature, surfing culture, and supercool animals... but it's also other things I didn't imagine it to be. Like the aborigenes beautiful culture and sad history. Like the travel to party culture, drank by teenagers and not so teenagers as well.. I've done it in the past, so I can tell it can be fun for a while, but does it deserve the waste of money, health and travel time?

Party 7 days a week is what the australian subsociety of travel expects you to do. Fortunately, I have a bit of practice at doing not exactly what society expects me to do, and at thinking not exactly what society expects me to think... quite a healthy practice I would say.

One day I had a conversation with an english traveller. He talked very convinced and in good english. Unfortunately he dind't allow for much listening. He argued that most of the people who travel want to be sucessful. He expained further, argumenting well. He wanted to be sucessful, meaning have a high job position, a nice house, lots of money... After listening what he meant by sucessful, I had to disagree... He then added that he believed just once thing... that we only live once, so we have to enjoy it...

I don't know if we only live once... but enjoying life doens't necesarily means having things... however, that is the assumpion which lies deep in the consciousness of a big part of society today. I told him that not all travellers want to be "sucessful" in the way he presented it, but all want to be happy... and in fact, all people want to be happy... However, no matter what you have, can you consider yourself happy or sucessful while doing bad things, hurting the happiness of others? Doing so, the day you die in this one life, not only you have to leave all your "success things", you also leave your rubbish behind... what a success!

Some parts of society expect us to be happy in very doutbful ways, just like a part of society here expects me to be happy by getting drank every night... But what is society made of but people? Do you consider people generally wise and happy, or ignorant and unhappy? Are you letting the ignorant, stressed, greedy, ever-uncontented, unhappy people tell you how to be happy? I rather listen to those which are wise, calm, generous, contended, happy. They are the real success in this life!

Photos: Australia

julio_martinez — Sun, 8 Aug 2010 20:06:00 GMT

when everything feels all right...

julio_martinez — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:12:00 GMT

It was a frosty winter morning in the town of Christchurch, but it didn't matter... because there are days when, simply, everything feels all right!...

It doesn't always feel so, and it definitely didn't when I first landed in New Zealand... a few things suddenly were different... I was back in the civilized world, it was cold, days were short, things were expensive, and... it was not Samoa!

My NZ guidebook didn't help much either... for moments it made me feel as if I won't be a complete and happy tourist unless I do lots of expensive things, including bungy jumping, and rafting, and jetboating, and heli-skiing, paragliding and skydiving... and well, I don't know how many places I needed to jump out of in New Zealand... but the credit card had to jump out of the wallet just as much...

Travelers in New Zealand were also of a different kind to what I was used to... most of them were younger than me, either students on holidays, or people in their early tuenties with a working visa spending many months in New Zealand... very few were doing anything similar to what I'm doing...

Put that all together, alone in a sudden winter, and you can get a good deal of confusion... But I had also very good moments here in the opposite side of the world... like visualizing that my body is in inverse position compared to my friends in Europe... like learning about the Maori culture... and witnessing the breathtaking nature of New Zealand, like the best rainbow I've ever seen... or a whale breathing in front of white mountains, or an unexpected dolphin swimming and jumping right next to me in the beautiful Milford Sound...

And the more I've been in New Zealand, the more I like it!!... I really do!!... gradually, I managed to get myself comfortable in New Zealand, to feel all right here, and enjoy the new environment which at first seemed so scary... because it is expensive, but cheaper than Europe... it is cold, but as a good kiwi commented to me "we need to have winter so that we can appreciate the summer"... it is a capitalistic country and they try to get as much as possible from tourism... but that's no trouble, I spend in what I considered cool and reasonable (jumping out of a bridge for 100 euros it is not)... and I gave myself the time to relax, to cook my own food, and to feel at home... because we are always at home, always here, no matter where we are or what happens around us... it's just that sometimes we just need to stop and relax to remember it...

Unexpected visitor entered home here in New Zealand, his name was change, and I didn't see him coming... but change is always visiting... next time he comes as cold wind, I hope to greet him with a warm tea, and a smile, because I will recognize him as the old friend he is... many good things he's brought home (even a spanish World Cup!!)... and much you can learn from him (like not expecting to win the next one)... but mostly, here in New Zealand, he taught me to keep feeling at home, no matter what color he paints the furniture... and to keep such this mood, when everything feels all right...

Photos: New Zealand

julio_martinez — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:19:00 GMT

breathtaking nature!

wonderful Samoa...

julio_martinez — Sat, 3 Jul 2010 12:01:00 GMT

It's been a while since I don't write... and part of the reason was being in remote Samoa... but Samoa deserves some writting as much, or more, as anywhere else...

While you are working, you can get into routine mode after a while, and you may not like that... then you go on holidays and you like it a lot... but actually, you enjoy the holidays a lot because of all the time you had worked before...

In a way, being in Samoa was also holidays for me... it was holidays from my trip... because the trip itself doesn't feel any longer as holidays... the trip is now my day to day life, I got used to travel as much as others get used to work... I have both good times and less good times... just like everyone else... and I try to enjoy what I do, just as everyone should do... but Samoa was different.

Samoa was different in many ways... completely different culture and people... atonishing landscapes... and the most important thing, I had the time to enjoy it all... the time to do nothing... the time to just be aware of the wonderful place I was visiting...

In my guidebook, it says that "samoans have still the time to be friendly..." and it's true!... While you walk on the street, or pass by people's homes (which in the villages many are open, without walls), they smile and say hello to you... and usually their smile makes you smile too... it's contagious, and it feels good!... It reminded me a very true phrase from Thich Nhat Hanh... "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy"... Being in Samoa you have a lot of chances to smile.... but you need a relaxed schedule to absorb it... and I was so glad I planned 2 weeks there...

Many great moments in Samoa... but probably the pictures can explain it better than me...

Photos: Ecuador

julio_martinez — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:31:00 GMT

Vilcabamba, Cuenca, Banos, Quito, Ambato

The outcome of travelling

julio_martinez — Sun, 6 Jun 2010 14:11:00 GMT

Chachapoyas is a very rural region, its capital town just have 25.000 inhabitants, the roads are generally unpaved and in bad condition, and it takes ages to arrive here, where the jungle meets the green side of the Andes.

There, some of the best remains of precolumbian cultures in Southamerica can be found... but you are not going to believe it... which is normal, there is no promotion of it from the peruvian goverment neither from private companies, and few people have been there... and that is also normal, because there is no way that this rural region could accomodate massive tourism...

However, that makes it even more special... for most of the excursions I had to share taxis with locals to go from one village to another... if there was a taxi and other passengers... otherwise I had to either wait (for hours..) or walk... The exception was the precolumbian site of Kuelap... there I could go with a tour operator.

One of the travellers I met in the tour to Kuelap was a man of 90 years old... peruvian, very charismatic... He has been travelling alone since he was 80 years old... he's been in most of Europe, Egypt, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Russia... and here he was... at 90 years old, able to do a thirty minutes hike up to Kuelap... while complementing the women in the group... we laughed about it, but he did so in a very respectful and educated way, the women liked him... Asked about why he travelled so much, he said smiling "I got trapped in the drug of traveling..." and one of the girls in the group replied "and the side effect is knowledge"...

Obviously, travelling you get to know more about the world, and I feel very lucky for having this chance... Some even would argue that you also get to know yourself... but I disagree... we usually just arrive to an opinion about who we are... What is true is that, when travelling, you change much faster than at home... and that is due to survival need, more time to think, meeting people from different cultures and maybe learning about other philosophies or ways of thinking...

The fact is that you change... so by the time you think you know yourself.. you are already different!... and when that happens you can feel a bit lost, because we don't like when our preconceptions don't fit reality, specially when it's about our own reality!.. but if you are lucky, you can realize that changing is normal, everything in the world is moving, changing.. and you are not the exception... As the emperor Marcus Aurelius said in his book Meditations, "The universe is change. Our life is what our thoughts make it"...

If you are ready to accept change, you don't think things will stay forever as they are... in every aspect of life you are more ready to improve things... and when things turn wrong, you are faster to recover and know that the problem won't last forever... because there is always the hope of change... and the most useful of changes is changing the way you look at things.

Photos: Chachapoyas region

julio_martinez — Sun, 6 Jun 2010 13:48:00 GMT

Stories from the crazy jungle

julio_martinez — Sun, 30 May 2010 09:16:00 GMT

So there I went, to the amazon and to the jungle... I couldn't help being in Southamerica for 3 months and not visiting the amazon.

Iquitos was the entry point, and it happened that I met my friend Stephane the day before in Lima, and he had booked the same flight than me, to Iquitos! So there we went... we met two other travellers at Iquitos airport, and we headed all toghether to the Amazon jungle, staying at a lodge. In the lodge, there was neither electricity nor hot water, but it was very well protected with mosquito nets... the first necesity was covered.

First day in the morning we visited an indigenous tribe, in the afternoon we went to see monkeys and snakes... and at night we did a night walk... in which we saw a tarantula and other stuff, listened to the sounds of the jungle... and got litteraly eaten by mosquitos. I usually don't get many mosquito bites... but the jungle is another story...

Not satisfied enough with the experience, we planned with our guide to go camping for 2 nights... deeper into the jungle. Other group of travellers came with us for 1 night, we were 10 in total. We arrived with our guide, a cook, and two other staff from the lodge, who built the camping.... while the cook would incredibly manage to make a fire and cook good food for 10 people... so we had no work to do, but we realized we had a very important task... puting mosquito repelent every 15 minutes... seriously! and even with that, we got beaten everywhere... at night we even had to use a second layer of clothes, because otherwise they beat through the t-shirt...

But things could get worse... at night, it rained.. and our tents got lots of water inside... so sleeping was kind of difficult. Next morning, my wound (from MachuPicchu) seemed to be getting infected again, I had diarrhea, a bit of fever, and felt really low in energy... everything was muddy and wet, so there was nowhere to sit down... and then we realized that our dishes were being washed with water from the f*cking amazon river... and the hot water for the tea was also "coulored", without the need of tea bag!... So, I made a very important decision... get back to the lodge, no need of second night camping! and I went back with the other group of travellers... we got back... and for the first time I truly apreciated how good it was to be able to sit down...

That night, after dinner, the guide told us crazy stories from the jungle... fishermen who had sex with dolphins (he knew real people who had done that!)... stories from indigenas, shaman powers and medicinal plants (he survived to a rattle snake bite with them)... giant snakes which measure up to 30 meters long (his father saw one)... even stories from elves living in the jungle, who apparently are small and very hairy (he claimed to have seen an elf once)... All these stories were crazy... but at the same time fastinating!... The guide spoke as if he really believed what he was telling us, he repeatedly said.. "what I'm telling u it's fully true, you can ask anyone who has lived in the jungle and will tell you the same"... It was amazing to listen to him, for the stories themselves, and for he being fully convinced about them...

Some stories sounded a bit less credible than others... but in general, I couldn't say if a story was true or false.. I had clearly not enough proof to consider them true, but I didn't have enough proof to consider them false either... so I was happy to stay with a simple "I don't know"... Moreover, when you think you really know about something, you close the door to further knowledge... As Sir Francis Bacon said "If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties"...

Photos: Iquitos and the Amazon jungle

julio_martinez — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:57:00 GMT

overthinking in Nazca

julio_martinez — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:13:00 GMT

Nazca is famous for the misterious Nazca lines, huge drawings made from precolumbian cultures, dating from 500 years b.c. They were discovered only when comercial flights started to operate on the area, as these lines can hardly be recognized from the ground... local people mistook them for paths.

The Nazca lines, from 10 to 30 centimeters deep, surprisingly survided to erosion... the climate in Nazca definetly helped, but scientists doubt that climate alone could explain it... many theories try to explain their origin and purpose, some of them argue their purpose as religious, others social, others astronomical, others even argue extraterrestrial influence.

When I was in Nazca, I knew I would head to Lima, but after that... I had just 3 weeks left in South America.... I wanted to go to the Amazon, see north of Peru, go to Galapagos, and properly see Ecuador mainland.... and I realized that it was just not possible to fit all in.... I had to priorize and plan a route... and I kept thinking... way too much... I was too attached to my original idea of visiting all those places, I could not help it... I wished I could do it all...

My intuition told me that Galapagos should be out, because visiting it required the most of time, 8 days being lucky.... and that meant taking out north of Peru... and passing by Ecuador quickly without seeing much, or take out the Amazon jungle... Moreover, the Galapagos are very expensive, and the euro drop is not helping either... I really wanted to go to Galapagos, but not at the expense of removing north of Peru and Ecuador.... My intuition resolved the problem in a few seconds, but I could not make a decision for 3 or 4 days... and I kept thinking, unable to arrive to a conclusion, unhappy for moments... like a kid when he doesn't have what he wants...

Most of people don't have the oportunity to travel, and I was unhappy just deciding where to travel... thinking this way helped, but it didn't fully solve the problem... even when I flew over the Nazca lines, a flight of 30 minutes for 50 euros, for a few moments I thought about my itinerary... that was nonsense!

But some time later I finally realized what was going on in my head... the root problem was my attachment to see it all... In fact, seeing the root problem proved to be the solution of it... as I saw I was wrong, my attachment dismissed... and I could finally accept reality as it was... I trusted my intuition and moved on... and then I could enjoy and be happy travelling again... and in the way, I hope I've learned something for next time.

If we have a problem, we need to look at it and understand it... As someone said, "the problem is the solution"...

Photos: Nazca, Huancachina and Lima

julio_martinez — Tue, 25 May 2010 10:52:00 GMT

Paradise hiking in Colca Cannon

julio_martinez — Sun, 23 May 2010 06:55:00 GMT

I arrived to Colca cannon and decided to hike for 3 days, on my own. I avoided booking a tour for this, as I preferred to do it at my own pace, finding out where to stay the night on my own, and being alone to fully experience the cannon.

And I loved it... I went up an old inca trail.. built with big stones. You can tell when a stone was carved by the incas.. they were really pros!... It's funny that in Machu Picchu people spent 300 dollars for the supertouristic 4-day inca trail.... and they go in groups of 20 or 30... with walking sticks which the tour provides... I saw these tours in Machu Picchu and they were all so noisy... doing "clic clic.. clic clic", all the time with the sticks... ohh god! not for me thanks!

But here, I just found out an Inca Trail on my own... not even the Colca tours go there, it's too much off the way for them... and I arrived to a lovely village, it seemed I was the only tourist to stay the night there, and I learned from the life in the village discussing with the hostel owner.

Next day... as I continued my way, I got out of the path and found a lovely little river, of beautiful orange waters... the color was created by the rocks next to it, and I could go down the river crossing side to side through numeros rocks and stones.... When the river met a bridge, I found the path again... I walked for a few minutes and said to myself... I'll just get back to the river and contemplate it for a while, and I did so... and no matter what words I use, I would not be able to describe how beautiful it felt there.

At the end of the day, I arrived to the Sangalle Oasis... it's a microclimate inside the cannon, really like an oasis, with palm trees, nice surroundings and good weather. In this place there were just 5 hostels, absolutely nothing else, and I stayed in one of them, called "paradise"... in a personal hut, with swimming pool, with beatuful flowers, rocks and trees surrounding it... and I played volleyball and foot-volley with 3 friendly ecuatorians and 2 guys of the hostel staff.... all of that for 6 euro the night, including breakfast... and including dinner, without electricity, just by the light of the candles...

Photos: Arequipa and Colca cannon

julio_martinez — Sat, 22 May 2010 10:04:00 GMT

Machu Picchu a la Indiana Jones

julio_martinez — Sat, 15 May 2010 15:03:00 GMT

The adventure started in Cuzco, the capital of the Incas. There, I met two australians, both travelling on their own. One of them had a very tight budget, so I adapted to sleep in low cost hostels, eat in cheap places, and negociate even for the toilet paper... that was great! apart from spending less, it was fun!... and I adapted quickly to the new quality standards... even my stomach didn't complain about it either!

In our way to Machu Picchu, our first stop was Ollantaytambo... which we called "Olli" to simplify... I was proud to have found a 3euro per night hostel with very good views to inca ruins... After dinner, we went for a drink, and we arrived to the hostel at midnigth... The door was locked, we knocked the door as hard as we could, but no one was there to open... In desperation, I resolved to climb over the hostel wall to get inside the garden, it was dark, and the climb wasn't very obvious... but I made it!... once in the inside I could open the main door and we got to bed.

From Ollantaytambo, a train takes 1 hour 30 min to arrive to Aguas Calientes, the villange next to Machu Picchu. However, that train is quite expensive, so we found a way around, with a 4h bus + a 2h local minibus + a 30 min taxi + 4 hours hiking. And it was worth it!!... both for the views and for the feeling of adventure.... At the start of the hiking part, we had to cross a river. Before, there was a bridge, but it got destroyed with the recent floods around Machu Picchu area... The only way to cross it now was with a little platform which slided by a metallic cable... and at that moment we started to sing the Indiana Jones tones... "tin tirintin.. tin ti rin..." only for that cable thing the trip was worth it!

At the end of the hiking part, we had to walk on the railway... and that wasn't difficult, except when it got dark!... we had torches, so usually it was ok, but sometimes little rivers crossed under the railway, a couple of meters under it... forcing us to step only on the actual railway... I missed one of them, and I got a wound on my leg... deep enough that it should have been sewn... When we arrived to Aguas Calientes, the only place I could get a cure was in a half pharmacy, half internet-cafe, which had a doctor... he decided not to sew my wound and gave me antibiotics to avoid infection.

Next day we woke up at 3:30 in the morning to hike up to Machu Picchu... (to be within the first 400 people, who can access to hike Wayna Picchu mountain, with great views to Machu Picchu). It was very foggy... and that made it even more special... we could see Machu Picchu apearing gradually out of the white fog... soon after that the fog was completely gone.

At the end of the day, we had walked over all of Machu Picchu and surrounding mountains... and then we lied down on the grass of the agricultural terraces... and that was an amazing feeling! We even slept for a while there... Then a woman passed by, complaining "I don't know why this people are there lying down, they should be walking around..!"... and I just smiled... her ignorance disturbed her, but it didn't disturbed me... all the contrary... I understood a little bit better that when we get angry, probably it's because we are also ignorant...

Photos: Cuzco, Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu

julio_martinez — Sat, 15 May 2010 14:55:00 GMT

Lake Titikaka and the question of change

julio_martinez — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:52:00 GMT

Lake Titikaka is 3810 meters high, the highest navegable lake in the world, located roughly half in Bolivia and half in Peru... The tiwanakus considered it sacred for centuries... so did the incas after them... and still today it's considered sacred by local bolivians and peruvians...

Why it is sacred? Well... both tiwanaku and incas considered nature sacred, specially when it was beautiful... and Lake Titikaka has lots of beauty to offer...

In the bolivian side, Copacabana town contains ruins and beautiful hills with amazing rocks and view points. The Island of the Sun contains all of that as well... combined with an ancient Inca trail and the magical consideration of being the Island of the Sun... In "Isla del Sol" there are no roads, no cars, no motorbikes... just peasants... for transportation of goods, just donkeys... terraced hills (inca style) for agriculture... and all kind of farm animals... beautiful!. In a way, it was like going back to the past... no cars, no stress, no noise... just people taking care of the fields and animals in such a beautiful and magical island...

In the peruvian side, I loved Taquile island, with a culture in itself, all dressing in a similar way... jeans haven't yet arrived here!... and they solve their little disputes by asking advice from the elders of the island...

As well in the peruvian side, I got really surprised with the Uros Islands. These Islands are floating islands, built by the Uros people using a very common sea weed from the lake... The Uros "went floating" at the time of the Incas... to avoid paying taxes, they were poor and could not afford the taxes living in the land, so they fabricated their floating islands and worked as fishermen... Today, it's still really impressive, there are around 5000 Uros people in around 100 islands... but it's so touristic that the locals are just too much looking for the tourism and are able to speak english and sing songs in 6 languages just for us... that was weird!... but that's the way it is... the world is very small now, and just as we need to earn money somehow, they find new ways to earn money as well... no matter how we would like them to remain as they were...

But change is the nature of things... the Uros and all cultures change with time... otherwise there would be no history books, neither a way to improve things, nor a way to make them worse... and just as things and cultures change with time... we also change with time... Once I read that "changing is not to become a different person, it's just adding on top of what already is... which by the way... is what you have been doing all of the time"...

Photos: Lake Titikaka

julio_martinez — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:15:00 GMT

3 days in bolivian side, 2 in peruvian side