A couple of nights ago, I returned home from a month-long backpacking trip to the north of Chile, up to Bolivia and ending in Peru. The details of the trip don't contribute loads of value towards what I'd like to make this post about, but I will quickly explain the outline of it. I travelled with five guys; a Chilean, a Fin, and three Germans. We started in La Serena and worked our way north. We spent a week in San Pedro, Chile followed by two weeks in Bolivia, exploring different cities and seeing all of the beautiful things the country has to offer. We kept heading west until we wound up in Cusco, Peru. From there, we took a tour to the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu before beginning to head back home to La Serena. We stayed in hostels and took buses to all of our destinations.
It was not a luxurious, relaxing, sitting-by-the-pool-sipping-lemonade type of trip. More often than not, we were wearing dirty clothes, eating bread for dinner, and complaining about how badly we needed a hot shower. We were in a constant state of hunger, and always running on a lack of sleep. There were plenty of times when the only thing I wanted was to be back home in my bed. But despite the hard times, this was the best trip of my life.
This expedition taught me lessons far more valuable than anything I could have learned while staying in ritzy hotels and eating at five-star restaurants. At some point while biking through a desert, hiking through a thunderstorm, climbing thousands of stairs at five in the morning to see ancient ruins, or spending ten consecutive hours on a bus, I realized that it didn't matter how my hair looked. I realized that there was no point in doing my make-up if I was just going to sweat it off in less time than it took to apply it. I realized that I could care less if there was WiFi while standing at the top of Machu Picchu. I realized that in the end, the brands of the shoes on my feet and the clothes on back are of no significance whatsoever. I realized that every material thing that I had once considered so imperative was truly just superfluous.
While traveling, I met people who had been living this nomadic lifestyle for months, and some even for years. Just camping or working in hostels, surviving off of bread or ramen noodles, hitchhiking and winding up where ever the cars take them. They have no real destination in mind, and no time limit to return home. When you ask them where they come from, they just kind of smile and give a half-answer, because in reality they cannot name one exclusive place. These people are some of the happiest people I have met in my life. They see every day as an adventure, and they seize every opportunity they are given. They have chosen a life without luxuries, and they have discovered where true bliss comes from.
They taught me that happiness comes from the earth; it comes from everything that Mother Nature has given to us. It comes from interacting with other human beings, sharing stories, dancing, and laughing. It comes from learning about the world and seeing how other people live. True happiness can't be found in something tangible. The real paradise isn't on a cruise through the Mediterranean, or at a hotel in the Bahamas. True paradise is sitting at the top of a hill, laughing with your friends, while eating bread and jelly for the third time that day. There are no buildings in sight, no internet connections, no highways. Just the sound of some rain off in the distance.
I envy the people that live this type of life. I'm still young, but I hope one day to reach the level of euphoria and rapture that those nomads must feel. Before I went on this trip, I didn't even know that such a deep level of joy could exist, but now that I know it's out there, I will spend the rest of my life striving to achieve it. This journey has changed me forever. It has offered me a taste of that freedom and joy, and has opened my eyes to see the world in a different light. Traveling is so important, and I feel blessed to have these opportunities at such a young age. As the saying goes, "life is a book, and those who don't travel have only opened one page."
