I remember an old conversation with a good friend, not so many months ago. I was going through a rough time at work, and there were three of us on the roof, and I was getting it off my chest.

"You know, most times I come home and I can't even remember what I've spent my day doing." She's always been so much older than me, where it counts. She said:

"That's what you call growing -"

"Hmm?"

"You know what, never mind." I shrugged, a little smug.

I remember this old conversation and I stretch out my arms. I yawn a little bit. Across from me I watch islands like hills like ghosts drift by in chiaroscuro layers. I've had three days to think about a lot of things.

And every day I know exactly what I did.



(-on the Virtues of Being Normal)

Aboard the Evangelistas

--

"In Argentina, among some intellectual circles, we read a lot of Fernando Pessoa.
He is, I think, very Portuguese. You are at the same time open like the sea, but so closed."
- The polyglot Argentine, hiker, guide, naturalist and intellectual in Puerto Natales

"Tell me, nurse, what´s wrong with me?" The French girl said, putting down her white wine. The nurse was a tall blonde danish girl.

Now I realise that this sounds just like the opening for an adult-rated film, but bear with me here.

"Every day I am tired. I sleep too much. Tell me nurse."

"Nothing," the nurse said. "You're just bored. You've spent three days on a boat. You don't have anything to do so you sleep and you eat, is all."

"But I'm always like this. Even when I'm working, I wake up feeling tired. I worry about it, I think about it a lot."

"You're not working now - you're on holidays so you can sleep as much as you want. Without worrying. Maybe you're only tired because of that."

"Yeah. That's my problem. Maybe I think too much."

"You should drink not think!" The nurse said, raising her glass of boxed red. My kind of nurse.

Later, the French girl said:

"The Swedish are my dream. That's my mission you know? To fuck a swedish every place that I go. It's been a problem, though. There's so few of them travelling."

Now I realise this sounds like the premise for an adult-rated film, but bear with me here.

Old Chum

When I arrived at Carmelo, it was smelling like it had just rained, fresh and wet and strong. I was crossing the first road, going downhill, when a one-eyed dog came running up, wagging its tail, barking in delight. It jumped up, knocked my headphones off, licked my hands when I reached for them. It was a greeting between old friends.

He must have mistaken me for somebody else. I guess his one good eye wasn't all that good after all.

"Maf, what's the deal with the buses? You can only pay for them in coins but nobody gives us any change."

"Ah, porque voces nao estao a ver. If you've got coins here you're king. There are almost no coins left. They realised the metals the coins are made of are more valuable than the coin itself, so a lot of people melt the coins and sell the metal. You can get a card though, for bus rides called the Monadero."

I have seen the future and will be building myself a foundry in the basement back home.

The PA announces something incomprehensible. Dozens of people move around us, arriving and departing. Maria, with that backpack on, which is as big as she is (and about twice as heavy), asks:

"So, your phone doesn't work, the machine just ate your card - Kiko, what would you do without us?"

A banner hangs on the wall, reads: Beinvenidos a Buenos Aires.

--


"Resistencia"


From the rooftops

Goodbyes

At the last supper, with family.
"Will you take a nespresso?"
"No, no, thanks."
"Think about it - this is the last decent coffee you'll have for months."

--

-Voltas?

--

Manha do dia seguinte, na cama.
- Eu nem sei que te diga. Por um lado até fico um pouco triste. Tu por nós nunca ficaste assim. Acho que é a primeira vez que te vejo sem vontade de partir.

--

À saida de casa.
- Se eu te conheço, tu em quinze dias vês um par de olhos bonitos e isso passa-te.

--

At the airport, about to board.
"So, which of you takes an iphone? Nobody? Three people traveling and not a single iphone?"

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

- Frost