29 Oct PAPAGAIOS – 28 OCTOBER 2017 – TRAVEL DIARY

For us “slow travel” means the freedom to stop wherever we like, for how long as we like and consider our journey an experience per se and not the time between destinations.

I was thinking the other day of the notion of “home” and how much it changed for me during the years. When I was little home meant, or should have meant, safety, warmth, love, friendship and joy. Not necessarily in this order.

As a student home meant the quiet and the recovery after sleepless or psychedelic nights.

A few years later home becomes your own private space.

After I got married home became color, light, happiness, playful, intimacy. Any moment was nice and / or romantic.

When the kids came, home meant more dynamism and strength.

Home is where you come back to a warm energy, dynamic, different, it goes back to safety, safety for the new kid in the house and this way the circe of the different meanings of “home” closes.

As we changed houses in the last 7 years for… let me count: 1, 2, 3… 7 times, we lived in 3 countries and traveled through 18, for us home means us.

We have no more walls to protect us, we have each other.

We have no routine to follow, we have each other.

We have no roles to play, we have each other.

We have no one to please, but each other.

So we discovered the “home” within “us”.

And after you discover the home within you, you will also find a sheer feeling of freedom that brings euphoria and happiness.

F-r-e-e-d-o-m whisper all your thoughts, at the beginning quite intrigued: “how could this even be possible?”

So today we took the freedom of staying one more day in this wonderful park, Dos Papagaios, where us and the lizards are staying on a rock in the sunshine, down by the river.

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Pentru noi a “calatori incet” inseamna de fapt libertatea castigata de a ne opri unde ne place, cat timp ne place si de a trata calotoria ca si pe o experienta in sine si nu un timp intermediar intre destinatii. Ne simtim ca si apa care fuge cat mai repede spre fratele ocean.

Ma tot gandeam zilele trecute la sentimentul de acasa, de cate multe ori s-a schimbat pe parcursul anilor. Cand eram mic acasa insemna, sau ar fi trebuit sa insemne siguranta, caldura, dragoste, prietenie si veselie. Nu neaparat in ordinea asta.

Student fiind, imi amintesc cum acasa era linistea si refacerea dupa nopti albe sau in culori psihedelice.

Cativa ani mai incolo si acasa devine spatiu intim, ordine si tu cu tine.

Dupa ce m-am insurat, acasa a devenit culoare, lumina, veselie, joaca si intimitate in doi. Orice moment era dragut si/ sau romantic.

Dupa ce-au venit copiii acasa a prins dinamims si forta. Acasa te intorci intr-o energie calda, dinamica, diferita, acasa devine acasa, siguranta pentru cei mici, si asa se inchide cercul schimbarilor lui acasa.

Cum noi am schimbat casele in ultimii 7 ani de… stati un pic sa numar: 1, 2,3… de 7 ori. Am trait in 3 tari diferite in acesti ani si colindand alte 18, acasa a devenit “NOI”.

Nu mai avem ziduri care sa ne protejeze, ne avem pe noi.

Nu mai avem rutina de urmat, ne avem pe noi.

Nu mai avem roluri de indeplinit, ne avem pe noi.

Nu mai avem pe altcineva de multumit, decat pe noi.

Asa ca l-am descoperit pe acasa “din noi”!

Si dupa ce-l descoperi pe acasa din tine, vine la “pachet” cu un sentiment de libertate, ce-ti creaza o euforie si fericire. LIBERTATEEEE, asta murmura toate gandurile ce se plimba razlete prin minte, parca incurcate si intrebatoare; ”Oare cum este posibil?!”.

Asa ca astazi, ne-am luat libertatea de a mai ramane liberi in acest parc minunat, Dos Papagaios, unde a iesit soarele si noi si soparlele, afara pe piatra, langa rau!