People As Places As People

The emotions of leaving my home are finally creeping in. While 6 months is not all that long, it will be a long 6 months without the people I love. If all proves true, the love will be here when I return.


Here is a poem I find moving. I found it after reading about the author in Guevara's "Motorcycle Diaries."

La Tierra written by Blas de Otero

Un mundo como un árbol desgajado.
Una generación desarraigada.
Unos hombres sin más destino que
apuntalar las ruinas.

Romper el mar
en el mar, como un himen inmenso,
mecen los árboles el silencio verde,
las estrellas crepitan, yo las oigo.

Sólo el hombre está solo. Es que se sabe
vivo y mortal. Es que se siente huir
—ese río del tiempo hacia la muerte—.

Es que quiere quedar. Seguir siguiendo,
subir, a contramuerte, hasta lo eterno.
Le da miedo mirar. Cierra los ojos
para dormir el sueño de los vivos.

Pero la muerte, desde dentro, ve.
Pero la muerte, desde dentro, vela.
Pero la muerte, desde dentro, mata.

...El mar —la mar—, como un himen inmenso,
los árboles moviendo el verde aire,
la nieve en llamas de la luz en vilo...

My rough translation:

A world like a tree cut off.
A rootless generation.
Men with no destination
shore up the ruins.

Breaking the sea
at sea, like a huge hymen,
sway the silent green trees
the crackling stars, I hear them.

Only man is alone. It is known
alive and mortal. He feels he is fleeing
—the river of time toward death—.

He wants to remain. Continue to follow,
rise, against death, to the eternal.
Afraid to look. Close your eyes
to sleep. the sleep of the living.

But death, from the inside, looks.
But death, from the inside, looks at her.
But death, from within, kills.

... The sea, the sea, as a huge hymen,
green trees moving air,
Snow burning in the light in the air ...

Before I Go

I can now scratch out "create a blog" on my to do list for getting things in order before I head off on my 6 month adventure in South America. I created this blog with one intention: to record my daily adventures in a way to share with all my friends and family, wherever they may be.

As I'm preparing, I've picked up Enersto Che Guevara's "Motorcycle Diaries." How appropriate, as it is young Che's travel journal of his expedition across South America. His first entry is titled "Entendámonos," translated as "So we understand each other."