multiple places at a time
I am starting this post in Coroico.
It is nearly sunset, and I am surrounded by friendly stray dogs, mosquitos, and German couples. But — I wouldn’t trade any of it because I am witnessing the most beautiful sunset I’ve seen in a long while. I am sitting near the pool, and I am watching the sun fall behind the horizon, painting shades of red and pink and colors that probably don’t exist.
I pinch my arm multiple times because I can´t believe that I am out here making my childhood dreams a reality.
I hug a stray dog that has been licking my arm for the past 7 minutes — and I continue thanking life for leading me to this exact moment. And since I am already sitting here by the pool, overlooking the prettiest sky, let me hold this feeling and rewind in time to the moment this entire story began — a moment I’ll never forget.
Everything about 2001 was different, though. George Bush Jr. was president of ‘Murrica, and Jlo was dating her backup dancer, Chris Judd. It wasn’t the best of times, but it wasn’t the worst of times. My mom prepared my sister and me for our big move to the U.S. for two years. We had been talking about moving because there was (and I quote) “no future in Bolivia.”
Even though I didn’t understand what moving abroad would entail, I knew that I’d spend the rest of my life trying to get back home.
I bought my first world map at Barnes and Noble at 16. I ran home and taped it against my bedroom wall to pin all the cities I’d visit one day, after graduating college or whatevs. There was Athens, Rio, Madrid, Panama City, Bangkok, parts of Russia, and even a distant city in Mongolia. I’d stay up during my finals to count the cities I would discover one day. I would neglect my bio book and spend parts of college dreaming aloud.
I became a professional dreamer, and my dreams were contagious. I ended up traveling for a great chunk of my 20s. After graduating from uni, I packed my bags and headed to Bangkok, where I lived in a little Harry Potter room and taught English at a school I can’t quite pronounce. I loved every minute of it.
10 months in, and I packed my bags and moved to Madrid… because what else do you do at 23? 4 months later, I packed my bags again and headed to Brazil (sup, Eline!), and woke up sometime in September and made my way to Bolivia.
3 months later, I was on a plane again to Miami.
6 months after, I moved to Panama City, and almost two years after that, I made my way home to La Paz City to pursue my childhood dreams.
It’s been 7 years of witnessing the most jaw-dropping landscapes and discovering hidden gems I remember reading about in National Geographic. When I left the US seven years ago, I never thought I’d return to my original home and make my wildest dreams come true.
All the heartache, loneliness, second-guessing, culture shock that I experienced while on the road taught me that home is where the heart is, and the heart can be in multiple places at a time.
xx
Finding myself
Coroico, 2019
