ESCAPE FROM THE CROWDS

"The only way to deal with a world without freedom is to become as free as the same existence in an act of rebellion."

Albert Camus.





We all live a relatively free life, or at least that's what we think or that makes us believe, but this is not always the case, and for some, including myself, it is more difficult to achieve peace and freedom on a daily basis. I am lucky to live in a place with few inhabitants for ten months of the year, it is a small town located on the shores of Punta del Este where approximately 5,000 people live. But everything changes in the summer season and from these dates the number of people due to tourism is increasing very fast.
When the summer begins everything is a chaos, a place that receives more than a million tourists in little more than two months manages to saturate life at a critical point.





A place that not only does not have the necessary infrastructure to house so many cars and people, but also all types of peripheral businesses are affected in all their forms and diversities. For example the supermarket is one of the biggest problems, beyond the long lines at the time of payment and the amount of time you loose while avoiding people while walking, there is the problem of organization and preparation by the person in charge of stock of merchandise, the drinks are never cold, half of the items are sold out, and even rising the prices of everything, absolutely everything goes up in more or less %.
Traffic is another of the biggest problems that brings this whole horde of people in so little time, traffic jams and a number of accidents per day that should be taken into account, or at least try to control it in a more efficient way.





What's going on in my head through this time of the year?


I'm a totally introverted person who enjoys loneliness, peace, and silence, I have to live these months of chaos and saturation. It's difficult because in the end I have a few mixed feelings, on one hand I love the summer, the beach, the weather, the place where I live is amazing at this time of year, returning from work at two in the morning with 25 degrees cycling and seeing how the water is illuminated by bioluminescence is incredible and priceless, although maybe we pay the price.
For working reasons and because the compensation for such "sacrifice" is very high my chances of escaping are tiny, in fact it is not even a possibility. As much as I dream of spending this gap of the year in the middle of the field, alone and surrounded by animals, I must stay in reality and become aware that one more time I must live a summer here.
Year after year I get to December repeating to myself that this time it will be different, that this time it will be an enjoyment and not a suffering, to make the most of the positive things that have to be alive at this precise moment in this precise place. The dreams are still there, and tomorrow I will spend my summer somewhere else, happy and happy to feel free to decide where to be.


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