Mud Season

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
― Mark Twain

I was back on the road after spending a night in a fireman's house, leaving some pieces of me there. Due to the driving conditions on the road, I found myself waiting for a long time again. A part of me just wanted to take a detour and go back to the East Coast instead of taking the risk of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. But I surely did not want to go back to my fireman friend's house after breaking his toilet. So I just waited and waited, wishing that the universe would not forsake me.

I was actually very much in a hurry to get out of this country after overstaying my tourist visa, so a detour was not an option at this point. But in this part of the world, they don't really shoot you. Mind you, there are still those who value people's lives. I somehow found ways around the system. In reality, I don't care so much about your laws as long as I am not harming anyone. The tragedy of my freedom. Anyway, it was time for me to go for I was just passing through. I had accumulated enough pieces of people's lives in my brain space. Now what I only have are memories and lessons on the road.

To the north without passport and transport.

The universe answered my prayer when a car finally came. A Spanish couple traveling by car all over the country gave me a ride. It just happened that they were going for 1,000 km more to the north. Would you believe my luck? They actually didn't know where they were going but I took the ride anyway. What was important was that we were all going to the north.

Oh yes, they too knew, that nobody really passed through this route. I guess we were the mad ones. I heard that they didn't have much time as they had to fly back to Spain soon. They were already at the end of their road trip, while I thought I had just started, after already being 5 months on this continent.

After hours of driving on an empty highway, it was a perfect opportunity to get to know my folks. It was nice to be with a good company this time, and what a bonus, fellow travelers too. That was the good thing actually, it meant that I would not be too mindful of criticizing the locals and their country. Thankfully, no room for patriotism as we were all just strangers in a strange land.

Most of the time we just tried to hold our breath, wishing that we would be able to keep the momentum. While sharing laughter and the usual story of our lives to break the silence at the same time. I really liked sitting at the back of the car though, gazing around the barren lands to my right and marveling at the snowy peaks to my left, what a beautiful contrast. There was time to appreciate nature and time for self-reflection. There was time for silence.

The silence was broken suddenly when we saw a mighty Condor. We were driving slowly as we looked at the sky. It was pretty amazing to capture this moment, the great New World vulture was spending its time soaring above the high Andes. It also feeds on dead and weaker animals. Just imagine all the Condors of this world, that's how they get their power.

Somehow we took a long way as we asked some trucks going the opposite direction. Hours passed and we were all worried, will we make it or break it? The snow melted at this point and we were driving in mud and sand. Me and my folks just tried to hold our breath again as we carefully kept the same speed. I really couldn't do much as I was just sitting there, but I was positive as hell, wishing that everything would be fine.

Until the unthinkable finally happened, we got stuck and trapped in the mud in the middle of nowhere. We all had gotten off and tried to lift the car. All those attempts to remove the mud on the tires were to no avail. At this point, I really hate the mud you have no idea. I had bad experiences trekking through muddy paths but this was definitely my worst mud. Anywhere I went, I got mud all over again.

We were there for a couple of hours, wishing that a car or truck would help pull the car. While the car was being fixed, I stood there waiting for some assistance. We also waited for a random vehicle to come and help send some assistance from the town.

Finally, a 4WD came to our rescue. They were a couple of Brazilians all well-prepared to travel around the country in this driving condition on the road. They know very little Spanish so my little knowledge of Portuguese was quite helpful for communication.

Then a Kombi came too, they were some English travelers looking for some help to change their money after coming back from Chile. They recounted how they got stuck for days somewhere. The others couldn't speak English so my translation job became useful again. I provided the information about the strange town to the English travelers and helped out in translating their questions into Spanish and Portuguese. I actually got lost in translation as I went back and forth trying to make sense of the conversation for everyone. But you know what, I was actually glad to be helpful this time, to help in connecting everyone. There is only one language that connects us all - kindness.

Finally, the 4WD was able to lift the car out of the mud. We thanked each other and moved on, surviving yet another part of this journey. In the end, in the midst of all these mud and chaos of our lives, we all still need each other. Our differences would not matter anymore as the kindness of the human spirit survives even the worst circumstances.