THE RETURN
More than two months had gone by since I went to South America. So many things had happened that it was hard to remember all of them at the same time. After all this, I felt it was time to go back home. The telescope was waiting for me in Caracas, or at least that was what I was thinking, and this was the reason why it was necessary to make a stop in Venezuela. I contacted Siro, my friend from Margarita Island, and asked him to take care of the tickets for me. He gave me a nice surprise when he told me he was able to find me a ticket from Caracas to Madrid at a price hard to believe was offered for an intercontinental flight. He said that was possible because I was going to fly with a local company and the price got adjusted according to the local exchange rate, formed by the local dollars black market.
I landed in Caracas in the evening. There was a car waiting for me, I jumped in with the urge to find out the fate of the telescope. Javier met me at the entrance. That was a very good sign, and as I came to realize a bit later, he had kept his part of the deal and had taken good care of my suitcase. Everything was there, well organized and untouched. I reached into my pocket and with great pleasure I kept my side of the deal and handed him the remainder of the promised money.
I was hungry so I made the quick decision of going out to get some food. I asked for a store nearby at the front desk and was told there was one about 100 meters down the road but it wasn’t recommended for me to go. The security guard agreed to let me exit with the promise that he would follow me to the store and back and that I wouldn’t take any detours. I went quickly and returned without getting in any trouble, of course, but contrary to all the warnings, the people at the store smiled at me and I felt no danger whatsoever.
My flight wasn’t until the afternoon of the next day. I didn’t have much to pack, I hadn’t unpacked, so I decided to go for a stroll through the neighborhood. All the warnings about the dangers on Caracas streets made the experience even more intense and caused a constant smile on my face. Besides the experience from the night before gave me even more courage. Also, I still had a lot of bolivari so I decided to splurge and spend all of them in one of the local restaurants. I ordered a veggie soup, then salmon with a side dish, a piece of cake, and to make it easier to take in – two beers. As I literally rolled back to the hotel I bought a few souvenirs. The hotel staff was kind enough to take me to the airport so I thanked them and said goodbye. As I walked into the airport I spotted the machines that wrap the luggage and since both my suitcases were barely holding on I decided to use their services. Ten minutes later I was in the queue to get my bags checked in with a head full of chaotic thoughts.
I was so absorbed by them that I didn’t even notice the police officers coming toward me till they spoke to me. They asked for my passport and destination and scanned me from head to toe. In their defense, I’d add that I did look like a drug smuggler a little bit. After learning where I was headed and considering all the luggage I carried, they invited me to follow them. I found myself in a tiny room where I was asked to take everything out of the suitcases I had just plastic wrapped. Of course, the telescope grabbed their attention immediately. They started tapping it, shaking it, and looking at it from different angles. Next was the telescopic stand. They were convinced I had hidden “the drugs” in it. To be honest, I started feeling a bit annoyed so I thought a brief astronomy lesson may shift their focus.
That is exactly what happened except the spotlight fell on me now. They noticed that my mouth was dry (which is completely normal when one’s under pressure) so they questioned if I was a mule. I told them I had swollen a lot of things during the day but to my luck, they were all food. They asked about the food I had consumed and even requested the name and location of the restaurant where I had lunch. After that, I was asked to take some of my clothes off. All of them to be exact. I was trying to have a friendly demeanor and I wasn’t aggressive in any way, so they were finally convinced that I wasn’t a drug smuggler and now they became kind. They even expressed a desire to know a bit more about the cosmos. Later, one of them walked me to the wrapping station and both my suitcases got serviced, but this time I wasn’t the one who paid for it.
After a few more thorough checks one of which happened in the sleeve to the plane, I was finally sitting in my seat. Only a few hours later I was going to be in the familiar land and talking to my people, in other words, I was going to be in my comfort zone. Except I, the person returning, wasn’t the same anymore. Accidental or not, Life showed me a very interesting side of itself and now I looked at the world around me differently.
At first, it may have seemed that my frivolous decision to go to Venezuela, and all the events that followed made me a lot more self-confident. I felt that the world was not as dangerous and hostile place as I used to think but on the contrary. I could easily trust it and leave things in its hands.
Now I knew that I could leave on an adventure at any given moment without even planning it, without reservations, or without even knowing anyone at my destination. My newly founded “travel agency” worked 24/7, it was absolutely free and offered unpredictable and unforgettable experiences. I named it Life Travel Guide and I was more than convinced that soon I was going to use its services again.