Quito, June 6, 2000

We have a lot of literary examples endorsing and romanticising a vagabond's lifestyle:

„Give to me the life I love, let the lave go by me.
Give the jolly heaven above, and the byway nigh me,
Bed in the bush with stars to see, bread I dip in the river.
There's the life for a man like me. There's the life forever."
-Robert Louis Stevenson

„Aboard a shipwreck train give my umbrella to the rain dogs,
For I am a rain dog too."
-Tom Waits

„Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free,
'tis a gift to come down where we ought to be."
-Shaker hymn

„look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
-Rabbi Jesus (Matthew 6:26)

Hello everyone.

Last mass mailing about the South America trip, hopefully. I'm now safe and sound back in Quito, ready to begin working again.
The trip has been very educational, though. I have been thinking while sitting on the bus from Piura (Peru) to here about ways in which the last three months have affected me. I think there have been some important, though subtle, changes.

For one thing (and it sounds cheesy to say this), I became a little more aware and thankful for life. I can no longer relate as well to the cynical entries I would write in my journal before being on the road. I´m not sure if it´s a direct result of travel, or just an unrelated phase, but I think it is less of a leap of faith for me to believe that life has a purpose.

Secondly, it taught me that the vagabond's life requires more discipline than I had expected. I frequently dreamed of it as a career path, or, more accurately, a lifestyle. With role models like Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Sadhu Sundhar Singh, Elijah, and Jesus Christ, the life of a homeless vagrant definitely has some of the finest specimens of human beings represented in it. Of course, they generally had a deeper purpose and a tougher set of privations attached to their life. And above all, their lifestyle was a consequence of a deeper and higher commitment (to seek first God's kingdom), and not an end in itself. But maybe I'm just a beginner, and will get better with practice.

But the whole cost-efficiency is deceptive. I am convinced that it is possible to live a life of extreme frugality, even to "live for free", even today, even without being a parasite. But it being possible does not mean that it is easy. On this trip I may have spent less money than I would have by just living some place, and having rent, groceries, light and phone bills, but considering that travelling has not EARNED me anything either, the investment did not have financially lucrative consequences.

Erik Van de Pol makes the distinction between a vagabond, like Cain, and a traveller, like Abraham. The former has no home, the latter has one but is not there yet. I guess in that sense all human beings are either one or the other.

But vagabond or traveller, I think that one of the main reasons I find it an appealing career choice is because when I´ve been in one place for a while I usually have the feeling that I´m missing out on something, somewhere. Also because I have proved so inadequate at the others I have tried. It is more or less a default. I was considering returning to music, since that is after all what I got my degree in. But that would mean that I´d have to go and find myself a sense of rhythm, a sight-reading ability, a more or less decent technique, some semblance of improvisational skill, and a musical ear. Even two of these five would be all right. But maybe I should just stick to the things I´m OK at.

We will see. On my next trip I think I will include a guitar among my equipment, and see if I can cover some costs by playing on street corners.
Well, thanks to you all for your patience in getting these eMails, especially as they have been degenerating from travel reports to pseudo-philosophical road talk.

Marco

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