Live and never learn

I admit it. I agree to do a lot of things, without ever considering what it actually entails. So I went to Kenya without knowing how poor the area was, that I was going to live in. I agreed to act in a commercial where I had to fill my panties with red paint and stuff a teddy bear down there. I more than once accepted a job without really knowing what I had to do. And latest I moved to Italy without a plan, a job or an apartment.

But now I am here, tumbling through my life of coincidences and experiences trying to find out if everyone’s grass looks the same.

Yesterday I went to see the mountains. Sure I had noticed there were a couple of mountains around, but how would I know how far up in the sky they went or that you were supposed to bring a jacket?..

In Abruzzo there is a magnificent selection of nature experiences. You don’t have to drive far to get a fantastic view. Best places ever for romance and I am starting to understand the Italians soft hearts for romance. With a nature like this, who can resist? Within one hour you can go from making snow angels in the mountains to taking a swim at the beach. So I decided to do just that.

You have to drive a bit, to get up to the mountains outside of Pescara. Around 45 minutes by car. Up where I went in Grand Sasso there is a skiing resort with planned routes in the mountain. If you have shoes with spikes and an axe you can take the cool route and climb to the top. But of course I didn’t have those things. So we went the boring safe way to the top.

It didn’t take more than half an hour to reach a view that made it difficult to focus on where I was walking. The sky was licking up the mountainside, and I wanted to reach out and touch it. As far as I could see, there were mountains and allies of snow. I wanted to imprint the view, so I did as any dumb tourist would do, and tried to take a picture that in no way can capture the reality.

No matter where I lived, I have always had a spot where I could go and look really far. In this spot I would do my thinking, whenever I felt that I had reached a bump in my life, or I needed to make a hard decision. Now I have to travel really far, to visit my new spot.

The climb itself wasn’t difficult and only I few times I actually felt nervous because I had to climb on lose rocks. But generally there was a high level of safety and as I saw a couple with an infant on the bag I stopped looking frightened and put on my brave face.

Once we reached the top, I was blown away by the magnificent beauty. The alley we walked in stretched as far as the eye could see, and it was in this moment that my guide decided to tell me that only a week earlier a man felt down and died just there. I lost my brave face, but I still managed to take a nice picture.

The oxygen level gets lower and the air is "thinner" when you reach this altitude and I was feeling like a brave climber, when I learned that in the final meters of Mount Everest each step can take up to 10 minutes, because you lose your breath. 

This was my Mount Everest and I decided to take a 10 minutes break to catch my breath and imprint the view. And it was here that I sort of came to terms with the fact that I may live my life through these irrational impulsive journeys, but I would never be without the experiences it gives me. And I am looking forward for what stupid situation I will get involved in next. 

Thank you to everyone who has followed my italian adventures here on my blog. I will continue my writings at another blog, dedicated to the next chapture of my life.

Ciao :)