The joys of travel

Whenever I meet someone, be it a newfound friend, a local, or a stranger, the world as I know it, disappears. Consciously, I empty my cup. I strip the layers of my warm clothes and expose myself bare. I cower before a new world with my heart open. To learn, un-learn, re-learn from them.

An old man feasting on a meagre meal, a lost backpacker, a barefoot girl selling goods, a friend I spent nights talking with. They have something to teach. They have stories to tell. Meeting them, I am a child seeking refuge, a scholar thirsty of knowledge. And when we part, through the passage of time, I realize that a part of my heart always stays with them. I see things through their eyes, hear voices through their ears. I conceive a constant and never-fulfilled longing for their presence. Do I leave a part of me with them? Or do I take them on my journey? Thinking of all the people I kissed goodbye, I realized how much they taught me.

And so when I long for them, I submerge myself in the old world we created together. This way, my heart will be lightened.

* Yui Mendoza