12 February, 2008

thoughts on day 145...

So today Micah and I went on a long walk around Puerto Varas to wear off the cabin fever from our 3 day ferry ride. It was gorgeous but the boat was small and after being so active with all our trekking we found it difficult to sit still for so long. So, we took a walk along the lake and, as you can imagine, got to talking. The thing about this is that we talk a lot these days, the 2 of us. Cuz there's not too many other friends around to talk to and that means we talk about a lot of the same stuff over and over... we talk our subjects to death, sometimes breaking ground and other times, just saying the same old thing. When we get an email it is the subject of our next meal...updating the other one about the news and/or gossip. Then we take it to a whole other level of thought that one might normally because we have all the time in the world with few distractions. And other times, we find ourselves with no words. There just isn't anything to say today and the other one is left with their own thoughts.

Today, we broke some ground. I think cuz on the ferry I was left with no words and after 3 days, I was ready to talk and Micah was ready to have someone to talk to. And so, we talked. We talked about that. About how on this trip we have more time to think and talk and read then we ever do in our normal lives. We read a book and pass it on to the other and then when we've both read it, we talk about it for days... hell, we're still talking about the first book we read in October. We talk about circuses, the war, the conquering of Chile, love affairs, Iraq, fantasy worlds, breaking computer codes and everywhere else our books have taken us. Worn books passed from traveler to traveler have taken us to places we never imagined to visit these 6 months.

When we pass the book onto the other we sit back and watch them read out of the corner of our eyes, guessing where they are in the book... we ask questions and for their opinion, trying hard not to give too much away. And then at dinner or lunch we talk about it at length. We talk about the characters, the situation, the place, how it all relates to itself, how it relates to us, etc. And then we get sidetracked somehow into another conversation but not entirely cuz often we bring it back to the book. Like this one book I'm reading about a suicide bomber in Iraq. We started talking about the complexity of the situation there and the fact that there is a civil war there whether US is in or out and then somehow we applied that thinking to intervening when you see a parent abusing a child in public and you don't want to ignore it but you wonder if stepping in will improve or worsen the situation for the child. It's always like that, limitless connections being made only because we have endless hours to talk and process with each other and the comfort of complete trust of each other...

It reminded us of something my mom said when we were traveling with her a month ago. About how with our new age of technology and the rapid rate news is distributed we aren't left with much to discuss and ponder and talk about. In her days, she would sit with friends and read the paper and they would talk about the current news: clarifying it, critiquing it, challenging it, forming opinions, etc. And there would be time to process it all before the next news announcement. But now, we don't have time to process it all and marinate in thought, we just wait for the next hour of headlines to tell us what's happening. The fast paced internet technology has its blessings though... this blog for instance and all the other pieces of news that come from the far corners of the world from direct sources...people making their own news... but I suppose not without a cost...

A big one we talk about is other people's blogs and myspace bulletins. Seriously. The bulletins are not common subjects but there have been a few that have caught our eye for sure. Our most beloved bit of consistent internet writing, though, is from Greensboro based writer Liz Seymour. Maybe we wouldn't relish in it so much if we were caught up with our normal, busy daily lives but being here, so far away from home and friends we chew on each week's entry like a piece of mango in the desert. So good.

We like these endless conversations that we revisit and revisit again. And while we feel lonely and tired of each others company sometimes and are exhausted of traveling and witnessing other people's lives and finding ourselves in yet another van or bus or boat full of Europeans in quick dry pants, we love this elbow room for our thoughts. We want to live a life that values marination, that values sitting, perhaps in silence, with an old friend,...no projects, no running off, just taking the time to sit, to think, to listen, to talk and to let the conversation go to an unexpectated place.

The trick is figuring how to create that time and space in everyday life... maybe that will be our guiding question for day 146...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

here's something to ponder for day 147...

when you get back we're immediately going on a backpacking trip, for two weeks, and you'll have to tell me all about your trip, recounting everything all over again... -n