What if we fell?
Looking out that window in a cloud,
What if we fell?
Came crashing, burning to the ground. Continue reading
Back Packing
I Hate Goodbyes, Farewell Ecuador
Thinking about leaving fills me with a feeling of being caught so intensly between sadness and excitement that I remain firmly in the centre of the two, in a purgatory of experience. Lost In the false protection of avoidance, I fool myself into thinking that I am ready.
I’m leaving home once again, only this time It’s Ecuador, and not Colombia, or Australia that I’m leaving behind. over the last six months I’ve explored Ecuador’s unique and diverse landscape and culture. I experienced so much and so intensely that I could only ever appreciate it in retrospect.
Traveling is a whirlwind of discovery and goodbyes so much so that the goodbyes seem to become almost routine. We miss the point of them.
Climbing Cotopaxi: The Summit
I’ve been staring at this Volcano for six months, driving back and forth through Ecuador, it’s not hard to spot. Cotopaxi is the second highest active volcano in the world, it towers majestically and threateningly over the Ecuadorian landscape, and for some reason I just felt drawn to it. I have had this inexplicable obsession with climbing to the summit. Of standing on top of Ecuador’s most famous volcano, and staring out into the land that since November has completely and utterly stolen my heart .
It’s hard to say what drives someone to want to conquer a mountain, is it pride, stubbornness, stupidity or something else? Why does it feel so innately primal to reach the highest point possible and stare at the world from above? For that short second all the pain and anguish of getting there disappears you’re high on more than the altitude. You’ve beaten the mountain and your reward is to peer for the briefest of moments at the beauty in this world. All the magnificence that surrounds you comes rushing towards your eyes, greater than the sum of their parts. You look, as the giant you stand on does at the world, and you see what it must be like to be something more than human, it is a transcendent experience. Continue reading
Don’t Forget About The Stars In The Sky
For a while now I’ve had this feeling that I’ve been stuck in a dream, floating in and out of experiences, that two years ago I couldn’t have imagined having. Coming home felt like part of that same dream, seeing all the people I loved, visiting all the places in Australia I have missed. Even getting the opportunity to explore more of what my beautiful home has to offer seemed within the infinite possibility of a dream.
I am still yet to wake up, it’s exciting but at the same time terrifying to think that, like a dream, I might suddenly be jolted awake; forgetting everything that has happened. Getting on the plane from Australia headed to Ecuador didn’t feel out of the ordinary at all. And that kind of scared me.
An Out of Body Experience In The Thermal Baths Of Ecuador
Thermal Baths
Psychedelic experiences are often planned: a day in the woods with a tab of LSD, an Ayahuasca ceremony, a helping of magic mushrooms. It is not often that you experience something so memorable by chance.
The Great North American Road Trip Part II
There is a strange allure to the life of a vagabond. With no where in particular to be and all the time in the world to get there, life is a constant adventure. Every heartbeat, every breath, every experience is meaningful. When the numbness of existence is countered by the flow of the blood through your veins you awaken to a broader perspective of life. You can not help but smile and be happy for the chance to be alive and appreciate the moments that create your story so far. Continue reading
Ciudad Perdida and the journey to happiness in the Colombian jungles.
Since my last post I have been constantly moving, my life has been a flurry of dodgy bus rides, apartment searching, study organising and off-course Jungle trekking. I am finally in Bogota, and though exhausted in body my soul feels refreshed. My latest adventure started one morning in Cartagena when a group of us decided to drop everything and go straight to the Colombian Jungle in search of the illusive Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City).
The Traveling White Belt 