HOP IN. LET’S GO TIME TRAVELING.
Welcome dear You. Today you will become a traveler of time and space for the first time in my lil time machine. You will pass thru the first four dimensions and relive my early days as a backpacker and volunteer in land of Irie and Bumbaclot.
Let’s turn back the clock to April 2nd 2022. I had gotten on an airplane to Jamaica, feeling brave, rebellious and free. After about 16 hours of air time, I started to see the mind-blowingly blue Caribbean water underneath the very fluffy white clouds. An uncalled-for feeling of fear set in, borderline to terror. “What am I doing? I will be all alone. I am putting all my trust and safety into … what?” I almost always push unwelcome feelings away. I know how to; with distractions of thoughts and feelings from my Happy Place. But I decided to sit with the feeling, let it blow off some steam and then drift on. I started to feel excited again. Like a friend told me, it’s a fine line between anxiety and excitement.
I had been awake for almost 24h when the big ladies at customs did a good job of trying to send me off the island again. I smiled and tried to sound confident when explaining that I was here to help out on a farm. In the end, they let me go and wished me good luck. The look they had on their faces was like they knew something I did not.
As I came out of the airport I could not but stare. It was beautiful. Sure, I was looking at a crowded parking lot, but still, it was like someone had turned up the saturation to 100 percent. It was so so colorful and lively.
The other volunteer met up with me, a tall, lanky European boy with spiky, blonde dreadlocks. Together we took route taxis to the jungle farm. By the time we jumped out of the taxi, it was dark, and we had a muddy, winding bush path ahead of us. It was a 20-25 minute walk in the night to a place I did not know with someone I had just met. The excitement had definitely won the vote. I saw how a thin sliver of the moon hung in the jet-black sky and then how the warm light of fireflies was aimlessly hoovering around the trees and bushes around us. When we arrived at the final destination, a concrete and bamboo structure, the Rastafarian European host welcomed us with a “One Pot”. A stew made out of things you could only find the the “garden” (bush). Ital of course. I had never tasted anything like it, I found it neither good nor bad, but it felt real and very spicy. I then took a shower. I tipped-toed naked into the vast darkness on a tiny and muddy path. At the end of the trail, I found a metal pipe. Turning the squeaky tap wheel I welcomed the cold stream of rainwater. The creatures of the jungle played me their nightly orchestra for the first time and the fireflies still kept me company. I felt like a Disney princess. So far, soo great.
Your Time and Space Field Guide,
