TRAVELLING ALONE? NOT REALLY.

This year, as on the last four years, I took a trip to the Argentine Patagonia, this time to the province of Chubut. I booked a hotel in the city of Esquel with the project of visiting National Park Los Alerces, which besides being of a magnificent beauty was designated a world’s heritage site in 2017 due to being home to 2000-year-old trees. Since I am divorced and I don’t know of anybody with whom I would like to share a three weeks trip, I always travel alone; perhaps because at this age I only go to places that invite meditation and reflection, I have never felt alone in any of my expeditions. On the contrary, when people seem surprised to see me flying alone to the end of the world, I say to myself that they have probably never felt the joy of looking at a majestic mountain from the shore of a crystal-clear lake… alone. The best description for this feeling of awe is just that: the awe of being at the end of the world looking at what is greater than ourselves. However, it is also true that at dinner time more than once I would have liked to share a bottle of good wine with a friend. On this occasion one of the tours I had wanted to purchase was the one that takes you to the city of Futaleufú, in Chile, and the surreal Espolón lake. The tours agency I had contacted had told me that the tour was full but that they would let me know of any cancellation. Since all agencies work as a pool, I didn’t bother to contact another one. However, one morning as I was having breakfast, I started a conversation with the people sitting next to me. These were three siblings, two sisters and one brother, who had never married and who lived and worked together. With all the political turmoil taking place currently in Argentina there was no shortage of topics to discuss, but when we were almost over with our coffee one of the sisters told me that the next day they were going to Chile and that they had been told that there was one seat left. A couple they knew had wanted to join them, but unfortunately there was room for just one person. After asking if I was travelling ling alone, they immediately called their travel agent and booked me on the tour. Since December is not a month of great tourism in Patagonia, the tour guide who came to pick us up the next morning came with a van, which made the trip even more friendly than a normal tour. The trip was long and roads were often not paved, but we didn’t stop talking and laughing until we got to Futaleufú where we savored a delicious rainbow trout and a glass of Torrontes wine. That day when I came back to my hotel room I said to myself that it had been a day I would always remember. Not only I had visited one of the most beautiful places on earth; I had also learned that we are never really alone, and that loneliness is just a figment of our imagination.