In transit

While traveling, I have been meeting a whole lot of people, from so many walks of life. Every once in a while, I’ll stop and reflect on the people I’ve met. One of these times, I started to think about people who ‘travel’ and people who travel. People who ‘travel’ go to all the right places but never really let these places change who they are. Their goals don’t change, even though the places they are in do. They continue to judge the cultures they encounter with their own familiarities. They constantly speak of how things work differently in their own country. They make new friends but very reluctantly. Often knowing that they may never see these new people again, and so, what’s the point. People who travel, on the other hand, are constantly fluid, open to new experiences, ready to take some risks and let people in. It’s interesting meeting both these types of people while you travel, because you can easily and quickly see which of these two categories the person in front of you falls into, but when and how do you figure out which category you belong to? I guess that’s for someone else to point out. Or for you to find out yourself through mistakes. I was thinking about all this because, I’ve met some amazing people while in Cusco, many of whom I’ve connected with in an instant, others who have grown on me within just a week. But now, I may never see some or most of them again. Or at least for a really long time. These are connections that I just couldn’t say no too, even though I’ve also met the kind of people that will and can say no, because, in their minds, a friendship made that quickly, cannot last. In my life so far, I’ve had best friendships that fell to dust when shit hit the fan, and then there are those that I’ve met randomly, by chance, because I decided spontaneously to go out to that party, and now can call them my closest friends. So, while it’s sad knowing that friendships made while in transit, may not last the journey beyond this immediate one, I know I could never be the person that turns these beautiful friendships away, if not for the lifelong companionship (which most likely may never materialize) but for the experiences that I’ll remember for life. And maybe that is all I need to know what category I fall into...for now.