Back to the future…

I think that all of us, since we were kids (and even now in some cases like mine…) dreamed about time traveling.

Sometimes to the future to see how things will be or to the past to fix little things that we did not so well… you know … or big things. However, all this is just something that ends up in a movie fantasy and the use of some verbal tenses to express hipothetical and in general semi-absurd thoughts more or less ridiculous such as: “If I ever move to Paris for a year, I am sure I will speak French fluently ” or “If I knew if it’s going to rain tomorrow … but with this terrible weather …” in a futuristic case, or for the nostalgic ones, “If she had known that he was such a loser, she would have never started that relationship in the first place…” or “If I had started studying Arabic 5 years ago, I would have finished by now..” or some other stupid useless expression that means absolutely nothing and it is totally unproductive…

However, when you live in a place like our little beautiful island, you can experience something that feels a lot like a time travel.

April 29th I started a 10 days trip to Miami and New York to celebrate my birthday and to have a break to avoid the “island fever”. In a way, it was also a celebration of becoming Dive Master and to have the chance of “living the city-life”.

Arriving in Miami is always a very nice experience for me. Since the moment my trip starts, I enjoy it. I remember when I saw “Up in the air” with George Clooney (I did not see it “with George Clooney”, I mean he has the leading role in the movie…) I felt very connected with his character since all the things that most of the people hate about traveling (checking in, packing, airport waiting time, etc.) are part of the pleasure for me. It used to be like that when I traveled because of my former job every other week to Honduras or Mexico and it is still now.

So, enjoying also that, I arrived in Miami in Business class thanks to an upgrade that I had from my previous life, and I found this “futurístic world” impression that we have every time we leave the island and get in touch with the “real world”. First, there is something called Customer Services everywhere. And it works. For everything. There is Internet everywhere and also cell signal. There are buses and other alternatives as means of transportation (besides cars and bycicles). I went to the supermarket with organic food Whole Goods and there were all kinds of things… and for everything… lots of different Brands. The vegetables, the fruit, the cheese, the wine, the cereal, everything… I felt like the guys in Lost when they found all the food and stuff from Dharma Initiative.




Of course, I had to pay for the things I wanted but the price was between a third and a half of the prices here.

I stayed the first day in my usual hotel in South Beach and then I moved to my friend Idalmis’ house, where water is not a problem. For some reason I felt guilty anyway if my shower lasted more than 10 minutes… Island habits, obviously.

With her, Zahira and Evelyn (my friends from Puerto Rico), we went to different restaurants every night, and I enjoyed the variety of food, the good prices and the good service. I had a great time with them and I enjoyed so much speaking 100% Spanish again! I learnt several “Puerto Rico” expressions I had a very happy birthday.

Another thing: There is a post office that works!!! The island post office is to sell stamps on cruise-ships days and to manage the limited number of PO boxes. The only chance of getting one (I tried…) is waiting until someone leaves his/hers, or moves out of the island or just dies. That means that you can receive mail in your PO Box (if you have it) or just by FedEx. To send letter with standard mail, no way Jose.

You can also use credit cards out of the island. Now we are limited since TCI shut down and most of the shops work with it, so for now just cash.

So, when I arrived to the city I felt that I was in a future I had visited before. You can imagine being in New York… I went to the movies! A theater again! I was so excited! Again in the dark with excellent sound around me, after months of watching movies in my laptop. And the neon signs on the streets, something that does not exist here (well, usual signs do not exist here only rare exceptions…).

I know, I know. You will be asking to yourselves: Why then, is she coming back to the island? Well, I could be explaining for hours but I said it already, sometimes just a few words are enough. Sometimes one image says it all. Every morning, when I get up, I see what you see in the pic below.

And every morning I feel that there is no other place where I’d rather be right now. And there’s nothing else that I need to feel that life is totally worth it. Who cares about the future or the past, if the present makes us feel this way?

Later I will tell you about the feeling coming back to my island home.