My mother became a bird is not a typical adventure book. Neither is it a complacent travel diary nor a pamphletary environmentalist plea.. Is, rather, the story of an immersion in the Manu jungle, in Peru, that a lucid and responsible journalist invites us to travel with him.
There is a special pleasure in diving into the pages of those, like Josep, They write not so much to tell the world as to understand it. The generosity with which you share those moments that, if they had not been written, would have remained in a corner of their memory is something that readers perceive immediately. Josep is one of those writers with whom one would enjoy having a coffee while listening to his stories.. But, in the absence of that possibility, here we have this book.
In its pages shamans appear who are waiting, termite mounds suspended in the air, macaws crossing the green sky and a phrase that changes everything: than the mother of a shaman, say, “He went to the river and turned into a bird.”. From that point, The trip is no longer solely geographical but also becomes an exploration of the different ways of understanding nature., time and memory.
We spoke with Josep M. Palau on the origin of this book, about the transformation of travel over the years and about that fragile border between telling a place and preserving what makes it unique.
These are their answers. And if you are left wanting more, Don't forget to come to the book presentation on 18 March at 19:00 in Pangea (Prince of Vergara Street, 26, Madrid). You can reserve a place by clicking here:
The title is powerful and disconcerting.: My mother turned into a bird. At what moment did you understand that that phrase was not just an anecdote heard in the jungle, but the symbolic axis of the entire book?
Well the truth is that it was something almost immediate. The attraction to take this trip was very powerful right away., as if it contained a hidden message, and when I was there, and I heard that phrase as an explanation for the fact that a shaman will not find the time to see me, I immediately understood that it was a good start for a story or that it could even be the title. It has more layers than it appears at first.
The trip you narrate occurred years ago, but the book is born from a distance. What changed between the reporter who lived that experience and the author who writes it today?
I would say that in reality what has changed is the world. Over time I have been able to revisit places that have lost their original shine.. But the Manu, Instead, retains a good part of its essence. I think that in his day he would have simply narrated what he experienced, while now I have a background that has allowed me to invite the reader to reflect without falling into morality.
Now I have a background that has allowed me to invite the reader to reflect without falling into moralism.
In the prologue you talk about the “flying rivers” and the point of no return of the Amazon. Is this book a memory exercise, an act of nostalgia or a deliberate warning?
I think a little bit of all three things.. Before you traveled to discover an unknown world, of which you had little prior idea. Today, that total unknown is difficult to occur, although the experience on the ground remains irreplaceable. Just for that reason, a story that looks back is inevitably tinged with nostalgia. And yes, in the times we live in, we are obliged to warn about that future that is actually already present.
You question the idea of the “authentic place” and tourism as a rapid consumption of experiences. Is it possible to travel today without falling into exoticism or the symbolic appropriation of the territory we visit??
Sight, I am often asked about how to travel cheap, and I always answer that with time. Addition, if you travel without rush, gives you time to soak up the place, not to take it as if it were “fast food”. In cases like this, you appropriate the place as something intimate that you can then create at home. But, care, You should not fall into the trap of thinking that by spending a period of time in a place or wearing certain clothes you will be mistaken for a local..
The book combines adventure, ecological reflection and a critical look at certain heroic stories of the Western explorer. What are you interested in removing from that tradition??
The type of story in which the narrator of the trip becomes the absolute protagonist bothers me a lot.. In the time of the great explorers it was always like this, since what was sought was glory and recognition upon returning, but now the world is already exposed so what we have to do is know and conserve. To tell heroics, we better dedicate ourselves to fiction.
The encounter with the shaman and the indigenous worldview appears without folklore or caricature. How do you write about someone else's sacred things without betraying them??
With some difficulty… and with respect. On different trips I have been able to see how man always tends to a certain mysticism., and I have even witnessed situations that escape rational explanation, like cures that could seem miraculous, So the bottom line is that there are many ways to understand and relate to the world., and that they are all valid.
I have witnessed situations that escape rational explanation, like cures that could seem miraculous, So the bottom line is that there are many ways to understand and relate to the world.
There is a phrase that runs through the book: what was then a discovery is today a responsibility. Do you think travel literature should take on a new role in this time of climate crisis??
Absolutely. Both books and any other medium or communication channel have a transcendental role in the formation of consciousness.. In Travel magazine, eg, One of the first things I did was delete the section dedicated to sustainability, because today any trip must be linked in some way to that conscious gaze: all topics that are published must take this into account.
After writing this book, Do you still believe in the idea of travel as transformation or does true transformation occur when we return home??
We all travel with our suitcase on our backs.. You are always yourself, here or somewhere else, so while the route lasts, you adapt or feel uncomfortable. Once back is when you discover what you have learned and, hopefully, incorporated into your essence.
If Manu could answer you today, years after your time there, what do you think i would say to you?
I hope he was happy that I remembered that still virgin jungle and that he invited me to have a drink while we reviewed anecdotes at sunset..
