I haven't started writing this article and I already feel like it's getting old.. To begin with, it is not an article, It's a post that I don't understand!! And from this moment I feel that I have plenty of pipe and typewriter, And that's how I see myself when I write about expeditions to the ends of the jungle.. I still remember that kid from 25 years unfolding a map, like someone who opens a window to ventilate the heart.
But today I have plenty of scrolls with crosses marking treasures. I have enough of the compass and the time that books imposed. I have enough coffee with a friend to whom I explain my adventure project, his knowing smile, the emotion of uncertainty in which I want to lose myself. The beer that came after…
I have plenty of journalism that I was going to look for in the corners of the planet. I have enough of the challenge. There was a time when we dreamed of going around the world. we were many: recently graduated young people, backpackers without watches, jilted lovers, Indiana Jones emulators or Shackleton readers, Pgafe the Legunica Manu; hungry of the world, storytellers, crazy and brave that just by placing our index finger on a point on the world map we already smelled of salt and sand, to the perpetual snow or the dense humidity of the Amazon.
I felt nostalgic for the time when young people wanted to be those explorers
At the end of 2023 I escaped in the heart of Madrid, to sneak into the Amazon. An exhibition of Sebastian Salgado showed images of indigenous people in the jungle. I remained undaunted, observing the flying rivers between the mountains of Roraima, so, literally with your mouth open, like children or crazy people. And you have to be a little bit of both to want to get lost among the Yonomami, to vibrate with emotion thinking about the days of the jungle and blowguns. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, but I also feel that there are fewer and fewer of us. I felt nostalgic, not those expeditions of men entering the jungle in search of contact with the most remote tribes. I felt nostalgic for the time when young people wanted to be those explorers.
Long before visiting the exhibition, back in 1999, I remember looking for information about a certain Vicente Plédel and a certain Marián Ocaña who followed the Route of the Empires. He saw the photos of his Mitsubishi Montero traveling through valleys and deserts for four years. four years! Even today it is possible to visit the oldest travel website in Spain: www.ruta-imperios.com. And I did want to be a little bit of them, I wanted to start a car, I do not know, in Palencia, eg, and go around the globe, without any more urgency than what curiosity was asking me to do. And I wanted to travel with a team of enthusiasts and cameras portraying stories that were worth it.. I wanted to take that trip so badly that I couldn't entertain the possibility of not doing it., it was that simple.
but now, with all the 2026 past, I have too much preamble. The magical preamble to the days to come. I no longer infect anyone with my stories of lost communities in the Andes, not even with the last Eskimos of Greenland. No one is seduced by the image of another lost tribe, from another story of jungle and hallucinogenic plants, of warrior women or black panthers. I no longer convince anyone to invest in my chimeras.
My emotion has been fading from knocking on doors so much., worn knuckles in offices. They no longer want to bet on veterans with whip and hat, or with a cap and arms raised, without a hundred thousand followers on Instagram. From scrutinizing the maps so much, I forgot to recruit digital friends.
“Take someone famous on your trips”. that phrase, of overwhelming originality, I've heard it a million times in the last few years. 25 years. “If you are not there it is on the networks, “you don’t exist”, another aphorism, verdict of our social reality, frequently uttered by people who aspire to exist only as an avatar. Characters whose goal is to feed those characters.
A youtuber who seemed brave and enthusiastic to me, a good guy in love with South America, he confessed to me once, that he dedicated 75% of the time of his travels to edit the material recorded by the 25% of the time he had left.
This allowed him to update his trips, relieve the thirst of his fans and continue traveling with the computer under his arm, counting more followers than stories, living live, for the others, slave to your success, real-time reporter.
“Take someone famous on your trips”. that phrase, of overwhelming originality, I've heard it a million times in the last few years. 25 years.
I have seen other travelers 2.0 that they constantly tell themselves. They have turned the world into a giant photocall where you can frame yourself. They frequently sublimate the anecdote to the category of history and in no case, never, give up the spotlight, because they, or they, are the journey. Destination is no longer important. Not to mention the communities they visit.
Many have decided that the road is their story and the saddle is the common thread.. Beyond those margins there is nothing. They don't get out of the way, we don't see the country, only mud as sauce for adventure. Accidents, dangers, threats of robbery… Adversity is its format, the epic always the end.
There is too much engine noise, canned music, vertical images impossible to frame the Mongolian steppes. People selling insurance, agencies, clothes… while they are cold or bathing in turquoise waters. There is too much speed, or will it be me, I'm getting old. And here I am, sharing this article on social networks… sorry, it's fasting, embarrassed, I admit, in this giant herd of people telling things.
And what I wanted was to tell the serenity of the world, dignify indigenous communities, eg, hear your voice, live a long-term adventure. Then I liked to let it rest, The stories have to mature in the same way that Iberian ham is cured. There is a point of craftsmanship that brings journalism closer to a cinematographic aspect, which is what defines the documentary.. And then, the original music and the slow-written script arrive, editing calculation, the touch of color, the timbre in the narration and the sound to hear how the geysers or the tides roar.
And what I wanted was to tell the serenity of the world, dignify indigenous communities, eg, hear your voice, live a long-term adventure.
“Forget. No te compliques. That doesn't work like that anymore. A year of travel? What are you saying? Find something shorter. What you have to do is design a digital strategy and feed social networks, that is unthinkable. Why don't you do a True Crime traveler? Now this is what is being asked… Think about the algorithm. And you, you have to go out, a lot more. Forget about tribes and stories, you have to be your own brand. Or not, wait… I already have it… better take a famous person…”
And so all life.
They have told me so many times what I have to do - with all the love, ¿Eh? I just want to help you-, They have talked to me about fashion so many times, of the trends, of today's noise...
Everything that I had planned in years comes rushing to me live, in a hurry and without much context. Everything at your fingertips.
But in this roar of sensations, jumps off ledges, sensual dances, reggaeton, cries, skid, kittens and frenetic trips... I can't find myself, truth.
The fantasy of those tribes that I have not yet contacted appears on the scroll of a mobile, with someone smiling live next to tattooed men, black and naked. Everything that I had planned in years comes rushing to me live, in a hurry and without much context. Everything at your fingertips.
There is not a corner of the fucking planet without his influencer and with youtuber and with Tiktoker, -or whatever you want to call yourself, but in italics...- smiling or suffering, the same, each one with his roll, but always a mask covering the landscape. Or a muddy motorcycle or a gesture of condescension in the third world. Or in the room, the more impoverished, best.
And then comes Artificial Intelligence, an amazing tool that saves us even more time, so we don't have to think. You can do without the voice of a narrator, seasoned in years of nuances and records, to tell your journey. AI now plays the script in your own voice! Excellent! Is, he can even write the script for you. But what do I say?, can recreate landscapes, or better yet, can recreate you in a real image, you won't notice the difference! What do you want to travel for?? It is no longer necessary! You can stay home and the AI, agárrate, makes you some fabulous videos wherever you want, with your avatar and do you know what...? The best of all: You are going to get a million followers…!
"To! To! For God's sake!”…I need to breathe…
And then I receive a message from my friends Vicente and Marián. They're back on the road. Actually, They have been traveling since their Route of the Empires. Ie, lifetime. They send me a wonderful photo from a deserted beach in Morocco. The photo is not necessarily from today, not even yesterday. They are not in a hurry, They post some things on Instagram without the need to get followers. They travel how they want, no strings attached. They cut the networks and are free. They have a camper truck, what is your home. They take a table on any shore, open a bottle of wine, They sit and contemplate the rainbow. They start a conversation with a local who ends up inviting them to dinner. There are no cell phones, cameras or watches.. a bonfire, maybe...
I want to travel like this, again, as they. With no more noise than the crackling of a fire. I want to go back to being that kid who unfolded a map, like someone opening a window to ventilate, one more time at least, this old heart.
