These past couple of months, I had a lot of friends visiting, which is always great. Said friends marvel about the office with a sea view, about working in bikinis all day, about diving every day, about living on a postcard-like beach. And they are right, I have all of this in my daily life. And sometimes they sigh with jealousy and say I am so lucky and start wondering if they should or could do the same. So dear friends, I have decided to knock down a few clichés and beliefs about what it is life to live on a beach. Obviously, this is my life and I chose it and I haven't had regrets for a second, but I am not living either a life out of a dream.
When you live on a remote island, options are limited. Options for food, options to shop basic stuff like medication or a t-shirt. That is no drama but it's part of the daily comfort in life I suppose. Sometimes when I go over to Bali and stuff my face all day while spending what seems now like the daily overall income of Angola or something, I wonder how I have turned into this voracious monster who thinks it is Christmas day when you get to a supermarket.
Sure, I don't have colds, flus, stomach flu or sore throat anymore. But I get skin cuts that take weeks to heal, weird skin infection, food poisoning, etc. I am still waiting on dengue to happen. Tropical diseases for which my body is not always prepared.
I have a lot of new friends, a lot of them have the same life than I do and chose it too, and they understand it. Good friends, even. But hey, sometimes you miss your good old friends, some days you miss them badly. Family, too. I have already mentioned this here, that is the hardest part for me.
I have given up on making plans. Deep down inside I think this is pretty nice not to know where I will be in a year or in five, to escape the frame I lived in for years and that is sort of mandatory back home. What is going to be your next job, your next house, etc? But sometimes let's be honest, no plans is a bit freaky too.
Not to have plans is also because it is impossible here. Last week my previous landlords sold the place with bungalows I have been living in for over a year, the new ones arrived a few days ago and my housemates and I got kicked out with a 48 hours notice. No rental agreement here, so there you go.
Snail-speed internet, frequent power cuts, etc, sometimes life in the jungle is...well, not very convenient.
So there, I do not live in a postcard-dreamy life after all. And just like anywhere else, we have heartaches, money problems, big questions about life. But...to get up in the morning and to be excited to go to work. To wake up every morning to see the ocean. To dive every day. To get daily little adventures from living in a different country. To live with this fascinating yet a bit scary idea that nothing is set in stone for the next month. To tell yourself every day that the rest of the journey is still a blank sheet of paper...
