Recuerdos de un viaje llamado Libertad.

Hi everybody! How u doin’? About myself, what can I say? I have been spending my time between Panama and Costa Rica so far. Even though I had some troubles at the very beginning of my journey, in the sense that in Atlanta they forgot to transfer my luggage to
Panama, now everything seems to be back to normality.

The majesty of wildness of these countries has captured my heart so much that I walked for 20 km in the torrential rain, bare feet in a forest abounding of snakes, searching for magnificent birds like the Rainbow Toucan or the Resplendent Quetzal, pleasing at the same time my eyes with the astonishing colorful little frogs. Costa Rica, Panama and their paradisiacal coasts, where the waves are so big where the sunset dyes the firmament in such a way as to make it threatening. Right there I was in that tiny little naked spot in the middle of a collision between sky and earth or may be, who knows, I was just lucky to be part of that surreal scenery that seemed to be drawn by (Eu)Genio Salvador Dali. I was as much scared as enthusiastic to “transgress” for a moment the script of the western society and its restrictions. This represents my world where poetry and the unpredictable subvert the rational and the ordinary. I was there participative when the sky triggered its process, ready to turn into a marvellous theatre replete of stars.

Unfortunately, Central-South America and particularly Panama and Costa Rica, cannot be seen just as a picturesque setting that delights some peoples palates. In effect, these two countries that displays the highest number of animal species in the world and embody one of the world’s great wildlife spectacles, put also on view some deficiencies. In spite of this Central-South American culture, art, language and people have always fascinated me. I however, consider out of place to judge as well as to claim to know something without having been able to experience it on my own skin. This is the major reason why I was so determined to come over here. As a matter of fact I’m here in order to be reflective as much as meditative to broaden my knowledge in relation to certain issues along with to unveil some aspects of this world. These territories more than vaguely conjure up past memories associated to my dissertation “Space, Race and Resistance”. Centres and margins, skyscrapers and barracks, luxury and poverty. White people that with pride show their wealth and power by displaying their material possessions. While on the other hand darker faces aspire to be converted in white masks so as to cancel definitively their past and history in order to be acknowledged into the more “advanced” white society. Unthinkably, many people still perceive this geography as a marvellous panoramic view of places that offer such a colourful variety. All of this will remain unforgettable to me, in 2004 still, those people who declare to provide prosperity to all citizens, those who talk of progress and evolution allow similar situations to have the supremacy in an ordinary circumstances where the pleasure is generated of a voyeuristic view. The sparkle of all these jewellery carried with pride cannot hide the
miserable conditions in which most people here live.

Local girls and their black eyes tenderly inscribe themselves on my white “pure” body, while their smiles rain hail, in doing so stealing my heart. In the meanwhile my worn out blue jeans match either with a white or black shirt, bare feet and sunglasses at the top of my head. That’s not enough, straight away emerges the analogy with the “Gringo”. In this respect I’m neither a resemblance nor a replication of the venerated American stereotype. I say it again, I’m not a tourist, my choice to come here derived from my strong desire to gain a further understanding of the cultural socio-political situation that embrace these places, as such I thought that the direct contact with the vernacular people would have been very helpful to disclose a world to
which I feel greatly attached: South-Central America.

This writing is dedicated to all of those who have fallen hostages of the inequalities of rights inflicted mainly by constraints generated by the Capitalist Society. It also speaks to all of those who would continue the struggle towards the cultural and political liberation.

Descartes: Cogito Ergo Sum.

To conclude, a massive thank to María Noriega Sánchez Spanish Lecturer at both Anglia and Cambridge University, which is also a sensational person with whom I could focus on as well as get through crucial topics. I’m grateful to that girl who added a touch of magic to my life.

Thanks also to my comrades in this voyage Darren O' Dea, Simon Finnegan, Gabriele Corti

CHRISTIAN ALBORGHETTI... Pura Vida