Sorry for our absences – 12/28/2023 – It’s Right There

If there is a recurring situation among those who are mountaineers and/or serious hikers, it is the anguish of not being able to take advantage of big, typically family holidays to put their backpack on and escape to some remote corner of the world. Ah, the mother whines as only a mother can whine, won’t you at least spend Christmas dinner with us? Have pity, complains the furious sister, are you going to leave me holding the fire of explaining to the whole family that you left Mom at home on her day to go into the woods? You, unnatural creature, the grandmother grumbles, you have no respect for the traditions of all your life, you who loved the decorated Christmas tree so much, where is that cute baby of mine? You’ve already been to Pico do Papagaio a million times, you could stay at home and go to the park with me, if you want to see the bush so much, protests the big love, suspicious of your real intentions. The list of questions is endless.

The thing is, hardly anyone who doesn’t know what it’s like to venture out on a good trail (or even tried, but hated every minute of it, and that’s okay), anyone who has never survived the hardships of a cold, rainy morning when the mud persists in If you even crawl into your sleeping bag, anyone who has never tasted gourmet food with gourmet pleasure that at home they wouldn’t even give to the neighbor’s annoying mutt (after all, mistreating animals is a crime), has no way of understanding how rewarding it is, thought-provoking, captivating and, above all, addictive, taking the first step towards something that will always surprise us, no matter how much and how well we know the route.

That said, the message this blog has for all those who live with one of those beings who cannot see a piece of woods, a hill, or a good waterfall in front of them that they already leave behind, is: let them go. Because we will definitely come back so, so happy (even if a little crippled), that we will infect every member of the family with the shining eyes and hugs of the survivors. Family meals, we accept (and are grateful) for them to be reheated at the end of the weekend, okay?

So, with this tip on how to get along with such strange people, we are left with this: may the new year bring us many trails, many achievements and many laughs under the moonlight. It can come, 2024!

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