December 14, 2016.
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I had already been warned and elucidated about the diversity of styles I would see in America, but it is never the same until you see it with your own eyes.
After nine days in the city of Asheville, North Carolina, I experienced one of the most enriching experiences of my short existence.
The number of Nomads in space is brutal. I had to take the opportunity to know a little more about this life that surprises and arouses our curiosity.
With backpacks, often more than once, with their musical instruments, they head to Asheville. They all meet in the city's central park, Pritchard Park, to rest, talk or wait for some offer from someone passing by.
I stopped by this park and decided to stay. I started talking to a group of 4 Nomads and. Talk carefully, friendly, and fluent, as if we were longtime friends and did not know us for mere minutes. General topics such as technology, global warming, and others were discussed, but I decided to ask more personal questions. Try to understand why they choose this path. Answers like tiredness of a society that only thinks of material goods and money. Preference to survive with what Mother Nature offers. Personal overcoming and living without the comfort they were accustomed to. Living life on the edge. Or directly due to drugs, drinks, or because they grew problematically and had fled their homes to this day.
It was not just those who had to explain themselves. The questions were addressed to me: why continue living in a society that is sick and poor regarding human rights. Many times I replied, at the same time, I felt a whirlwind of ideas in my head. When they told me about human rights and the union that gradually died between people, I wondered what I was going to say, knowing they were right.
After spending a few hours in the park, we decided to buy something to eat and drink at a service station. We walked around town, looking for a place to sit. Because it was forbidden to drink alcohol on the street, it was challenging to find the desired shade. After some expulsions in specific areas, we sat in a half-hidden corner. We continued our conversation, which was rolling in such a way that reminded me of the times I spent at the cafe with my friends to question the world and its serious changes.
In these last days, I interviewed some of those I met along the way. It's not all, of course. Some of whom I spoke to gave me a negative answer. Some because they were phobic about cameras and others because they did not want to deal with the "fantasy" of a bitch who just wanted to know a different world. Despite the "no," they told me, they always said, "good luck, finding who you're looking for."
All these people, not the ones I interviewed only, but all those with whom I was talking, absorbing and flowing over time, made me know a different path from the society to which we are accustomed. From our regular schedules, when you wake up, have breakfast, work, lunch, work, personal activities, dinner, and sleep. They live with what is offered to them by nature or by people who help them survive: no schedules and no worries we have daily.
There is no hurry to live but to enjoy life with what it offers daily.
The beings who are in Asheville today and tomorrow may be on the other side of the country.