A story about an intense love affair between two p
It was a Latin American romance.
No, it was a romance of its unparalleled own that unfolded on the coast of the Caribbean. If the Universe began with the Big Bang, the split second in which the unconceivable energy turned into the expanse of the night sky, so this story illustrates another unbreakable force that sparked the cosmos of eternal feelings and memories.
Victor was a free lancer, a lonely traveler who followed the call of his spirit regardless of consequences and dangers. He could have gone elsewhere, for example to Southeast Asia, yet he chose Latin America as his destination. "The most fun I had was in Latin clubs when I studied in Philadelphia," he liked to say. Victor came from some obscure eastern European country, the name of which usually evokes smirk and bafflement of the less educated people from the West. To the travelers he was a rare species as very few of his kind roamed the unbeaten tracks of the world.
He liked to write down his country of origin in the hotel ledger with fat capital letters for everyone to see. "It works to my advantage because it makes people think twice about me. They assume people like me don’t travel and here, out of all the places, I stumble in to Cartagena," Victor said when we first met. For ‘profession’ he always scribbled two words interchangeably: ‘vagabundo’ or ‘student’. The choice depended on his mood and state of mind. Although he was no longer a student, he liked the description for the comfort and security it provided. After all, students can get away with nearly everything. Behind them stands the entire authority of the institution that protects and excuses them in times of trouble. Victor apparently felt comfortable under the invisible dome of higher learning. "I had a damn good time in my last two years of university. To tell you the truth, I find it intimidating not being a student any longer!" he said.
There were times when Victor felt particularly reassured about his role as traveler. He had made a conscious choice to see the world at the time when after the graduation most his friends rushed to find jobs. "For them the transition from being a student to becoming a professional was like treading uncharted waters. Most people panicked, having looked at the prospect of doing absolutely nothing. The demand for security was overwhelming." Therefore, by jotting down the word ‘vagabundo’ in the hotel ledgers, Victor fully embraced his choice, including the degree of uncertainty and instability that traveling implied.
When he first arrived in Hotel Familiar, Victor was hard to miss. There was a certain air around him that made people scrutinize him if only for a split second. It is difficult to judge whether it was the way he walked in a casual but gallant manner, or perhaps his handsome, well-defined, and proportional stature that attracted people’s attention. One thing was for certain: his arrival in many places of South America remarkably coincided with a surge of energy. Travelers paused to see its source.
I noticed an element of shyness in Victor’s appearance. For one thing, it wasn’t a characteristic found in children who blush in front of adults when asked a question. His was a kind of noble shyness; an underlying awareness of one’s own princely qualities that become embarrassing in certain circumstances. It was as if his soul were continuously engaged in a vibrant dispute over modesty and gallantry. It was funny to watch him.
The guy was hard to figure out in the beginning. We had talked briefly while he waited for his room key. He said he had come straight from Panama and that he had heard a great deal about Colombia. As he spoke with unpretentious and natural enthusiasm, he looked straight in the person’s eyes. Something about his big, green eyes, powerful and irresistible in their boyish innocence, made others shy away his stare. He seemed impatient but then it wasn’t surprising in the city like Cartagena where the old walls, concealing the magnificent old town, tantalize every new visitor.
"Todo esta en orden! Gracias! Vuelvo mas tarde," Victor said rapidly over his shoulder to the owner in perfect Spanish, stepping outside to the bustling street. "He will not be back too soon," I thought to myself, recalling my first enchantment with this Caribbean port town.
Read all three parts of the adventure!
Part One
Part Two
Part Three