En el camino

Some people can travel to far away places without ever leaving home. Growing up Fabian Martinez did this through literature and his own imagination. When he was a little, I liked books a lot. I saw the illustrations and I imagined the countries and the cities of the stories that he had. When it came time to actually leave on adventures of his own, he wouldn't go anywhere without his good luck charm. A photo one of his friends gave him of a landscape into bet. On the back she wrote, "Never stop traveling, even when you're in your own living room." Representing the importance of the trips in my life. But this message wouldn't take on its full meaning until Fabian found himself on a train, crossing the United States from coast to coast. Welcome to the Duolingo Spanish podcast, where we bring you true bilingual stories of travels with unexpected turns, plans unraveled, and destinations unknown. The Spanish in this story is for intermediate-level learners, but if you get lost, don't worry. We'll be chiming in throughout the story. When he was a kid, Fabian would fantasize about different places around the world. He would spend hours looking through his atlas, dreaming about the Amazon River, the Serengeti Plains, or the glaciers in Greenland. That's how he embarked on various trips without ever leaving home. He sailed with Santiago from Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man in the Sea." And walked barefoot beneath the stars next to Lena Grove of William Fockner's "Light in August." In this book from the 50s, Caroac tells the story of two young men as they go on their first trip across the United States. They travel on foot by bus and by car, searching for the wild heart of North America. And as they travel, they get to know themselves, too. And he organized a trip to the United States. He wanted to visit the places of the way he went on the road. Since he was fascinated with Caroac's book, Fabian decided to go to all the places he had read about in on the road. He lived in Bucaramanga, a town at the foot of the Andes in Northeast Colombia. From there, he flew to Truckee, California. In Truckee, he took a summer job as a cooking assistant to save up money for the trip. A train from San Francisco to New York takes about three and a half days and goes right through the middle of the country. As the train pulled away from the station, Fabian thought about Sal Paradise, one of the characters from Caroac's book. During his trip, Sal got to know itinerant workers, jazz musicians, and Mexican fruit pickers. But even though the other passengers ignored him, Fabian was thrilled to be riding with him. The train howled loudly, breaking the silence of a quiet day. He couldn't wait to meet someone who resembled the characters in Caroac's book. Fabian got his first chance when a man asked him if he could charge his laptop by his seat, because the outlet closest to him didn't work. As the stranger walked away, Fabian wondered, "Where were the nomads on the free spirits? Where were the travelers who wanted to analyze the world and figure out what they are made of?" Meanwhile, Fabian read a passage from on the road, in which Sal Paradise rides with a group of homeless men who traveled for free on the freight cars. But as he looked around, Fabian only saw regular passenger cars. And cars with huge windows. He felt one of them and observed the geography, mountains red, yellow red, a sky without clouds. Next to him, a blonde woman was eating a nice cream and looking out the window. That's when Fabian was reminded of another character from on the road. Dean Moriardi, he would fall in love with the women he met on his travels. He looked at the woman and thought, "Why not? I'm a traveling adventurer." Besides, this adventurer was getting a little bored. He'd been riding the train for eight hours already. He said hello, and then he told her how special it was to be riding this train together. But she continued eating her own. If you look at me, I said, "We take all the morning trains to go to work. We take it at night to return home. This is not anything special." Without even looking at him, she said she didn't find the train ride special at all, and continued eating her ice cream. Rejected, Fabian turned his attention to his next meal. Dinner was being served in another train car, and the smell of roast beef and french fries made him hungry. Fabian went back to his seat. En San Francisco, I had spent a lot of money and I wasn't going to have enough to continue my trip to New York. So I could only buy bread and a cup of sourdough for a day. That's why I ate very slowly. He made a sandwich and was eating it very slowly, when a female attendant came by. She invited him to eat in the restaurant car of the train. She went to New York. After finishing his dinner, Fabian went to sleep. When he woke up the next morning, the train had stopped and sat empty. He looked all around him, hoping for new passengers. In that moment, a group of children entered the train screaming and crying, together with their teachers. They also entered a group of older people. One of the senior citizens sat near him, but when Fabian tried to speak to him, he turned away, seemingly annoyed. The man proceeded to talk to himself, gesturing wildly with his hands. Eventually, he fell asleep. The young people were tired and the men were cold with a whiskey. Fabian missed the travelers that crisscrossed the continent on old pickup trucks, carrying the only things they needed, their memories, and the clothes. clothes on their back. But I only saw a child crying, teachers bored and old people. Then I decided to write a trip diary. On the pages of that diary, he wrote, "I carry with me my notebook, my camera, and the book my ex-girlfriend gave me, the book which is to blame for this journey, on the road." One thing is to read it under the sheets in the privacy of my own bed. A very different thing is to read it on the road, as if each paragraph were to show you that your place in the world is everywhere. And also, nowhere. (dramatic music) The man told Fabian that he found it strange that someone would choose to travel by train when traveling by airplane was so much more affordable. The man looked at Fabian as if he were crazy. He said, "Good luck with that," the guy said, and left. The romantic journey Fabian had played out so many times in his mind was not turning out at all like he had imagined. There were no eloquent conversations about the American way, no memorable encounters, or quirky characters. The quirkiest thing about this whole trip was Fabian. So he abandoned the other passengers and found refuge in his journal. In it, Fabian wrote about the fields of corn, the farms and lakes that he saw fly by through his window. (dramatic music) (dramatic music) - Hunger woke Fabian from his daydream. The bread and sardines were now gone. So Fabian was drinking tons of water from the fountain in the bathroom to keep his stomach from growling. - Fabian said no thanks, but in the end she insisted. So he took the money and headed towards the restaurant car. - He savored that burger as if it were his very first and then returned to his seat, euphoric from his meal. (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) - As he left the train, Fabian opened his copy of "On the Road" and took out the photo his friend had given him so long ago. He thought again about the message on the back, the one that encouraged him to never stop traveling, even when he was in his own living room. Home was now more than 2,000 miles away in Bucaramaanga, Colombia. He was tired and hungry. And a living room with a couch sounded pretty good right about then. (dramatic music) Fabian Martinez is a journalist and writer based in Boelta, Colombia. You can find a transcript of this episode and the rest of the episodes in this series at podcast.duelingo.com. You can also subscribe at Apple Podcasts or wherever you prefer to listen. (dramatic music) With over 200 million members, Duolingo is the world's largest online language learning platform and the most downloaded education app in the world. Duolingo believes that everyone should have access to education of the highest quality for free. Learn more at duolingo.com. I'm Martina Castro. Gracias por escuchar.