HEDY MAG ISSUE 1

Paradise City
WORDS BY EVA MELGAREJO. PHOTO BY ANGEL SALGUERO
To find your self is one of the purposes of
life. Most seek gurus, meditate, create art
or literature to accomplish it but I’ve found it’s
easier than that. Simply walking alone across a
city, any city, opens your mind, stimulates your
senses and changes your perception of things.
You have holidays, some days off work and mundane
things and decide to travel. Or stay where
you live. It doesn’t matter. You visit a city in
another country or the one nearest to you and
you put your most comfortable shoes to explore
unknown worlds, magical places and mysterious
spots. Walking is an exercise for the body
and an exercise for the mind. Your eyes wander,
they look in all directions because wonders may
appear where you least expect it.
When you visit a city you haven’t been to before,
the experience is different than when you stroll
down the streets of a city you know. If you know
the road, you focus your attention on the things
you may not have noticed before: an old building
that’s always been there but the beauty of which
you haven’t enjoyed properly, a hidden statue, a
carved wall, a stone bench that’s in history books.
You learn about the city and you learn about
yourself. Because you might discover things in
you, you weren’t aware of. Some days, you meet
acquaintance on your outing; you have a chat
with them or simply call out to wish them the
best. On other days, you bump into tourists who
are looking at the same things as you. but with different
eyes. Sometimes, they enquire about this
or that, they’re lost, they’re searching and you
show them the way. You’ve been in their shoes
plenty of times. If you like to write, you take a
notebook with you to scribble your thoughts
into, your feelings, and your adventures. If you
like photography, you take your camera to picture
the beauty that you see and perceive.
When you enter new territory, it can be overwhelming:
where to look? what to observe? where to
go? But you feel like a kid who sees the world for
the first time, it’s full of surprises, of mystery. You
have two options: go to the popular places or let
yourself be drifting. A museum, a monument, a
famous square, a cathedral, your comfort zone.
You don’t need to worry about a thing because
everything is planned, secure. But the real adventure
begins when you walk aimlessly along
the less travelled path. You may find treasures
within the city, secrets only you will know. And
you certainly will find treasures within yourself.
Isn’t life an adventure after all?
HEDY 51