Lost Paradise

Life here is wild, simple, and often confrontational. The shock of reality has blown my mind and left me in perfect confusion about what it means to truly live and be human. I often find myself asking if I've been living right my entire life. I feel happier here than ever before, with less, with basics, with the essentials.

Sometimes, I feel a kind of guilt when I see these young children walking miles to access water or reach school or women carrying heavy loads on their heads for miles just to wash clothes. People here still take showers completely naked in the springs or rivers.

So, I question every moment I've complained about my life, times when I've been dissatisfied, or moments when I've grumbled about having to do my laundry again or when I need to go to the market when I'm “tired”.

Here, if you don't catch fish, you don't eat, if you don't plant, you don't eat. If you don't walk miles to the water source, there's no drinking water or showers. If you want to eat chicken, you have to buy it alive because there are no markets, restaurants, or public transport. It's not an entirely different way of life, it’s a different way of survival.

Despite the daily hardships and struggles to survive, the people here are most often seen with big smiles on their faces, playing with each other.

There's probably no room for anxiety or depression here. There's simply no time for it; you need to keep moving, or you won't survive.

I believe this strong connection with simplicity, nature, weather seasons, and the community somehow can make people the happiest.

There are no separate families, it's all about the community helping each other. Every member of the tribe seems to contribute in their own way. With responsibilities starting at much younger ages than in the West. If there is no food in my house, there will be food in my neighbor’s house. If there is no food in my neighbor’s house, it’s time to provide food in my house. It is something we could learn from. While it's difficult to witness what we might consider 'cruelty,' there are many other moments that make me cry with appreciation for how beautiful it all is.

This lost paradise, beyond the perfect and solitary waves, has been a profound school of life, also a challenging one. This place is definitely for those brave enough to leave behind judgment and the comfort of their bubbles, and open their hearts to dive into this wild culture. Go out, explore, take the less traveled path and find your own.