Trip Nostalgia

I have walked barefoot for almost the entire week. I’ve been in grocery stores, gas stations, gas station bathrooms, beaches, parks and to a fish and chips eatery. The group has synchronized our decline in cleanliness, and no one seems to care. I don’t even smell myself or anyone in the car anymore even though we are smashed together. Unless my nose is pushed under an armpit, I don’t notice a stench.

Acceptance of body odours aside, we have become incredibly close, sharing one pot for community meals (oatmeal, pasta, salad and tuna with rice), we swap silverware unwashed (except Cat who thinks that is disgusting), and all drink out of the same water bottles. Two nights we had “slumber parties” in Katie’s tent—five of us smashed in a 2/3 person tent. We’ve shared secrets, histories, dreams, fears and hopes, lost all hint of personal space thanks to the tight car situation and forgotten modesty -- changing and peeing in front of one another without hesitation, hands hitting inappropriate places in the car. Or yesterday in the grocery store as Katie didn’t realize she was scratching Canadian Katie’s breast with a banana “I’ve been molested by a fruit, your hand on my knee is the least of my worries,” she said as she sat on my lap in the backseat.
We’ve become a family, even adopted roles ( I wear the pants in the group they like to say….) and we can set up and tear down our camp sites in under 15 minutes.

We are leaving one another soon, and it saddens me to think about our chapter coming to an end. I hope the best for everyone and that we all meet again in time.