Tales from Here and There

I write because life is of such magnificence, it must be told with magnific stories.

Made it to Europe, now what?

Landing in freezing cold Luxemburg wearing t-shirts wasn’t what you could call the smartest move ever, but that’s what we did.

Being just 19 y/old globetrotters, we didn’t think of preparations of any kind. We just went with the flow. The flow was easy back to where we came from, Barbados. Everything was laid back and smooth sailing. 

It wasn’t on purpose, but all we had were T-shirts because we didn’t need anything else, clothing-wise. 

We were living day by day, selling our wares to the German and Canadian tourists, more than enough to pay for our room and board (hefty breakfast) and have enough left over for beers come sunset time. 

It was almost perfect living, nothing was missing and we even had girlfriends who loved us probably because they were getting free jewelry.

Hard to tell, but likely. 

Either that or we were just lovely Latino hippies without a care in the world. 

That must’ve surely been attractive to some Nordic girls who were looking for the same thing we were, fun in the sun and lots and lots of gorgeous tropical scenery. 

We were all originally from Italy but raised in Argentina, like millions of other kids those days, including in the US.

We were friends since we could remember, and the friendship was a strong one. There was love and trust between us and we could depend that we’d have each other’s back anytime and anywhere.

The three real-life amigos. 

We were traveling together since we met again in Rio and decided to hand-make beautiful silver-plated wire jewelry for sell and head up north to discover new lands and horizons.

We got more than we bargained for.

It’s true that what we made was rather impressive, and the girls were ecstatic; they could pick the color and even the style. Longer, shorter, double lined, etc.

Raphael, the oldest, being 19 and 3 months, was also the smartest of the three. Guiglio was always competing with me about who came up with the second best ideas. Always, and I mean anyways, Raphael was the determining factor and the final judge. 

So, our nominated genius, Rafa, as we called him, figured we must use colorful tiny beads for our necklaces, bracelets or earrings, since they formed a brilliant contrast with the silver wire.

He wasn’t wrong. They were so pretty, we had trouble parting with them in the beginning. 

The tourists couldn’t have enough of them and we started to take orders; we couldn’t keep up.

Our hands began to look like amateur beginner guitar players with so many calluses, not to mention the metal scratches. 

We needed help. Badly. 

Any ideas? I think all three of us looked at the girls at the same time. 

They were lovingly enough to cut us a break and glad to do it too. 

We thought of them as sweet angels of mercy. Because that’s what they were.

So, we did the hard labor part, while they just cut the silver-plated wire at the needed length and placed the beads (that had a hole in the middle) into each string of wire. 

That was our Barbados experience. That was the easy part in comparison to what was to come.

When we finally managed to make enough money for 3 plane tickets–one way–to Luxemburg, all we could think of was getting there. No one even for a second thought there could be “complications”. Why should we? 

We weren’t thinking logically, obviously.

We forgot about the winter clothes for Europe (yes, we should have waited), and the visas, or travelers checks, or a return ticket. The last one was a biggie.

Unless you’re a citizen of that country or hold a European passport…

Yeap, that was a big problem when we arrived at our destination. We were drunk with excitement –and the free liquor on board–that we thought cheerfully: “Amsterdam, here we come!”

Not so fast, said the Inspector Clouseau look-alike with a mustache that almost reached from ear to ear. 

“You can’t come in into this country” “Unless you can produce the proper documentation, you’ll have to go back.”

He was serious enough, surrounded now by many immigration officials that couldn’t believe what spectacle was happening right before their eyes.

They were astonished looking at these three freezing hippies in t-shirts and shorts and sandals, with the longest hair covering their faces and one with a beard (Rafa), no money, and no tickets back. 

They should have laughed, but they were too dumbfounded to even do that.

We really might’ve been THE  spectacle now that I reimagine the situation and a sorry sight to see. 

(End of Part 1)

Sharing the adventures and observations from some of my travels.
Leave me a comment if you’re enjoying it so far…(more to come!)
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stillmind2