ON THE ROAD: PROFILES
Maria Mercedes
Barcelona, Spain
Originally from Uruguay, Maria found herself working at a hostel in Barcelona once she set her mind on traveling after university.
“I’m from Uruguay, and I lived in Montevideo all my life. I got my degree in media and journalism last year, and for two years prior, I'd been saving money to travel through Latin America after graduation. But a few months before that long-awaited trip, my father inherited some money after he sold his family home with his brothers, so he decided to take us on holiday, because as a family we had only really traveled as far as our neighboring countries of Brazil and Argentina.”
“Three days after graduation, we were on our way to Italy. We spent a month there, and I thought, my life is taking me to Europe, so what am I doing planning a trip in Latin America? I decided to just go with the flow life was taking me in. So, after Italy, I came to Barcelona with my siblings, and enjoyed being here. The weather was nice. I had planned on going to San Sebastian next but my cousin felt that the islands of Majorca fit my personality more. So, I went there instead, and absolutely fell in love with the place. I ended up staying for 7 months because I was always so close to nature. I loved the idea of living on an island and being surrounded by the sea. Also, Majorcan people reminded me of Uruguayans living outside my capital of Montevideo. They are kind and quiet, perhaps a little cautious towards strangers at first but if you treat them well then they are very welcoming. In Uruguay, I always liked making friends with people from outside my city.”
“What did I do in Majorca? I was a fitness instructor, of course! In a natural reservation. Every time I travel, my life takes me towards fitness. I always played hockey in my country, and I even used to teach hockey to poor children that have complicated living situations. I also played football, and last year I was a fitness instructor at a hotel. I always tell my employers I don’t have any formal training in their specific fitness techniques but they point me towards YouTube and tell me to teach myself! Even today, I just came back from my first shift working as an instructor at a very bizarre jumping gym in Barcelona. I’ll be teaching kids aged 7 to 12 there four days a week.”
“At this one point, we were in Portugal and the south of Spain and we thought we would freeze. Madrid, especially, is very cold in the month of November. We were walking around and we saw this musician playing in the street. He was singing the words, ‘I go where the weather fits my clothes’ and I thought – this is so true! I started to follow that idea. After Majorca and the coast of Portugal, my friends and I went to summery Lanzarote, which is one of the Canary Islands. We rented a caravan and explored it for 11 days. I was happy to find a lot of Uruguayans living there. After that stop, I went back to Uruguay, arriving on the day of my father’s birthday to surprise him. In Uruguay, January, February and March are actually the warmer months, so I’ve been in summer-mode for a long, long time.”
“I find that the only way to be sincere and true is through art and poetry. You can save the world just by making it a little more honest and you don’t have to pretend to be anything else. It frees my mind. I always want to try new things. I’ve been writing some poems recently. Even though I studied journalism, I found it to be too exploitative, too controlling, so I’m not pursuing that at the moment. It’s hard to find a non-competitive journalism job that will pay for me to write and travel. I also really like love dancing. I like fitness. I want to learn how to play the guitar, and the other staff members here at the hostel are always jamming in the common area so that helps. People always tell me I will never really be good at anything if I keep trying to do so many things, but it’s okay! I do what I want. I wanted to learn how to do these cool jumps so I joined this crazy jumping class as an instructor in Barcelona, right? I love what I do.”