Not long ago, at a workshop I attended, I was asked to think about my relationship with natural spaces, with mountains, the beach, green space in general. And answers came up like “I go to green spaces because they connect me to my childhood,” “it gives me peace,” “I feel free,” among others.
All answers based on what nature can give US, what it gives US…and what about what we can give back to it?
It brings to mind the way we, as children, merged with green space, where there was no separation, only integration. Where we'd see a butterfly and imitate it; pick up an earthworm to go fishing or simply to feel its particular texture, and it didn't gross us out, or we could grab the earth, feel it in our hands without fear of getting dirty.
We didn't see natural space as something separate, as that place we take things from or extract things from. Instead we saw it as a whole, of which we were part, and there was no division between that space and ourselves. And so, if I damaged that space in some way, I was also damaging myself.
And it's no coincidence that this happens this way. Since ancient times, humanity has been involved in recreational or sporting activities in natural settings, in a whole, reciprocal relationship in which one didn't exist without the other.
What could have happened in our evolution that made us go from wanting to live with and for the green environment to wanting to conquer it, ravage it, and forget that it's where we grew up and learned to be who we are?...Could it be that we simply forgot how to play?...Could it be that we forgot that climbing the mountain isn't about conquering it, but about asking it to give us enough of its resources so we can connect with its summit? Could it be that we forgot that paddling faster doesn't take us anywhere, and that the goal is to know how to flow with that river, with that body of water that we don't know where it will take us? And what if we remembered that the horse that carries us to different places isn't just that, but that friend and companion who braves the storms so that we can have a good time? And what if we remembered that no matter how hard we pedal, no matter how much we insist on reaching the next campsite, if we didn't know how to savor that path through the middle of the forest, maybe we haven't really traveled anywhere?...And what if we remembered how to play?
That's why, from Argentina Extrema, we want to invite you, on our trips, to go back to being that child, the one who's amazed with every step climbing that mountain, with every pedal stroke on the bike heading toward a volcano, with every paddle stroke on some river or lagoon that invites us to be part of the whole and remember that we're here simply for that, to play.
