Our secret expedition to “El Ávila”.

Or the importance of knowing when to let go…

Sunset view from ‘El Ávila’, Caracas, Venezuela. 2014 Instagram @magdieljmc

There are times in life when you’re so full of doubt you become uncertain of your capabilities, of the choices you’ve made and the options you got ahead of you.

You blind yourself in fear, in the (commonly) fictitious dread for the worst. By doing that, you are open to let the best moments of your life slip away.

It is inevitable to feel afraid, to have doubts, to get angry. But you can avoid having these feelings control you. You can let go and flow with the situation just like I did the day I snapped that sunset photo. Let me tell you how things went that day.

Spoiler: they weren’t as good as I expected them to be.

The trip we had planned for that day, the day I captured not one but many beautiful shots of Caracas from “El Ávila” with my cheap Samsung phone, was a lot different from what happened.

That was one of the most stressful days of my life. One where I got incredibly pissed, I got scared to death, I got excited and where I started to have doubts wheter I had chosen my friends correctly or not.

We arrived Caracas late in the afternoon, past 4p.m. if I recall correctly. Our friend from Caracas was delayed to pick us up at the Metro station he told us to wait for him. I was feeling sick of my stomach. We had a hard time getting a ride to the park (the trucks worked until 5 p.m. and it was about that time). I was starting to get angry. One of the boys wanted to come back to Valencia, other wanted us to rent a hotel room to spend the night, but our friend from Caracas wanted us to make the trip, that it’ll be worth it.

Once we luckily found a truck to get to the park, we found a group of military checking on every truck that went up, searching for no other than booze (we happened to have, I think, two bottles with us. I was so nervous I was literally shaking, while my friends were trying to pretend they were cool. We passed the military without trouble, but the real issue came up once we were on the park.

It was supposed we spend the night at a camping area of “El Ávila” and go up the mountain the next morning, but due to the political protests that were taking place all over the country that same year, the park was closed to campers that day.

I found a restroom to ease my sickness, and I remember I spent all those minutes thinking about how bad things had turned out (and it was just the start).

I was hoping we ended up leaving the park and finding us a hotel in the city to spend the night and forget the events we went through, but when I get out of the restroom I find there are two of my friends missing, along with the militar that was looking after a path to go further up the park, next to the restrooms.

My two friends came back, but the military didn’t. One of them decided it was our chance to sneak past them and go up. You can imagine the kind of trouble we were getting into, right?

The five of us picked our stuff and began our “infiltration”. I was terrified and super angry. After climbing through a slippery, rocky cliff, sneaking past the empty camping area, where there was a military tent, filling some bottles with fresh water from a small waterfall on the way up, and snapping those beautiful shots I talked you about, we reached a dead end where we couldn’t see what was in front of our faces from how dark it was.

We armed the tent, got inside, the guys mocked me at how mad I was, I got drunk, got happy, laughed my A-off and then fell asleep.

The story is, of course, a lot longer than this. But those were the main events that happened behind the scenes of that beautiful sunset shot of mine.

Had I not let go, I wouldn’t have had the chance to see the city the way I did that night.

Had I not let go of fear I wouldn’t have had this story to talk about to my friends and future generations. I would have had and empty spot for a memory that never happened because of my decision to not let it happen.

So, despite all the bad things, the fear, the anger, the rage I felt at one point, I’m thankful for having the chance of letting go. Thankful for having followed the lead of those two idiots that are now living in Buenos Aires and letting them lead the way to what was, so far, the biggest adventure of my life.

I’m thankful because letting go allowed me to forge a memory so important to me. Because I was able to keep a secret for over four years, it was the five of us’ secret. Our secret expedition to “El Ávila” and now you guys know it, too.

A final word:

It is important to know when to let go, and when to stay where you are. It keeps you alive, breathing.

But there will be times when you’ll have to decide if you rather take a risk or stay in the safety. You could get in trouble, yes. You could get lost, get hurt. But sometimes the memories you forge on the process of letting go, of taking risks, are worth it.

Ask yourself if you’d like to have many memories to share, cherish and laugh about in your old days. Or if you’d like to have your chest filled to the brim with regrets of the things you wish you have done in the past.

This train goes by once, wheter you take it or not.

Magdiel Márquez is an aspiring novelist born in Caracas, Venezuela.
A thinker by birth, this Gemini loves to analyze every aspect of life, answer unasked questions and create life with his fingertips.
He’s also passionate about Psychology and everything surrounding human behaviours and relationships, ancient societies and languages.
Join him in his journey to become a published novelist, a better writer, a psychologist and a better person.

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