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1 " Of course it will fade away just like these memories, they will simply disappear like an autumn leaf in the wind. Blown away by some external pressures, sentenced to die. The eternal cycle of life at its finest. Whether we like it or not but there it is… The sad truth, that everything changes and everything will die and decay one fine day. "
― Ryan Gelpke , Peruvian Days
2 " I look up at the stars, and think about all that space up there. These lights emitted by stars, not sure if they still exist. I try to fight against the urge of getting lost in the sight of these beautiful sprinkles of light that are covering the whole night sky. "
3 " Whilst the content of two university accommodations is looking around angry, confused or just tired we simply enjoy ourselves on the grass sipping gin with ice tea and eating pizza. "
― Ryan Gelpke , Nietzsche’s Birthday Party: A Short Story Collection
4 " I can finally name the creeping feeling that I felt over the past 48 hours since the R&R phase began. It is simply the realisation that this incredible trip is slowly coming to an end and that I have been dreading the return to Lima because once we end up setting foot here it means that the hardships, the challenges and the learning experiences are over. "
5 " Like a never ending circle these French kids arrived the day before we leave, and probably before they leave another group will replace them forming this endless cycle of never-ending Peruvian days. "
6 " Some cities are pretty at night, others only during the day but a handful truly great places can be both pretty at nighttime and at daytime. Venice is one of them. "
7 " All lonely, beautifully silent and so very enchanting the city seems at night when every tourist, hotelier and tour guide have gone to bed, almost like a ghost town if it weren’t for the one or other lit window and a few lonely insomniac people walking the alleys here and there. "
8 " But what do I do? I end up torturing myself with all this overthinking. I am trapping my consciousness in both the future and the past alike instead of relishing the present. No wonder the desert cries at night, in light of such thoughts. "
9 " I wonder if I am ever able to truly and especially in an honest matter able to describe what we all have experienced. But I have so many fascinating stories that I am just dying to tell others about. But not today, tomorrow is another day. "
10 " And I start to wonder if I will every manage to find something worth living for, admit all of these billions of billions of stars that shine down on me at this very moment. And what if I don't manage that? Do not find something to live for? Will I have to settle with giving up my dreams? So, in light of this, where is my speck of hope that will motive me to carry on after this monumental and life changing trip? Lost somewhere between the stars? Or maybe buried deep down within me, motivating me to keep carry on and doing my best, at whatever life throws at me? "
11 " Bernard adds: “Remember Nietzsche? That we must use culture to overcome the death of god and defeat Nihilism? Well, we just did that via a Beatnik style poetry reading. Remember friends, we must defeat Nihilism a day at a time. Down with Nihilism! Cheers to that! "
12 " I smile and lift the can of beer to the empty and so poetical sky we are all under and take in the immense joy in this very moment. The empty sky above us is our sole witness as we commit the horrible crime of enjoying our lives! After all we are a bunch of crazy, fun and completely beaten down group of people. Looking at their very own strange path in life ready to go mad on the way till we reach the end, after all what’s the point of staying sane if that means a life of total boredom? "
13 " The car pulls into busy Brighton. Its Friday night and 11pm is considered early. We see people enjoying life, on the way from their prinks to a club or even the one or other couple snogging in a dark corner between the houses. Life goes on. It is as almost nothing has changed although for us everything has changed. "
14 " There is a certain familiarity with fast food places around the globe. Fluorescent lighting, dirty tiles, menu displayed behind the counters, cheap plastic seats and tables. But we are hungry and after our rainforest food we want something more familiar. "
15 " In all honestly, I love this living from day to day. It is the closest one can have to tranquility and peace of mind, it is like the whole hike was nothing but a several day long meditation. A meditational trip where one visits several Inca ruins and ends up contemplating the meaning behind beauty. No wonder, given the surroundings that this path offers. "
16 " Actually horrible that feeling no? This constantly clinging onto old memories and having a hard time moving on. Especially if one is living this memory in that very second, yet can't enjoy it because he is sad about the fact that this very moment will become a distant memory at some time in the future. This fear of forgetting, of leaving memories behind… "
17 " I then take the opportunity to ask him about the lemon rule and he laughs, tells me its quite simple: “You know how Nietzsche was all about creating your own morality and use your misfortune to learn from them? You know the tale of being hunted by the sleep paralysis demon and the eternal recurrence? To which he answered: Amor Fati, love your fate no matter what?” I nod. “Well I took the old saying, when life gives you lemons make lemonade and took it as an interpretation of his Amor Fati concept. That’s why we will all have a lemon with us tonight on the pub crawl. And if you lose it, in other words you hate your fate and are a nihilist, you have to drink. "
18 " Where is our place in this universe, where dead stars shine a light upon us, light that was emitted before all of this here was build? "
19 " As much as I enjoy this drive through the darkening desert there is nowhere where I’d rather be at this point than under the naked and unspoiled night sky somewhere along the Inca path "
