Story in a Box II

A Boy called Carlos

A guy with the will to travel around does not limit his thirst for adventures and knowledge. Carlos sails across the ocean and uses skills to work his way overseas.

There once was a drummer guy named Carlos. He liked studying Geometry. He would always walk around measuring things with his ruler. He wanted to travel around the world, but money was not abundant to be spent away. Until that, one day he decided to travel all by himself. He built himself a strong Canoe.

Neither his mom nor dad knew about it. He left his house. It took him about an hour until the port. He did not have much to bring with: a leather wallet, with some money, some clothes, nuts he got at the market, and an ancient cloth he had at home. Even never abroad before, he got had a Passport, just in case he would go overseas someday. When arriving at the port and before departing on his journey, he set a bird feather on the bottom of his canoe, as a Chilean tradition to bring good luck.

Carlos only wanted to adventure himself and have fun traveling around seeing different stuff. However, he underestimated his potential to go far, and arrived at "Isla de Pascua," a Chilean Island on the Pacific. While staying at a cheap hostel, he met an Italian girl. Before going on the ocean again, she gave him a present from the island of Malta, of where she was form. The present was a glass, useful for storing water.

After a whole day across the sea, Carlos ended-up in the French Polynesia. The first thing he looked for was an exchange house. The value of his Chilean pesos was higher than the local francs. He charted a flight to Singapore. When getting there, he exchanged money again. He found the Singaporean coins were really interesting, so he decided to keep some to bring back home. Carlos amazingly exchanged a nice amount of cash. He was even able to stay in the country for more than a week.

He really enjoyed highly developed City of Singapore. He knew, though, his money would not last for much longer. He wanted to stay there for a couple of days, keeping in mind he would have to win extra money to pay for a ticket back. He stayed in cheap hotels and ate pretty well all days. Using his Carpenter skills he bought wood, tools and built two sculptures. One was of a Singaporean Tribal Woman, and the other a colored human head. He sold it to a touristic store at the airport. Successfully, he made good money, enough to buy his ticket.

Nevertheless, he had troubles leaving the country. He would need a travel authorization for being underage. So, he stole a stamp from an immigration Officer, stamped his passport with this Chinese character and passed straight to the boarding area.

Carlos spent a week away and was back home even before his parents. He stills leaving at that same farm house, proud of his secret journey abroad. Now, the single thing he can think of is which other place he is going next.