I firmly intended to avoid Spanish speakers in Malta because I had a short time to improve my English skills as much as possible, but sometimes Life gives you beautiful people you just can’t avoid. Lina was like a sister to me. We were neighbors and classmates. She is from Colombia, too; we managed to speak English as much as possible, and we were both committed to our goals until we met Ale, another Colombian woman. These 2 are on my list of favorite people I’ve ever met.

Maybe destiny exists, perhaps there are just coincidences, but it is fair to say that the odds of meeting them were near zero, as we came from the same city and had to travel thousands of kilometers to be in the same place at the same time.

I met Ale in an online class she was not supposed to attend; we exchanged contact info after a “wishes and regrets” exercise in which both of us were pretty profound, so we knew we may have to talk about Life, personal growth, and dreams. Damn, I was right; how lucky I felt that week.

The next day, I told Lina about Ale, and a couple of hours later, we were together having drinks and planning the weekend after school. Who would imagine Colombians are festive, joyful, and fluent in planning holidays?

My second time in Gozo

Destination: The Island of Gozo. The second island in Malta. It is a beautiful place to visit. A must if you want to know the real Malta.

We met at the ferry station in Valetta. We took the fastest; it was quite a ride because the sea was wavy. I loved every minute on that sea roller coaster. Ale brought her 2 roomies, Alexa and Caro. (Yes, they’re Colombians too, we spread like COVID, we are everywhere.)

Travel tip: Rent a car on GoTo; booking it is cheap and fast. We spent 50 bucks in total and rode more than 50km. Totally worth it, 10 euros per person and the freedom to go where we wanted.

That was my first time driving a car on the wrong side of the road. As I wrote in another post about Malta, everything felt like my heart was brand new. I loved every part of this day, even the unexpected loss I was about to experience.

Bye-bye fellow partner

Our first stop was a perfect spot to take breathtaking videos of this landscape, Mgarr. Until today, I don’t know what actually happened, but my drone just went crazy when I turned it on, and I lost control of it. Malta has a part of me, literally. (I had to be dramatic; I loved that drone, and I couldn’t afford to buy a new one, but my time will come to have a new drone again someday)

This may sound silly, but this showed me my mental state. Therapy works (Thanks, Dr. Adriana). Instead of feeling miserable or nostalgic about my loss, I felt grateful because I enjoyed it a lot, and it gave me satisfaction and joy. I’m not saying I don’t care; of course, I did, but the good feeling was stronger than sadness, and I think that’s the way you could enjoy Life more because Life is an endless lesson of letting go: people, relationships, jobs, mindsets, etc.

Anyway, back in Gozo, I tried to bring them to the places I liked most the first time I was there. I felt nostalgic at some spots, reminiscing how I met Evelyn and the Germans, but that nostalgia hit differently, and again, I was grateful.

So we visited one of the most beautiful natural “windows” in Malta: the Azure Window; from there, you could see one of the few sandy beaches in Malta, Ramla Bay, where we had lunch.

I lost my drone, but I found my new Manager/Agent. Every picture Ale took me was great. She knows how to manage my uncomfortable sensation of being in front of the camera. My thing is to be backstage and make people and places look beautiful.

She told me to think about my drone for this picture, and I posed right. It was so funny. It is always great to meet someone with the same sense of humor.

I recalled the first time I went to Gozo; I went to Ta’ Pinu National Shrine, a temple famous for its miracles. And everybody needs one once in a while, don’t we? So we head there.

Ta’ Pinu National Shrine.

Speaking about mystic, spiritual, or soul matters with anyone is difficult. Everybody has their own beliefs (or not), but this place makes you feel special. It has a powerful energy, like something or someone great, as your grandpa or parents were there to hear you, support you, and concede to something impossible. I can’t find the best words to describe what I felt in this place; it was the same as I felt the first time there.

I closed my eyes and thought about some things I would like to experience in Life, like beautiful Love, Fortune, and Joy. I had goosebumps. It felt like a warm hug from someone special but so intense.

There may be something else (I truly believe it), but it is probably the collective energy of hope of people who come there to ask for miracles. That church is known for the miracles people receive regarding their loved ones facing difficult times. People bring a personal object of a relative with a disease, problem, or pain as an offer, praying and thoughts to receive a miracle, and many people go “say” thanks because they received the blessing they asked for.

After we visited this temple and asked for our miracles. Ale told us about the “biggest” natural salt factory: The Xwenji Salt Pans. Google Maps said it was well-ranked; I was driving, so I didn’t look at her screen; I let my mind picture the place. The thing is, in Colombia, we have a “Salt Cathedral” inside a tunnel, one of the most interesting places to visit in South America. I was not alone in those expectations because when we arrived, we passed by the place, asking where it was.

It was in front of us. The review was proper; it was the biggest natural factory of Salt in Malta, meaning there was a vast area with several holes in the rock next to the ocean. Simple as that. We cracked up because of our expectations, not because the place was not great.

It is pretty ironic but funny how often this happens to everyone; we tend to look for places we already are in, but we don’t notice because we let our expectations guide us, and we forget that real Life is what it is, not what we want it to be. It reminds me of the final episode of “The Office” when Andi said: “I wish there was a way to know you are in the good old days before you actually left them.”

Read: Malta a Parenthesis in my Life

We closed our Saturday road trip in Gozo, walking through Victoria, where we witnessed a wedding. Rolls Royce, some expensive cars, 5 Colombian uninvited guests, and even the TV press outside the Cathedral of Assumption. People were beautifully dressed. I could see hopes, dreams, and some relief in the couple’s eyes.

We ended up at The Citadel, a fort I want to visit again. It could be a nice place to propose, or maybe it is the gin talking. Sunset showed up for us there, as beautiful and unique as every Maltese sunset. It was time to come back home.

A new stage of this adventure had begun. My heart beat differently because I met extraordinary people I had to cross paths with and kept learning beautiful lessons. If Life was a person who wanted to gain my heart, she was doing a terrific job.