有緣千里來相會 Fate brings us together

2008年8月23日 星期六

「我不喜歡跟朋友約時間碰面，因為大家很難湊出一天，但沒有相約，你就是會在路上與他不期而遇。」Vincent，Inca Trail 的夥伴，有天說出了這段話，我們在後來的旅程中印證了它。
"I don’t like to make an appointment with friends because it is difficult to set up a date. However, you will just meet them unexpectedly” Vincent, a member of Inca Trail, said and we proved it in the following trip.

第一次遇到 Karen 是在 Torres del Paine 健行的第三天。
The first time we met Karen was on the 3rd day of our trekking in Torres del Paine.

暴雨中，我們正通過決定先放棄的 French Valley 指標。Karen 背著背包，穿著雨衣雨褲，拿著兩根登山杖迎面過來，我們如往常跟遇到其他人一樣的 Say Hi 後就各自往各自的方向前進。走沒幾步，突然聽到「你們是從 French Valley 過來的嗎？」我們回頭，於是有了第一次的交流。
In the pouring rain, we were passing the sign of French Valley. Karen backpacked, wore raincoat, took two hiking sticke, was walking to us. We said Hi to her as usual and were toward our own way. "Are you walking from French Valley?" We turned around. That was our first meet.

原來前一天天氣不好，Karen走了半天沒看到冰河，現在又在大雨磅礡中走了好幾個小時，雖然不想錯失 French Valley 的美景，但一個人又濕又冷獨自行走下的孤單寂寞，讓她不知道還能不能接受攻上 French Valley 卻啥景色也看不到的打擊。她無奈的說了一句，「我不想一直在雨裡行走呀」。這心情我們真懂。於是做了隔日天氣好在山頭相見的約定後，再次道別離去。
Karen was upset that she didn't see the glacier in previous day due to the bad weather and now she has been walking in the rain for couple hours. She couldn't decide if she should go up to French valley although we all heard it is quite pretty there. "I don't want to walk in the rain always." She said. We definitely understood that and suggested her to come here tomorrow if the weather is better.


想當然爾的，隔天天氣雖然還可以，我們兩個卻因為路實在難行而決定繼續原本計畫中的前進，心中只能默默希望在山頭的她，因為美景當前而原諒我們的缺席。
Of course, we didnt go back the next day even the weather was much better because we were tired of walking the same way again. Hopefully Karen wouldn't blame us when she saw the beautiful scenery.

再次遇見 Karen，是在回 Puerto Natales 的路上。沒想到，那天她也決定繼續前進，也沒返回French Valley。我們相似的個性表露無遺，也許因為這樣，種下了往後的緣份。
We met her again on the way back to Puerto Natales and realised she didn't go back to French Valley either. Maybe because of the similar personality, we had more and more contacts soon later.

雖然我們往後的行程幾乎是類似的，卻因為一切因素沒有機會同遊，但卻意外的在往 El Calafate 的巴士、往 Perito Moreno 冰河的巴士、遊冰河的遊輪、El Cháten 的 Hostel，與她不期而遇。每次相遇都不免一陣驚呼，因為我們從未說定，卻屢屢在同一時間內出現。
We didn't travel together although our itineries were almost the same. However, we met again and again on the bus to El Calafate, to Perito Moreno, in the ferry to see glaicers, in the hostel in El Chaten. Everytime was always surprising us.

她比我們早幾天抵達 Buenos Aires (布宜諾艾利斯，阿根廷首府)。由於 Buenos Aires 之大，讓我們以為 Cháten 的碰面，是我們與她的最後一次相見。但就在我們與S錯過的那個下午，在 Recoleta叫出我們名字的，又是幾天不見的 Karen。
We thought the meeting in El Chaten was the last time we saw her. However, she called us again in Recoleta in Buenos Aires.

Karen 說她終於拋開旅程中斤斤計較的日子，去渡過一個最美好的農村生活。那時開懷大笑的Karen 已經不再是我們先前認識的那個一直無奈的 Karen 了。她笑著分享農村生活裡的種種。也因為在 Pertito Moreno 讓她發現我們照相頻率之高，她買了一台立可拍相機，說要在剩下的旅遊天數裡留下一點紀念。這個下午，Recoleta 公墓裡的一張長椅，取代了墓園裡個個聲勢顯赫的人名。而我們也相約在 Iquazu（伊瓜蘇）能夠再次碰面。
Karen said she decided to enjoy the trip not just worried about the money. So she went to a village and had luxury days over there. She did have a great time there. She was smiling when she was saying those happy days. She was not the first Karen we met. She bought a camera and would like to take as many photos as we did to have some memories for the last part of the trip. This afternoon, a bench was instead of those famous people. We hope to meet each other in Iquazu.

只是沒想到不用到伊瓜蘇，我們還是能夠相遇。
But, we didn't have to be in Iquazu.

就在當晚的餐廳裡，我們正在說著可惜不知道 Karen 住的 Hostel，不然可以找她一起吃飯時，一個熟悉的身影從門口走了進來。沒錯，就是 Karen。
We couldn't believe we saw Karen again just in the same night in the restaurant when we were saying we should invite her for dinner.

我們實在不敢相信這樣的巧合，只能驚訝的看著她走到我們的桌旁。Karen 說她就住在附近，正要去看探戈秀，路過這間餐廳時，覺得好像是我們跟她提過的，往內一看，我們兩個竟然就坐在裡面。如同第一次的碰面，她又問了我們，「今晚我要不要去看探戈秀呀？」我們理所當然的如同第一次碰面時的建議，「不要，改明天吧。」
What a coincidence. That was really astonishing to us. But same to Karen. She was on the way to a tango show and thought this restaurant might be mentioned by us so she just looked inside. she was also unthought of seeing us there. As the first time we met, she asked "should I still be the tango show?" Of course, the answer was "go tomorrow".

我們相約下次的碰面一定要一起好好吃頓飯，喝個酒，聊一聊。可惜的是，相約後，就再也沒在路上遇見Karen 了。
We said we would surely have a nice dinner together next time. But after this promise, we didn't meet Karen again.

之後，也陸續發生在 San Pedro de Atacama (智利) 認識的 Rolf 與 Charlotte，分別與前者在 Arica (智利) 以及與後者在 Cusco、Colca Canyon (秘魯)的意外相遇。
After Karen, we met Rolf and Charlotte in Chile and in Peru.

在 Jujuy (阿根廷) 同一個寢室的 Eugenia，之後在 Arica 遇見，又意外的在 Cusco 先後走進同一間餐廳，坐在隔壁桌。
Eugenia, our roomate in Jujuy. We met her again in Arica. The most surprising one was we walked into the same restaurant in Cusco early or late and just sat next to each other.

El Cháten 請我們喝啤酒的 OK 先生，後來在 Buenos Aires 再次碰到他與他的家人。
We met Mr. OK in El Chaten and in Buenos Aires again with his family.

還有，已經與我們坐同一台車出發到Arica的江氏夫妻，卻等到Cusco 才相認。
In addition, Mr. and Mrs. Chiang were in the same bus to Arica with us but we just talked to each other in Cusco.

也許真的是有緣千里來相會。這一次次的相遇，不禁讓我們對於緣份二字有著更實際的體認，也讓我們相信，未來的某一天，在世界的某一個角落，我們一定也會再次與擁有相同回憶的你們再次碰面。
Fate bring all of us together. Those experience makes us learn more about it. We believe that we will meet again someday, somewhere.

※原文同步發佈於兔子逛大街