Experimentation In Time And Space

(from letter to sarah)


oh but the real thing i want to tell you about tomorrow is my run.  after surfing, after dinner (we had shark prepared by the hostel owner), i went for a run, along the beach, in complete darkness, with no light.  how cool is that?!?!?!  i just walked over from the hostel to the beach without anything at all (i figure if i get mugged i got nothing) - 1 minute walk - hid my sandals and just ran.  i was running towards Punto De Lobos - a famous surf spot known for having 40 foot waves (it had about 15-20 footers when we were there) - about 6K one way.  but the crazy thing was that it was overcast, so the only thing i could see was a very vague white line of the foam of surf to my left and a very vague lighter tone (compared to the dark wet sand) outline of the shore/beach to my right.  i couldn't really see where i was stepping.  and i just took off and ran.  i love running along the beach barefoot.  it was a really strange feeling - running without being able to see.  because in front of me it all looked the same.  a little bit of white to the left.  a little bit of beige to the right.  and pitch black everywhere else.  it was so abstract.  i was running and not getting anywhere at all.  it's like time stopped and i was running in a dream.  in some dark abstract cavern where there is no time or distance.  my only anchor to reality were the town lights, now far behind me.  at some points i even closed my eyes and just ran.  i mean it didn't make any difference.  i could feel the sand under me - so if the sand is getting a bit wetter and softer, i need to veer more right.  if it's getting softer and dryer, i need to veer more left.  so i just ran by feel with my eyes closed.  it was a bit hard to keep balance at first, but then i got the hang of it. it's funny running in the dark- nothing has a 3D shape.  it's all batches of color in 2D.  so there was a portion where i ran and it looked to my right like the sand looked a little bit lighter, and i wanted to step into it, but when i did, i found it it was actually a verticall wall of sand.  i couldn't see that it was such - i just saw the color - and no shape.  i couldn't believe it really was there, so i had to touch it several times to convince myself that this patch of lighter sand on my light was vertical. i was worried about my bare feet and tried to watch under me. but all i stepped onto was an occasional thing of kelp, but other than that it was clear and sandy. for a while i kept thinking there is lots of trash, but later i figured out that most of the white things that looked like trash was simply foam left over from the last wave.  it took me several times of approaching it and carefully touch it to really believe it. i haven't run for almost a week, so it felt good really quickly and my endorphins kicked in and i was just feeling happy and free and exhilarated at the whole sensory experience, or lack of senses experience.  in the craziness and abstractness of it, just running somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Chile to no particular destination, suspended in time and space.  so i figure i would keep going until it was easy to find my way in the darkness.  after running for i don't know how long, i found myself running on a slightly wet sand and suddenly a wave came in and covered me up to the knees!  in the darkness i couldn't tell that i swerved a bit to the left then i needed to be.  at that point a voice in my head said "ok, that's enough", but something else in me, something unspoken, drew me to go on forward.  then i hit a big-ass puddle of sea water that wasn't flowing back to the ocean.  so again the voice said "that's enough, turn back", but i kept going becaue it was a shallow puddle and something drew me further, allured me, the darkness, the unkown.  so i kept going.  finally there were more puddles and streams, and the shore to my right got steep and at that point i decided that navigating in the dark by feel was going to be too much.  also i hit the first rock underneath my feet, trying to cross another puddle, and stumbled my way around it, almost falling in the water.  and the number of shells was increasing too, which, i figured, sooner or later will get my bare feet in trouble.  so i turned back.  it was a bit difficult to navigate my way back to the surf as i got away from it trying to navigate the puddles, but it was also difficult NOT to find the surft.  i just walked towards the sound.  and finally i was running towards the city lights.  running towards SOMETHING made the time go way faster.  it's really funny - the relationship between time and visual stimuli.  i've never thought about it before, but i think there is a huge relationship.  i don't think i was faster going back, but it felt way faster.  i could just watch the lights get bigger and bigger.  though the darkness still played tricks with my perception of 3D. at times i wanted to readjust to run a bit closer to the water - 1 step to my right and WOOOOH - there was actually a 1-2 foot drop there.  eventually i was back and took a LONG HOT shower to get real warm and help clear my lungs.  oh yeah, and i wrote this whole thing as 1 paragraph inspired by the Original Scroll style of On The Road.