So let me just say that I don’t camp. I have camped. I might camp again in the future. But when I am traveling in Central America or wherever, I typically do not camp. So if I am strapping anything to my backpack, it will be a water bottle, an extra pair of shoes, a sleeping bag stuffed into a compression sack (for those cold nights in the highlands), maybe a plastic bag full of junk food. But no pots or pans.
I also like a backpack because it’s easy to throw underneath a bus, or on top of a bus, or into the trunk of a car. Typically, they are pretty indestructible so you can really throw them anywhere. And when I say “you,” I mean the guy driving the bus or car. Or anyone standing nearby. I certainly don’t mean me.
After years of traveling mostly with my backpack, I am now to a point in my life that I think we may have to go our separate ways. Actually, the backpack I have now is fairly new and has only been used on one trip. The pack I had before this one crossed a lot of borders, accumulated dirt from many locales, and eventually started deteriorating to the point that I couldn’t use it anymore. (It actually burst open in exhaustion on the baggage carousel at Logan Airport after four months in Guatemala, as if to say, "¡Basta!" Enough!) It wasn’t even a “true” backpack; the kind you open at the top and shove all your stuff into. It was like a “suitcase-backpack” in that the hardware was backpacky and how you got it on your back was backpacky, but it zipped open on the sides like a suitcase, and you could zip an attached cover over the hardware to carry it like a duffle (I only did that when I checked it onto a plane). It was canvas like a traditional pack, and a couple other smaller bags zipped onto the front of it if I wanted more space. It was from EMS and was pretty cool. But they don’t make them anymore.
I have a personal aversion to shoving my clothes into a deep, dark hole. That is what it is like for me to use the other type of backpack, the traditional backpack that loads from the top. I don’t like having to dig out all my crap to get to one thing that I can’t find because I can’t see it or feel it. I don't like sticking my hand into an unknown abyss. Who knows what could have crawled in there (see this post)? And I don’t like how wrinkled my clothes would undoubtedly get. Oh sure, experienced users of the traditional pack will tell you that there is a way to roll your clothes to prevent an overabundance of wrinkles. But I have not discovered how to do that. And the reality is that many of those folks are walking around in clothes with a heck of a lot of wrinkles. I’m just sayin’.
So I chose to replace my deteriorated EMS suitcase-backpack, the backpack that lasted for about 14 years, and was still adamant that it not be top-loading. I found one, more of a traditional backpack than my last one. It loads on top, but also has a side zipper so you can open it and see all your goodies, much like my last pack. I like it, at least theoretically. It is a good size and is a lovely shade of blue.
Here’s the problem: I am no longer the traveler I used to be. And I have had some back problems. I just don’t know if I can carry that sucker around, however briefly. I don’t even know if it fits me that well (I have been told there aren’t many backpacks out there that fit women really well). First, I must clarify something. There are backpackers and there are backpackers. Backpackers are those people you see, walking for miles, even days, with a backpack strapped to their back, replete with other necessary gear such as the aforementioned pots and pans. These are the true backpackers, and I have never been one of those, nor have I ever claimed to be. A backpacker, of the non-italicized nature, is merely a traveler who carries a backpack – in my case from baggage claim to bus or taxi, from bus or taxi to hostel, hotel or home. Sure, there are times when I have walked a few blocks with the backpack, maybe even several. But my Point A to Point B is considerably shorter than that of a backpacker.
So now that I have clarified that, what should I do? The last thing I need to do is blow a gasket from carrying a heavy backpack I have no business carrying (and it is always heavy). But taking a wheeled suitcase to Latin America just seems wrong somehow. I think maybe I’ve done it. I vaguely remember taking one when I went to Oaxaca, Mexico with my friend Monica. But that was only for a week and we had very specific plans; we weren’t traipsing all over the countryside. When going for a longer time, traveling to a number of places, I don’t know that a wheelie seems to fit. Many streets in Latin America are cobblestone, so you couldn’t just pull it along like you do in the airport. The sidewalks and roads are often very uneven so if your bag is strapped to your back, it’s not a problem, but with a wheelie, you might have to pick it up, which could be even worse for a questionable back. And throwing a wheelie suitcase onto the top of a chicken bus (more on those another time), is kind of like bringing luxury sheets to a youth hostel.
It is possible that I am just too attached to the idea of a backpack, to the ruggedness and the grittiness it seems to project. People in Latin America call those carrying backpacks mochileros, which means backpackers. True, there may be negative local connotations with this that I don’t even know about – like mochileros tend to give off an aroma that suggests infrequent bathing. Or mochileros never want to pay a decent price for local wares. Or, oh no, here come those stinky mochileros who want to buy all our bananas. All the same, it seems cooler than “person who travels with suitcase.” I don’t even know the Spanish word for that, or if there is one. Maybe it’s just the all-encompassing viajero, or traveler.
Hmmm, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.
But whatever you choose to use for luggage on your trip, and whatever label you prefer for yourself, the most important thing is your comfort and only you can determine what is best for you. If I do give up my backpack for good, there will always be my daypack, the miniature version of the backpack. I often use that for weekend trips and for walking around the city or town I’m visiting. So I guess I don’t have to get that weight entirely off my shoulders. At least not until they start to fall apart, too.
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| This photo is from a trip to the Darién Province of Panama in which some local guys helping us took our bags, put them into huge baskets, and made their own type of backpack. This was before I had a backpack, but these small-statured gentlemen with superhuman strength helped us all out. The guy in back had at least three heavy bags in that basket! Maybe more! |
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