The power of fasting

Perpignan, France

If you ever wanna hitchhike from Barcelona to France, there is a very good spot on the highway which works very well for me all the time, you need to take R2 Line train from Barcelona to Montcada(suburb of Barcelona, situate right beside the highway), if you don’t have money to buy the ticket, it is easy to sneak into the train system in Barcelona, you just have to walk right behind the person who has just insert his ticket in the ticket gate, usually the gate will stay open for about 2 seconds after the train ticket was inserted, then you just quickly follow the person through the gate, but don’t do this if you see any train employees around, I guess you will get a fine if you get caught, once you arrive Montcada, you just have to ask the locals where is the rest area on the highway, this rest area is a fantastic place for hitching, it has petrol station and restaurant, and plenty of cars with french number plate, here is an interesting story happened to me when I hitched from Barcelona to Perpignan, France in 2016/01/17:

Today one Catalan woman who speaks five language( Catalan, Italian, French, English, Spanish) gave me a ride to Girona before a truck driver from Romania gave me a ride to France, coz of the Paris terrorist attack, when I arrived the french border I saw every single car was stopped by polices on the highway, they check every single car and the ID of the car driver and the passengers, there was a huge line of traffic jam waiting to enter France, however the trucks can enter without being checked, which I don’t really understand why, after the Romanian truck driver dropped me off in France, I only had to stick my thumb for 10 seconds before car with a couple stopped beside me, they were not going all the way to Perpignan(my destination), but they decided to do it for my favor, as our conversation continued unfolding, they decided to let me sleep  in their house after not even 5 minutes of conversation, which it would never ever happened in Spain, unless miracle happens, people tend to think Spaniards are more friendly and open-minded and French people are arrogant, rude and small-minded, however in my opinion as I have traveled through huge part of Spain, their friendliness and open-mindedness are on the surface, in another word: superficial, it is easy to generate conversations with Spaniards,but they would not trust you unless they have been knowing you for a while, besides it is very difficult to hitch a ride in Spain, Spain is one of the few countries  in Europe that is difficult to hitchhike even you are a girl alone trying to hitch a ride, there wasn’t much interesting interactions with local population when I was in Spain, the interaction just couldn’t get deeper, coz often they were either  suspicious or scared of me,  traveling in France is like a Paradise for me, France is definitely one of the most beautiful countries I have seen in my life, it has Atlantic and  Mediterranean Ocean, Mountains, the Alps, the Architecture, the culture, the history, the food……..etc. but what I love most is the french people, coz the open-mindedness and the adventurous mentality of willing to help  a stranger a traveler, bring me into the daily life of French people.

Back to the story, the couple both spoke english, coz Marina has lived in USA for half-year and Thierry has traveled to USA quite a few times, they told me most of the food they eat are organic or raw food, plus they do a lot of fasting, by the time when I met them, Marina already has not eaten and drunk for three days, I repeat: she lives without food and water for three days already, she looks tired and weak, when we arrived supermarket for shopping, she just stayed in the car without coming to supermarket, when we arrived their house she spent most her time sitting, she told me when she does fasting she usually couldn’t sleep well, coz when you sleep, it is the time when your stomach emanates acid for digesting the food, she has no food and water in her stomach so the acid makes her to have stomach ache, Thierry has different style of fasting, he eats and drinks one day, and then the next day he doesn’t eat and drink, for 10 days of cycle. they told me they do this coz they used to have bad disease before, Thierry had AIDS and TB before, but five years ago he started to do fasting and eat raw and organic food, his health started to improve, now he doesn’t have AIDS and TB anymore, Marianne used to have cancer but after intense fasting, her cancer is gone also. I don’t know whether I should believe or not, but truly it is interesting to hear that fasting has the power of getting rid of cancer, it would be such a suffering for me to stop eating for even a day, that night Thierry cooked organic vegetable soup, I ate it with Indian butter, French organic red wine, and spanish dry sausage, they live with Thierry’s parents in the big house in the countryside 15 kilometers from Perpignan, hence I had my own room and bathroom for the night.

My room for the night

Dinner

Marianne, Thierry and me

Before I left their house in the next morning, they recommended me to visit Collioure, a small town which is right on the coast 20 kms from spanish border, Collioure is a small town with 3000 inhabitants, it is a very attractive ancient town with castle right on the coast, even in the winter I still saw many tourists in this town.

…………………………. to be continued