A swing at Casa del Arbol-The treehouse in Ecuador
by Kamran Ali
Title
A swing at Casa del Arbol-The treehouse in Ecuador
Artist
Kamran Ali
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photograph
Description
Over 2600-m above sea-level, a swing was hanging over a steep rock face. They called it the “Swing at the End of the World” because a fall from the swing into the abyss could bring the end of the world to the rider. The swing was attached to a wooden house nestled in a tree known as the “Casa del Arbol” or “The treehouse”. To the left of the treehouse was the 5023-m snow-peaked Tungurahua volcano which had last erupted about nine months ago.
Early morning breeze filled my lungs as I sat on the swing. In the soft morning light, I was calm but inside me was a volcano too. As I moved to and fro on the swing my mind wandered back and forth like a pendulum between—family and road; past and future; dreams and fears.
A swing seemed to have the power to break the barriers of time and space. I had always wanted to fly and the swing gave my the wings to do that. Looking at the big birds flying over the valley, today for one moment, I was tempted to jump off the swing while still in the air, but then realised that hundreds-of-meters drop was just below.
As the sun rose above the mountains, the shadows crawled down the slopes. I kept swinging on the swing—going higher and higher—until I had nausea. When I got off the swing, I had lost my orientation. The whole world was circling around me. I immediately ran into a corner. My empty stomach couldn’t throw up anything except some water I had drunk a couple of hours ago.
On the way back, I turned around as I remembered something—the swing was still moving back and forth; an invisible child was riding on it.
End of the chapter!
Uploaded
February 2nd, 2019
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