LA PAZ, MEXICO. There is a story that deeply impacted my life: When we are born into this world, we start our lives by default at the beginning of a highway. It is a long highway, the lane is meticulously tarred, and since it is pretty much straight, you can see miles and miles ahead.
On the side of the roadway, carefully placed and at more or less regular intervals, there are some resting spots. They look nice, a bit preplanned, typical of governmental building projects, but yeah, they are comfy.
The names of the resting spots are indicated by signs alongside the road: „Childhood,“ „School,“ „University,“ „Graduation,“ „Work,“ „Marriage,“ „House,“ „Kids,“ „Retirement.“ You can find these signs all the way down the road up to the final sign: „Death.“
You’ve probably guessed what it is: It’s the Highway of Life. It’s a very nice highway. The frequency of the stops gives us comfort, as well as the fact that we can see miles ahead and know what is coming. It is the highway collectively built for us by our societies. A very steady road, built by generations who successfully ventured down this path.
The only thing is, it is a highway. Highways are designed for speeding down the road to reach your destination more or less efficiently. We know the final destination; if we bother to look, we can see it clearly on the horizon.
Recently, I turned 28. That means for a good part of my life I traveled down the Highway of Life. I went to school, I graduated from university, and I had a good job as a lieutenant in the German police forces. Time has passed quickly. I remember well how I got my high school degree, and I had no idea what to do with my life. Ten years have passed since.
All the way down the road, I could feel that the highway was a bit boring, even frustrating, for me. I truly believe there are a lot of people who like the highway and if they thought about it and deemed it fit from all their heart, I think the Highway of Life is their path. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. But not for me. While driving down the tarmac, my gaze was directed somewhere else.
ABOVE: The Mangroves of Rio Lagartos, Mexico. The boat tour at sunrise to this remote spot was the best wildlife safari I’ve experienced so far.
The Highway of Life isn’t just built anywhere; it was constructed in the middle of a dense and lush jungle. A jungle that covers all shades of green, brown, and yellow. It’s a very mystical jungle, full of magic, strange stories and adventures, wild beasts, dangers, and treasures. It is said that there are a few people roaming the jungle. People, who had been commuters too, but turned into natives of the jungle over time.
It requires a lot of courage to step into this jungle. Since it is so lush, you can only see a few meters ahead. There is no pre-made path; you have to take a machete and hack your own path. But there are wild animals in these jungles. Chances are high that you will encounter a jaguar or a viper along your way. It’s risky to go into the jungle. You have no clue what you might encounter or where you might end up; you might even die. What a scary notion.
But from time to time, there also come stories out of the jungle of people who experienced the most marvelous wonders. This place is untouched by man, so it is sure that you will find treasures that are nowhere else to be found. There are the most elegant and stunning orchids, birds of paradise, pristine ponds with lilies and turquoise, crystal-clear water. If you’re lucky, precious stones and gold can be found in the ground. It is said that one of the most beautiful experiences is to meet another adventurer in the jungle, and there are also rumors that the jungle is the place where actual magic happens.
But what you find in the jungle depends on each person. The paths are different for each explorer. And it costs a lot to go into the jungle.
ABOVE: A black spiny-tailed iguana in the jungle of Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica.
If you decide to enter the jungle, you have to face all your existential fears head-on. You will be alone for extended periods of time, that is certain, and you will leave all the comforts of the highway behind. It is back to basics. Back to being a human without a lot of the amenities of modern life. And you will flounder from time to time, that is certain.
It is probable that you have to face a panther eventually, and you have to decide how to deal with it, and even more difficult, your fear. You might walk around it, attack it, or tame it – that is up to you. But there will be dangerous situations.
On the other hand, the chance of coming in contact with something beautiful and exceptionally unique is high. 100% higher than on the Highway of Life. But also, this is not certain. Sometimes explorers go back to the highway after venturing for some time, and there is nothing wrong with it.
Also, I am not advocating for being stupid and just going into the jungle without preparation. If you decide to go into the jungle, you should have a rough idea of who you are and what you want out of life. That requires a lot of contemplation, and some come to the conclusion that the highway is actually what they truly want.
But if you consider, or most probably feel intuitively, that the jungle is your path in life, you should know a rough direction in which you want to go. Otherwise, you will walk around lost in the undergrowth, one of the aimless wanderers.
However, if you have a vague idea of a direction, brace yourself for some adventure, dangers, and beauty. You will be cutting your path, meter by meter, and there will be some insightful encounters and strange turns. But with each meter you go into the jungle and each encounter you make, you will know more clearly what it actually is that you want to find in the jungle.
ABOVE: Brown pelicans at sunrise in the Laguna of Rio Lagartos, Mexico. Together with the Yucatecan flamingos, which also inhabit these lagoons, this species is endangered in Yucatan due to the threat posed by human activity to many of their natural habitats.
My personal moment of contact with the jungle started with my Sabbatical in 2021/22. There I stood at the entrance to the jungle and stared into it for the first time. In 2023, I left the Highway of Life and went into the jungle. The only thing I knew more or less back then was that I wanted to become a travel journalist and a conservationist inside; the rest of the path I could see only a few meters ahead.
I spent the whole year inside the jungle, in my case in New Zealand. Here I encountered the challenges I knew would come. I faced existential fears, financial stress, ego problems with adapting to „low-status“ (totally relative, as I learned) minimum wage jobs, a lot of uncertainty, and heck, even some drama in my love life.
As I haven’t ventured that far, I could see parts of the highway through the underbrush all the time. There was a huge temptation to go back. One time I was offered an exceptionally high-paying job, but it was placed on the Highway of Life, and something inside of me told me: No, this is not my path. I declined and kept walking deeper into the jungle, and I still don’t know rationally if this was the right decision.
But I also experienced the most insightful year of my life inside the jungle. On the way, I met so many beautiful, unique, and vibrant people from all parts of the world – New Zealand, Mexico, Philippines, England, Tuvalu, Tonga, just to name a few. They have been guiding lights in the darkness of the jungle.
I experienced coincidences that can’t be rationally explained, multiple times! I saw the beauty of the planet we live in and I looked a whale into the eyes. I cemented my life purpose and most importantly, I gained a clearer picture of myself.
So it was worth it in every instance, and somehow all these life events lined up in such a strange and marvelous way that I ended up where I had to be, even though I had no idea that I had to be there. This is how I ended up back in Mexico.
I wanted to tell this story to everyone who is gazing towards the jungle or who doesn’t know that there is something else to life than the Highway of Life. Yes, it is scary to go into the jungle and you don’t know the end. But so is life, so is reality. Life is inherently scary, vast, and unfathomable. But at the same time, it is so full of beauty, joy, bliss, and love that it is hard to grasp. Going down the Highway of Life, we limit ourselves to only a fraction of the experiences we could have, good and bad alike.
It sounds cheesy, but the bad experiences always make you grow and the good experiences, well, in the jungle, they can only be described as blissful. Those experiences are one with the essence of life.
So if you go into the jungle, one thing is for sure: You will feel radiantly alive. On each step.
