This is a story about a couple and a mailbox. At first sight is doesn't seem to have anything in common, however you will be surprised.
When the couple first started dating, the man sweared to show her one day tales of a 300-year-old whisky-cask-turned-makeshift-post-office in the Galapagos Islands, 973km off the coast of Ecuador. The empty cask had been placed on Floreana Island in 1793, when whalers and sailors frequented the remote archipelago to restock on fresh water and giant tortoise meat. Since the seamen could be on the water for years at a time, they had to devise a clever way to communicate with beloveds at home, a tradition that continues to this day. Before departing the islands, the seamen would place letters in the cask, addressed to friends and family all over the world. In return, they would search the barrel for envelopes addressed to their future ports of call, taking those that matched their onward destinations. When they arrived in a city where a letter was addressed, they would hand-deliver the letter to the recipient.
The coulple decided to go to Galapagos, scoop up a handful of letters addressed to all corners of the world, and hand-deliver each and every one of them.
Firstly, they explored the islands before arriving to Floreana. However, they coudn't wait anymore to open the mailbox and finding piles of ancient letters, some hundred years old, still waiting to be delivered. As they finally arrived, instead of seeing a large whisky cask, they found a barrel that resembled more of a birdhouse than a mailbox.
They opened the barrel to reveal an enormous pile of postcards and began sorting through the piles of postcards. Amid all the " wish you were heres" and jokes, they managed to find a handful of cards with important messages. A few were sent to loved ones that couldn't make the trip, some were letters of admiration all addressed to countries the couple wanted to visit in the future, so they left the island with 22 postcards and left the ones written by them in the mailbox.
They travelled during three years the world and delivered all the letters in 17 countries.
In the end, the couple realised that the most important thing of this mailbox isn't seeing it and the travelling, what's been truly important is the people and stories they encountered along the way.
DICTIONARY:
- Beloveds: estimats
- Amid: enmig de
- Encounter: trobar
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150409-the-worlds-most-charming-mailbox
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