Hello everyone, my name is Raul Ibañez, I am 27 years old, and I have many stories to tell that are a fundamental part of who I am.
On November 29, 2016, I left Maracaibo and headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina, without knowing what destiny had in store for me.
We had the following plan: my boyfriend and I were going to take a flight from Maracaibo to Caracas, and from there to Bogotá, where we would spend two days to continue our journey by land to Argentina. Unfortunately, the airline sold us tickets with an incorrect flight time and I didn’t notice it, so while we were on the plane to Maiquetía, our flight to Bogotá had already taken off.
This is how our arrival in Bogotá was delayed, and the person who was going to receive us during those two days told us that we could no longer stay there. We were at the Bogotá airport without knowing where we would sleep. The adrenaline was indescribable.
In view of our situation, we decided that the most viable thing was to go to Buenos Aires that same day, so we went directly to the bus station. When we got there, they told us that the tickets we had booked for $200 each had gone up in price because it was already December and that the closest trip was the following week.
At that time we thought about returning to Venezuela, but my boyfriend remembered that he had a cousin with whom he had not spoken for a long time and that she lived in Bogotá. He contacted her, and she saved our lives, she met us at her house at 8 pm.
We immediately began to look for options on how we could get to Buenos Aires as soon as possible, and not cost us a fortune. With great luck, we found a flight to Buenos Aires on December 21 from Medellín. The price was excellent and we bought it.
After 7 days in Bogotá, it was time to go to Medellín, so I got in touch with the only person I knew there, a friend who had been transferred to that city for work-related reasons. I explained to him the situation that was happening to us, and although he told us that we were crazy to do that, he gave us his address and left us the keys to his house with the security guard because when we arrived at his apartment he’d be at work.
We were in Medellín for 13 days, until December 21. We had a great time there, but at the same time, we also felt a lot of anxiety because of all the uncertainty.
When the day of the flight finally arrived, we left the airport feeling positive, thinking that everything was going to be fine, but guess what? We were held by the customs department because our passports were supposedly false. I felt I was part of the tv show Airport security. Luckily we were only there for 30 minutes as they realized that our passports were real so they let us go.
We arrived in Buenos Aires without further mishaps, and we began to get out of our comfort zone, we were not tourists, we were migrants.
I think the best thing about my experience as a migrant was getting used to this new pace of life, new vibes, new people, and a giant city. Those months defined my personality and helped me cope with all the things that would come later. Even without money, there was much to celebrate, and there were no reasons to complain.
In ten months, I had more than 9 jobs; I practically had one per month. Some lasted for two days or a week, and others lasted a couple of months.
The worst of those jobs was in an Asian vegetarian restaurant in a basement where my job was basically to chop an unimaginable amount of vegetables. One day I fell down the stairs that led from the basement to the living room, and the owner told me: “Much trouble, better not come again,” and that’s how they fired me.
Buenos Aires is not characterized by being the city that offers the most facilities to rent an apartment, there are many obstacles. This led us to move 3 times in 2 months, we ran out of money, and I only worked a few days a week. My boyfriend was the one who basically took care of everything.
Since I arrived in Argentina I have been surrounded by wonderful people who today are my family. We were 21-year-old migrant kids when we arrived in this country, but today we are siblings.
But this story took a 180-degree turn, and in October 2017 began one of the longest, most exciting, and unimaginable adventures I have ever lived. I had a job interview where I thought they were looking for a customs broker. I was selected for the job, but the best was yet to come.
It turns out that they were not looking for a lawyer or customs broker, but for an onboard sales associate of the largest duty-free chain in the world and the position was onboard cruise ships that traveled the world. I was in shock.
I thought: “This is what I had always wanted in my life, to travel the world and also get paid for it, but this cannot be true, this has to be a scam.”
Everything turned out to be so true that on October 10, 2017, I was flying from Buenos Aires to the city of Barcelona to board one of the ships of the Italian company Costa Cruises, yes, the one of the ship that sank.
My first day on a ship was literally like entering a new world that I had no idea existed, but yes, there it was, and well once again, I had to get out of my comfort zone. This time I had to speak in another language with people of more than 120 nationalities. I was there, but I didn’t think that was real.
In those first six months, I visited more than 12 countries, from Petra in Jordan to Athens in Greece. One day I even woke up and they told us that we would stay in Dubai for three months!
Today, I am still a crew member of cruise ships, but operations are suspended due to the pandemic until protocols are safe enough to navigate again.
Spending time at home has been amazing too! After some time living life being everywhere and nowhere at the same time, this represents a symbol of stability and belonging to a place, or at least that is how I see it.
Today I am living what the whole world lives, I understood that plans change all the time and that we must adapt ourselves. I still feel that adventures are endless, I have the energy to move once more, but not because of external situations like when I left Venezuela, but of my own free will.
Four years have passed since I decided to leave my country and although I always knew that this would happen, the situation pushed me to do so very quickly. Since then I have learned to enjoy the changes that come to my life, and I have realized that I always crave for more.
Translated by: Pascual Díaz
