From Noordwijk to Muiderpoortstation

by Alejandra Casasa (Ireland)

A leap into the unknown Netherlands

I bought some Dragon Slayer truffles in Amsterdam after a profound talk with a Spanish man who owned a shop, he was a good salesperson so I decided to give it a try to this exciting and reveling product. I was afraid because the first time I tried mushrooms the experience was very confrontative. Days later I was going to meet my friends at the beach in Noordwijk, an hour and a half from Amsterdam. The day was nice, 30 degrees Celsius. The Dutch celebrate the sun as it is, something magical. People in my hometown complain about it, because it is something just so ordinary to experience. I used to hate it but living in the rainiest cities like Dublin and London has changed my perspective about the sun, the sun is sacred and we should celebrate it. After my friends left, I decided to stay at the beach, sunbathed, placed my feet on the sand, and rooted. I wanted it to last forever. I was with the four elements, the sand, the breeze, the sun and the sea plus the only thing I´m always with, myself. I didn´t eat much that day and brought dark chocolate and sparkling water as recommended. I ate the mushrooms and waited. Almost two hours later I was not tripping and I got cold, so decided to leave. While walking to the bus I started to feel a little weird, listening to sexy smooth jazz coming from the beach bar, I was wondering if I should have return but didn´t. I arrived to the bus station and felt a force pulling me towards the earth. I saw the number 385 which was driving to Sassenheim which was the location I was searching to take the train back to Amsterdam. I popped in and very sure of myself pulled my LA metro card to pay for the bus repeated times, it never went through I got very anxious and started looking for my Netherlands transportation card, both of them were blue it was very confusing. I was nervous and sat down very rigidly, I saw my face in the mirror and wanted to explode with Euphoria because my face was like the one of the turtles, I was a funny turtle. Trying not to laugh out loud I decided to watch the sky. The landscape was amazing, the clouds resembled the figures of The Aztecs, a tiger, a lion, a snake, with bright eyes, similar to the ones that appear in Mexican ruins, it was beautiful. The plants were dancing and breathing in symphony, their colors were bright, HD, 4D effects, I love to sense the life of the not human and connect with my non material self. I arrived to Sassenheim station and bought my ticket back. I had to cross a tunnel, it had a mural with tulips, Netherland tulips, it was very similar to a mural I saw in the Martiano museum in Los Angeles which my mom asked me to send pictures, I took some pictures for her. Catch the train, sat down with a very white man. Watching his skin, and the nature behind the window that appeared with layers. It was almost as if I could change them like in photoshop, or like a theatrical scenery. I continued viewing the shapes of the clouds, and taking pictures hoping I could recall that amazing show in the near future. I couldn´t feel my face, it was tingling. I got lost, popped out the train felt pressured because a man was staring at my dilated pupils. I decided not to panic and calm down, jumped off the train and the first name I saw across in the platform in front was going to Muiderpoortstation. I couldn´t believe my luck, I took the train and asked a couple just to confirm it was the right direction. It was. The lady that helped me didn´t have fingers, I thought for a moment if it was my trip but it clearly wasn´t. She was kind and asked me if I came from far, I said that yes, that I came from Mexico which probably was not the answer to her question.