Travel to Argentina, Paulo Ceolho’s The Alchemist Life is made interesting by the ability to have one’s dreams come true. I achieved this when I inherited a tidy sum of money from my uncle. This fortune afforded me the ability to realize my dreams and fantasies of visiting different places of the world. None was more precious that the thought of visiting exotic Spain, particularly Andalusia, a region with its rich Spanish heritage and moors that are characteristic of European countryside. It is more probable from the fact that Paulo Coelho is of Latin origin, or the fact that ‘The Alchemist’ is an inspiring story of realizing one’s dreams and self-discovery that is why I choose the book as my travel companion. In the end, I choose the novel…show more content… It was a Thursday morning, when I was advised to visit the Macarena District, along Calle Feria street. This market was the best in the city, and on Thursdays, it was a flea market. There I found with a little exploration, Spanish and European artifacts to buy as souvenir. I was interested in the food market too since I wanted to investigate the probable location Santiago would have solved off his sheep before making his life journey. My interaction with some merchants in the market made me feel like Santiago who realized that, “it’s the simple things in life that are the most extra-ordinary, only wise men are able to understand them” (Coelho…show more content… My guide was surprised since tourists left the city. I visited the farm villages along La Campina, or Guadalquivir River plain with its majestic rolling fields of olives and wheat. The river valley was very fertile and created an image of Santiago herding his sheep. In this environment, I realized that the Spanish had built large towns and huge farm estates in the rolling hills and along the riverbanks rather than small villages. Leading to the assumption that Santiago’s dreams of adventure had their basis from the interaction with civilization and people from these towns and farm estates. In addition, the serenity of the countryside led me to understand Santiago’s words “sometimes it’s better to be with sheep, who don’t say anything. And better still to be alone with one’s books” (Coelho 20). This opinion adopted by Santiago is more probably from the peace he attained each time he was in the moors and hillsides along the river valley away from the hustle and bustle of the towns and farm estates. It is also more likely that Santiago was able to dream in this serene environment, where no one interrupted his thoughts and where the silence of his sheep gave him a peace of mind. I realized that in this countryside, Santiago was able to come to the realization that his life was limiting his achievement of his dreams (Bloom 59). I realized
