People
Pennecom Wilmer Neesing is only 22 years old, but on the table of his student house in Bennekom is already a book he has written in Spanish titled ‘El Viajero’. A title that covers it all, as translated into Dutch it means ‘traveller’. Wilmer made a special trip.
By Dick Martens
In 2019 he traveled through Central America for over four months, going from hostel to hostel across several countries. The trip had a crushing effect on the young student. He decided to commit his adventurous and sometimes dangerous moments to paper. Talking about it, he reminisces about those great times and is proud that ‘his’ book, which he describes as ‘a narrative travel guide’, has actually been published.
It got out of hand “It’s become a project that’s really gotten out of hand,” he says. “I took a two-year gap after high school, and during my first gap year I took the trip I described in my book from Mexico to Panama. Mostly by myself, I only had the contact of a good friend in the last month. I didn’t start writing the book until a year and a half after my trip. ‘Hobby Project’ ‘ and after writing almost 30 pages it started to look like something. In the meantime, I was studying in Wageningen at the WUR International Development, but I left some courses and wrote a little more, and after a year and a half suddenly a book, my book came out.
Culture The journey (‘it was indeed a great adventure’) was always in and through countries with no safe forecast. ,, I already knew that, but I took that risk. On the other hand, there are so many beautiful adventures to be had and beautiful things to see that I thought it was definitely worth considering. I was also drawn to the cultures of Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Panama.
Robbed ,, Despite being robbed twice in one day, I never felt threatened. I wasn’t violent, but I was a victim of pickpockets who ‘rolled’ my phone and credit card and the top half of my bag was empty on the bus. It was in Nicaragua. Fortunately, two Dutchmen came to my aid and lent me 300 dollars, with which I was able to buy a new phone.
Crazy “Of course it’s all annoying, but it’s dominated by the beautiful things like the volcanoes you can climb all over the region. I’ve climbed six and it’s crazy every time. I’ve seen the eruptions. You actually feel the vibrations and see the lava coming out. The connections I built there were interesting, and sometimes other things. Penetrating conversations with backpackers, which are also referenced in my book, take the reader fully into the adventures I experienced.
You can order Wilmer’s book www.boekscout.nl And bol.com.
