Transcription
Hello there, my friends. It is Saturday afternoon and I'm walking through the bushes. But this time around, I'm not in the middle of nowhere. As a matter of fact, I find myself within the limits of one really big city.
[Music]
Now, vegetation here is really thick. So, probably you won't see anything. But down there in the valley below, there's one giant river. Very big river. One of the main rivers of this part of South America. Uh, no other but the infamous Rio Paraguay, Paraguayan River. So, I guess no more mysteries. Yes, my friends. I'm back in Paraguay and I'm really happy to be back in Paraguay. And at the moment, I find myself in the capital city of Asunion, or how some people call it, Muata Santa Maria deion. Yes, that's the full name of it. And yeah, I'm very happy to be back. Uh, but why I'm so happy and what the hell I'm about to do in Paraguay, I'll tell you a little bit later. I just want to get some snack. I'm horribly hungry.
So, thus far throughout my life, I was traveling a lot. In fact, for last 9 years or so, I'm pretty much living like a drifter, moving from one place to another, either constantly on the road or just looking for some opportunities to make few bucks and hit the road again. And some places you visit and then you just forget about them and then occasionally you might end up in some place that will stay with you forever. Just like my journey across Paraguay and Chaco, which I will never forget. It was one beautiful, yet brutal, yet marvelous, yet exhausting, and yet eye-opening experience to me. It wasn't the first time when I was pushing myself to the limit, but it was definitely the first time when I was pushing myself to the absolute limit while filming it. But it wasn't just about struggle. I genuinely fell in love with the bushes of Gran Chaco. Something really happened to me while exploring Green Hell. And ever since I left, I was pretty damn sure that I will come back after some time.
[Music]
And I must confess that I really think about Chaco quite a lot. Some might say that I'm going a little bit too far. But perhaps I'm even haunted by Chaco, you know? Chaco, [Music] Chaco, [Music] Chaco. [Music]
And my love for Gran Chaco is equally as strong as affection for some friends that I made in Paraguay. Just like I said in one of my earliest videos, some of the folks I met in Asuncion, like some of uh Paraguayans I made friends with, were some of the coolest individuals probably I met in my entire life. That's no exaggeration because, you know, in the end, I strongly believe that it's other people, people around you, that they make life amazing. You might reach the highest mountain peaks or most remote corners of the jungle, but in the end, if there's nobody you can share these experiences with, then this whole thing is kind of pointless. You know,
[Music]
when I started making these videos, I really had no expectations. Just some people, including some friends of mine, suggested that this could be a good idea. And even though in the beginning it felt a little bit weird, as the time went on, I kind of started improving my craft and uh I I really fell in love with the process. I really fell in love with uh with um with making these videos. But now my bicycle journey across South America is done. And I'm running this channel for quite some time already and, you know, making some weekly content while cycling across some of the most remote parts of South America. Well, it wasn't always an easy hustle, you know. I sure had plenty of technical issues. I mean, my bicycle, my laptop, and eventually even my camera was breaking down. Also, in my mind, I had plenty of ideas and subjects that I was thinking to talk about. But one thing is to have some great idea in your head. And while another thing is to actually put that idea in practice, especially if you find yourself in the middle of nowhere in the Amazon. And eventually, my channel started to grow and I managed to find my audience. And even though some might say that 3.5,000 subscribers is not much, well, at least judging from my comment section, these videos are really attracting the right type of audience and I'm really happy about it. So, first of all, I would like to say a massive thank you to all of you for watching me and supporting me all this time. This really means the world to me. So, you need to appreciate simple things. You need to appreciate that cookie.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to monetize my channel thus far and uh sometimes it seems to me that, you know, as if YouTube is playing some sort of a silly games with me or something like that. You see, on paper, my channel was eligible for monetization long, long, long time ago. But each and every time I try to generate at least a tiny bit of income from this content I'm making, I received the same answer: "Your associated AdSense for YouTube account was disapproved." I tried literally every single trick I found online to fix this issue. All kinds of advices and tutorials, and nothing worked. In fact, I think I tried to monetize my channel at least six or seven times already. So, at this point, I almost lost hope. It's just pointless, I guess. And I'm really not the type of guy who would cry and complain about my problems and issues, but I was asked about monetization in the comment section plenty of times. So, here's your answer.
[Music]
But anyway, in the end, what the hell am I doing in Paraguay? So, very long story short, roughly around the same time when I was cycling from my house, and that was probably like uh 6 months ago, uh I was contacted by some really interesting group of people. Now, I really don't want to spoil too much, but these folks, they make documentaries and it seems that we share the same obsession with the Gran Chaco region.
[Music]
And then we stayed in touch for some time and after a few months, I was offered the job. And not just any job, but pretty much a job of my dreams, you know? Ever since I was a small boy, I was dreaming of either writing books about nature or making documentaries. So, I couldn't expect anything better. On top of that, for last few years, I was sort of looking for some kind of a way to move and permanently live in South America and almost magically, things they seem to work out. So, in the end, this little channel of mine was a true success story because even though I failed to get many views or subscribers, I actually managed to find a job I like.
Now, what kind of project exactly I will be involved? Well, I guess I will tell you all that and much more sometime in the future. And very unfortunately, but I won't be able to work on this project and maintain my YouTube channel at the same time. And yes, I'm about to spend a lot of time in the Paraguayan wilderness, in the bushes of Gran Chaco, but I think I will dedicate most of my energy on my new job. Or better said, I'm placing my channel on hiatus at least until December. I mean, perhaps I will upload some little video here and there, but definitely I won't be able to be as productive as I was in my previous journeys. It's just physically impossible. And for all those of you who want to follow my movements, well, at least until December, well, you can follow me on Instagram because I'll be posting some stories and reels from time to time because it requires much less energy and time. For all I can say is that I'm about to throw myself into some really interesting and occasionally extremely remote places and things they will get uh they will get very interesting.
[Applause]
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Heat. Heat.
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