In 2018, Axel Pons (33) was wondering things.
He was a professional model, had graduated from Business Engineering School from La Salle and rode Moto2 motorcycles.
I had it all.
Or at least, that’s what it seemed like.
“Well, what he didn’t have was happiness,” those who were close to him tell me.
-And now?
–Now, when we can see him through social networks, we see that his eyes shine.
(…)
In 2018, Axel Pons and two other friends got on a plane from Barcelona, heading to the Philippines, and then reached the island of Siargao.
They were looking for a two-week vacation, but when it came time to return, Axel Pons said:
–I’m staying.
-And so?
–I have discovered that there are other easier lives.
He stayed for a year. By then he had taken off his shoes.
He hasn’t put his shoes back on.
They tell me that his parents, Sito Pons (double 250cc world champion in the eighties) and Laura Ramon, then went to see him in Siargao, and that they realized that their son was happy and that the local people loved him.
Advertising commitments (a new campaign) were going to make him return to Catalonia, but here he was surprised by the confinement of 2020, and the confinement accelerated his spiritual change.
Axel Pons, in 2010; behind him to his left, his father, Sito Pons
When we were all able to return to the streets, Axel Pons went to the Monastery of the Carmelites of the Immaculate Conception, in Barcelona. He spent an afternoon talking with the superior, an 87-year-old woman. She explained her process toward religion and he explained his concerns. The nun advised him to visit the Sanctuary of the Cave of San Ignacio, in Manresa.
From Barcelona, Axel Pons traveled on foot – always definitely barefoot – to the cave. The abbot invited him to stay for two weeks. Surprised by the range of concerns that surrounded that young man, the abbot was going to propose that he engage in an exploration to analyze all religions. Months later, Axel Pons reached Dag Shang Kagyu, a Buddhist temple in Panillo (Huesca, in the Benasque valley, near Graus).
He spent three months in a silent retreat.
Axel Pons, during his pilgrimage in Pakistan, weeks ago
Upon leaving, he returned to Catalonia. He retired to the family home in Girona. He worked the field. He connected to nature. I studied and wrote. Those who read him say that they would never have imagined such quality in his texts, such depth.
–I wanted to know about all the cultures, I wanted to have more contact with ordinary people.
The pilgrimage
In March 2023, Axel Pons left Girona for India: he went on foot, barefoot, with two clothes, almost no money
In March 2023, Axel Pons left Girona, heading to India.
That journey is not over.
He went alone, always barefoot. I had a backpack, two changes of clothes, a notebook to write on, an iPad to review the routes and some cash.
–He left without credit cards and without a cell phone.
–And without money, how do you eat?
–He studied all the plants, he is a vegetarian, he eats what he finds on the roads.
–And where does he sleep?
–Sleep where the night falls. Bring a hammock for the summer. In the winter he sleeps in his tent.
Camp near rivers or the sea. He bathes every day.
He often bathes at dawn, in the icy mountain waters.
Axel Pons, in his role as a model, in 2019
Walking barefoot, he reached Italy. There he boarded a ferry, heading to Croatia. He continued on foot towards the west: Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia…
In those days, an acquaintance came to look for him. I sensed that Axel Pons was in Macedonia, but I didn’t know how to locate him. The locals guided him to it.
–Everyone knew who Axel was –this acquaintance tells us–. People told him their lives and he listened to them.
Axel Pons moved on: Greece, Türkiye…
On the Lycian Way of Türkiye, similar in soul to the Way of Saint James, other pilgrims joined him. Axel Pons likes to generate help and kindness. He accepts whoever wants to accompany him. For eight months, two walkers have accompanied him, a man and a woman.
Axel Pons, next to a river, weeks ago
Every morning, when the sun rises, Axel Pons does yoga. In the afternoon, meditate. In between, move forward. He often visits local mosques. In a Turkish village, the imam baptized him Isa.
It means Jesus in Arabic.
–To do the meditation, he gets up at five in the morning. If not, people interrupt her: there are many who want to be photographed with Isa.
Isa spent three months in Iran, and reached Pakistan in May. Since no Westerner can tour that country just like that, the police escorted the delegation to Islamabad.
Five months ago, Isa camped at the base of the Himalayas.
They interviewed him in local media, fascinated by the character.
His popularity transcended, it grew.
His image began to be projected on social networks. Isa doesn’t have Instagram or TikTok, or anything like that (her disinterest in the matter is radical), but those who follow her publish reels and stories. Some of them reach 17 million views.
(Reader, you can see him on @northpakistantour or on @with_akuu_; both are Instagram accounts).
Today he remains in Pakistan, waiting for permission to access India, his destination.
He had tried to do it through the north, through Kashmir, but the border is closed due to the war between the two countries and now he has emigrated to the south, away from the cold. Wait for permission to continue.
When he calls home, he only talks about good things. He does it every fifteen days, he does it when he can. Without a mobile phone and without Telegram (it is blocked in Pakistan), he contacts from a bar, or when he can share the Internet. Sometimes he talks to Edgar (30) and Lucas (23), his little brothers.
On this journey, Isa has delved deeper into the languages of the countries she is exploring.
He has learned Turkish.
He can speak in Urdu.
Close sources say that Isa’s family is proud of the experience the character is experiencing.
(In recent days, the Axel Pons story has proliferated in the Spanish media.)
–The parents are hurt by everything that is being written about him. Axel Pons is not someone who took a trip and has lost his mind – they tell me –. He is a man who has connected intimately with the rural world and with nature. He is a man who has read, studied, meditated and gone out to search for happiness. Of course, seeing something like that in this society and at his age is not a common occurrence. When his parents look at him, they see that his eyes are shining. And all parents want their children’s happiness.
–And while you travel, don’t you feel afraid? –I ask my interlocutor.
–When asked about fear, Axel Pons answers: ‘If you go with love, you only receive love.’ That’s his philosophy
#Axel #Pons #lives
