Summation I:
It was fun. Not necessarily life changing, especially in the sense of finding my calling or deciding to give my life savings to a charity (although I know many organizations that could really use $27) but possibly life refining to the degree of any 6 months you spend doing anything and likely even slightly more so in a new and different environment, but to be fair and true it really was more simple enjoyment than anything else.
Summation II: Common sense statements, learnings and literary wanderings based on aimless wanders
In addition, one of the highlights has been meeting, talking with and usually sampling the local beers with travelers from well over 20 countries. It's always interesting to hear their perspectives on politics and country sterotypes, but I've found I have more in common with these people than most back home.
People from different places are really really similar (first common sense statement).
2. While in Lobitos a man selling bread from a basket perched on his shoulder would come by our hostel every morning. It would cost 33 cents for 8 pieces of bread. He couldn´t have made much, his clothes were rags, and I never saw him lose his smile.
It was fun. Not necessarily life changing, especially in the sense of finding my calling or deciding to give my life savings to a charity (although I know many organizations that could really use $27) but possibly life refining to the degree of any 6 months you spend doing anything and likely even slightly more so in a new and different environment, but to be fair and true it really was more simple enjoyment than anything else.
Summation II: Common sense statements, learnings and literary wanderings based on aimless wanders
On this day I find myself starting over this section once again, and as always my gaze wonders from the gnarled up notebook and this time lands on the transparent turquoise of the Caribbean, viewed from a point above, however I can´t seem to see through the clearness, thanks inpart to the rare whitewash to my right and the sun´s reflection blanketing and bounding towards me from left yonder.
My goal of sorts for the last few weeks has been to look through the fun, and jot down learnings, important takeaways and experiences to partly justify the experience (money spent, over 250 hours of bus travel and a few good bouts of food posioning), but really to finally sit down, examine, pick apart and highlight the last 6 months of life... of constant movements where at the time it often wasn´t easy to tell what I was experiecing or that a seemingly normal moment would be one that still impacted me months later.
However, it´s been suprisingly difficult to write, I guess because there is so much to remember and because I´m impacted and learn from the unknown and different and this has been a place where adaption is easy, but rarely truley needed because life here just doesn´t seem that different anymore and has seemed that way for a long time now. Especially ringing true through the tranquil tan encircled gaze at nothingness and absolute natural beauty I´m wearing now, somehow seeing two things at once. But to attempt to fight through the excuses, complacency and fear of coming across as preaching here it goes.
However, it´s been suprisingly difficult to write, I guess because there is so much to remember and because I´m impacted and learn from the unknown and different and this has been a place where adaption is easy, but rarely truley needed because life here just doesn´t seem that different anymore and has seemed that way for a long time now. Especially ringing true through the tranquil tan encircled gaze at nothingness and absolute natural beauty I´m wearing now, somehow seeing two things at once. But to attempt to fight through the excuses, complacency and fear of coming across as preaching here it goes.
1. My first day in the Bolivian orphanage I saw kids showing off their soccer skills, dragging me by the hand wanting to show me their special place or thing in the facility, laughing at me and making fun of my poor spanish language skills, height, hair color, etc., stealing my sunglasses and wearing them around proudly, and demonstrating how cool they were by breaking the rules. Some kids were outgoing and tried to be at the center of attention. Some shy. And some of the little ones just wanted to hang out hoping to catch the feeling of love from a new, possibly parent aged figure. I felt like I was home.
In my mind the kids here behaved exactly as they would back home.
In fact, the people I´ve encountered in South America just seem like the same normal people I´ve known for years. Sure the adults are slightly molded by the environment, but the differences have been few.
I guess one of the big differences here is that strangers are usually more willing to help you, especially the poor. At first I attributed this to them having less to lose, but I think it´s really the community way in which they live. With poverty sometimes at extremes and personal privacy barely present, these people survive living as a group and it seems normal for them for people to ask for help and them to give it.
In my mind the kids here behaved exactly as they would back home.
In fact, the people I´ve encountered in South America just seem like the same normal people I´ve known for years. Sure the adults are slightly molded by the environment, but the differences have been few.
I guess one of the big differences here is that strangers are usually more willing to help you, especially the poor. At first I attributed this to them having less to lose, but I think it´s really the community way in which they live. With poverty sometimes at extremes and personal privacy barely present, these people survive living as a group and it seems normal for them for people to ask for help and them to give it.
In addition, one of the highlights has been meeting, talking with and usually sampling the local beers with travelers from well over 20 countries. It's always interesting to hear their perspectives on politics and country sterotypes, but I've found I have more in common with these people than most back home.
People from different places are really really similar (first common sense statement).
2. While in Lobitos a man selling bread from a basket perched on his shoulder would come by our hostel every morning. It would cost 33 cents for 8 pieces of bread. He couldn´t have made much, his clothes were rags, and I never saw him lose his smile.
On many bus journeys and a few strolls I would find myself in a very poor section of town. Shacks would line the street with gaping holes in the roofs, in the walls, and in the people´s shoes that inhabited them. However, one thing would almost always be a constant in one of these sections of town, tons of people would be outside. Usually congregated around the local store or restaurant, with music shaking through the dusty air, and the people playing a table game of sorts or talking, smiling, and laughing. The joy would be constant... And there is something so much purer in poor joy.
Refreshing to see the cliche living vibrantly around you that money doesn´t make happiness.
3. I´ve encountered far fewer beggars in South America than I have in the US. People want to work. In most places the poor try to at least sell something and earn money.
Refreshing to see the cliche living vibrantly around you that money doesn´t make happiness.
3. I´ve encountered far fewer beggars in South America than I have in the US. People want to work. In most places the poor try to at least sell something and earn money.
4. I´ve talked to many travelers who have traveled the world over and it´s interesting the countries they mentioned with the friendliest people - Iran, Afghanistan, Philippines, Laos. For me Colombia has been the warmest and most welcoming, a bit of a surprise given the US´s rocky history of international relations with Colombia and arguably some continued questionable operations within. What´s even more of a surprise is that formally uneducated Colombians can hate the US, know I´m from the US and still separate me from my government and treat me warmly... a tough concept not even always understood by the most educated
Countries aren´t evil and people are different than their governments
Countries aren´t evil and people are different than their governments
5. Travel times have a whole new meaning. For example a 4 hour trip has become a short ride instead of a debate if there is enough time to make the journey for a weekend.
6. With the group I have been traveling with the last few weeks we've debated the highlights of the travels and changes if we did this trip over again. The highlights are many and cover the whole list of countries, different experiences and many people, while barely any regrets surface.
For me all the countries and almost everything was good.
Bolivia was amazing. A wide range of different cultures, beautiful varied landscapes and was amazingly affordable. Peru was also really good and I wish I had another month to spend there and cover whole sections of the country that were completely missed.... But I guess more time could have been used in almost every place... possibly setting up a return visit for one day.
Next
Fly home tomorrow. I might try to put together a video from the travels, but not sure if I have the technical capabilities. Therefore, if I do it I´ll probably post it here in a month, if not, this is it...
Next
Fly home tomorrow. I might try to put together a video from the travels, but not sure if I have the technical capabilities. Therefore, if I do it I´ll probably post it here in a month, if not, this is it...
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