Bucara-whahhh?? and other reflections.

I´m in Bucaramanga. It´s not that cool... it´s sort of just a big commercial city full of shopping centers. I tried hard to enjoy it today, but genuinely couldn´t find anything really to do (except one thing-- I tried the toasted ants! hormigas! yes, ants are the popular snackfood of choice here in Bucaramanga, although I was promised they would taste like peanuts, and they most certainly did not... blah), so I´m enjoying the luxury of taking it easy, something I haven´t done much of lately. I´m staying in an actual hotel, since they don´t appear to have hostels here, and enjoying free internet (notice the miraculous appearance of a couple blog posts I´d had half-written that are now finished and posted). Tomorrow I´m heading to Bogotá to stay again with Gustavo, Diana´s friend there (who is now my friend) for my last night. I´m hoping to arrive in time to have one final hurrah in Bogotá before taking off on Thursday.

Colombia. What a cool country. I´ve met so many of the nicest people here. It´s not at all what the sterotypes say, filled with nothing but cocaine and coffee. The security has been greatly improved in the past few years due to the current president´s reforms, and everywhere you look there are armed military men patroling the roads. There´s no need to be scared-- they are there for our protection, and frankly I feel very safe here. People are generally friendly, open, hospitable, and super fun. There is a rich sense of culture and community here, and such spirit in the air-- music, art, and dance are everywhere. The climate is great (well, Bogotá is a bit chilly...). And I have been so well received that I feel forever indebted.

As usual... my mind is racing about what to do next. Typical Erica, I know, still not clear on the life plan. I´m clear that Argentina is not right for me, and I´m clear that I need some time at home. I miss my family and friends so, so much, and am just dying to see everyone. So much has changed in the past year I´ve been gone, and I want to be a part of it again. But... there is still that tick tick ticking inside me that says... travel... go... explore... it´s just who I am I suppose, and why not just accept that about myself rather than try to resist it?

I´ve been considering teaching in Asia, where the pay is a lot better. I´ve thought a lot about trying to find an internationally-related job back home. Grad school at SIT is a definite possibility, although the money factor scares me to death. And a big part of me wants to put all I can into finding an American company with offices in Latin America to work for, so I can make money in dollars but live here. Idealist.org is calling me. Any job offers, ideas, or pieces of advice are welcome. I wouldn´t say I´m lost, per se, just in a serious period of reflection. I´m looking forward to the moment when I make a decision, and know in my gut that it´s right.

For now, I´m genuinely enjoying this adventure I have been blessed with. Who knows if I will ever have this opportunity again?? I am going flat broke, but going broke has never been so much fun, and I believe getting to know the world, challenging myself, and having these new experiences is 100% worth it. I just hope that this period of time will help me understand myself and the world better, and will help steer me in the right direction...

It´s the little things...

I love the little details that make us who we are, as individuals and as a culture. Like how Americans are so used to tipping, and it seems so ridiculous to people here. Or how a lot (not all!) American men don´t dance because they don´t feel macho, and yet here you´re not macho unless you can dance. Or how a man with a bag in the US is looked at strange (I believe they are called ¨manbags¨or the ever-famous ¨murse¨...man + purse), but here it´s typical... men need to carry things too! How Americans like our meat served in such a way where we can completely disasociate it from the animal from which it came. But here, you get an entire fish or guinea pig (in Peru... Cui!) staring back at you from a plate, or an entire hoof in your ambiguously-named soup. You know, just those silly little things.

In both Colombia and Peru, typically food is served with potatoes or rice, and many times with both. That´s like, the first no-no rule I learned of dieting back home... don´t combine your carbs! But that´s a foreign concept here. You´ll never see a plate of food in Peru without potatoes and rice on it. Colombians also fry just about everything, and add sugar to just about everything, even their natural fruit juices (all hail the maracuyá!!!). Consequently, most of them have a barriga (a belly), and frankly, no one seems to mind. It´s refreshing to be in a culture that embraces people of all sizes, after a year of living among the Argentine anorexia/ body-obsessed community.

In Colombia, when you buy something, you say thank you to the person who sold it to you. In Argentina, when you buy something, they thank you. And forget what your Spanish teacher taught you about saying ¨you´re welcome¨in Spanish... you won´t hear many people saying ¨de nada.¨ In Argentina, they say, ¨no, por favor!!¨very animatedly, which always cracks me up. It´s sort of like saying, ¨oh please, it´s nothing!¨ In Peru they always, always say, ¨con mucho gusto,¨ which is super polite. And in Colombia they always, always say ¨a la orden,¨ which loosely translates to ¨at your service¨, which also sounds super polite. They also use ¨a la orden¨ when you first walk into a store, or even as you walk by a store... so there is constantly, all day long, a million people shouting it to me as I walk down the street. I feel so... serviced!

One more little tidbit, before I hang up my nerdiness for the afternoon. In Argentina, the porteños, the word for the Buenos Aires capital city natives, have a reputation for being the worst... as in, the most closed, unfriendly, sort of douchey in Argentina. People from outside the capital (from provincia) tend to view porteños negatively. Its funny, then, to be here in Colombia and realize it is just the same with the rolos, the word for people native to the capital city of Bogotá. The rolos themselves insist they are the best, while the rest of the country (namely the paisas, people from the coffee zone near Medellin, and the costeños, people from the coast) tends to hate rolos. Personally, I can´t tell the difference, but it´s funny how these sorts of stereotypes are universal, I suppose.

I think it´s these small anecdotes that make me love travel so much. I love saying buena onda and genial in Argentina when I like something, and chévere and bacano in Colombia. I love calling people boludo in Argentina and huevón in Peru and Colombia. I crack up every time someone asks me if I´m from Argentina (happens more than you´d think!) because of my porteño accent I just can´t seem to shake (Sho me shamo Erica!). And I love hearing people´s impressions of their own countries and of mine, and sharing stories. I feel like that´s what travel is all about... the little details from everyday life, that make us who we are.

Ain't like it used to be

You know, I've been thinking about how EASY us travelers have it lately. With all of the technology we have available these days, there is no reason not to communicate or to feel truly disconnected anymore. Times really have changed.

I'm going to make myself sound really old right now. Back when I started really traveling 9 years ago (my first real independent travel experience was when I lived in Granada, Spain in 2000, at the ripe age of 19), cell phones were juuuuust coming into fashion, most of my family didn't use email, and I had (gasp!) a non-digital camera which required me to actually develop film. Skype, ipods, and even this beloved blog weren't even a gleam in my eye... yet.

And that was NOTHING. Four years later, in 2004 I spent 4.5 months living in Havana, Cuba, where I couldn't make a phone call to the US (banned), check email (i had no internet at my house and there were only two computers at my office, and when they were working, they were in hot demand-- so I emailed about once a week, briefly), blog (internet connection was just too slow, and no one knew what a blog was then anyway), facebook (I didn't even have MYSPACE yet, people!), or really effectively communicate with my friends and family at home AT ALL.

Granted, living in Cuba is a specific set of circumstances in itself with more restrictions than most places, but still, when I find myself homesick and disconnected here in Buenos Aires, surrounded by modern technology, I'm humbled by the months I spent in near confinement in Havana, and I'm thankful for all the communication I have. I know my parents are too. :-)

A year after Cuba, in January of 2005 after graduating from college I bought myself the famous one way ticket to Mexico, and much to the horror of my mother, proceeded to largely disappear int the abyss that is Mexico and Central America for about 6 months. I didn't have a laptop, so it was internet cafes all the way. Skype didn't exist (or did it? In any case, I didn't know about it.) and so calling cards were how I called home. Video chat still felt like a thing of the future. Blogging still felt too complicated, uploading photos too slow. I still communicated via the postcard, while my poor parents waited weeks for their respective phone calls to alert them that I hadn't been abducted by guerrillas in Chiapas, wasn't thrown into a Salvadorian prison, had survived my stint in the Guatemalan hospital. I could hear the incredible relief on the other end of the line literally every time I reached my mom.

These days, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, our calls rarely, if ever, reach that level of relief/ desperation. Why? Because she and everyone else knows where I am and that I'm safe at all times. Haven't received an email from me lately? Check my blog. Look at my pictures and read my status updates on Facebook. Call me on Skype for a live video chat. Suddenly 8,000 miles of separation just dissolves.

I listen to music and my beloved Dan Savage podcasts on my ipod... carry photos, important files, and anything else my heart desires with me whenever I want on a tiny and convenient thumb drive... I make calls from my house phone, cell phone, Skype line... I have friends on Facebook and Myspace, Yelp, Messenger, g-chat... I can upload digital photos online with one click...and I can tell you all about it on a this blog.

So as I prepare myself for a long 4 months of travel around South America, I am comforted to know that no matter how far away I am, there is always going to be an internet café in the city nearest me, and there, you are all just one click away.

And YOU will be comforted to know that I am, you know, alive. :-)