Monday August 24 to Thursday August 27 - Peru Week 2 Part 1 - What Have I Learned So Far???

This this week is officially the half way point of my trip. I’ve another 3-1/2 weeks here in Peru before heading over to Europe for some vacation time for another 3 weeks. This trip has been in good part about self-discovery and I wish I could say that I have had an ah-ha moment and everything has become totally clear to me on what to do with the rest of my life. But so far I have not and I really don’t know what I want to do with myself when I return to Chicago. A part of me could easily go right back to what I was doing, at Bretford or some other place, yet another part of me remembers how twisted up I got and I can’t image doing that for another 25+ years. Perhaps the trick is knowing how not to get twisted up with whatever you do and the skill is recognizing when it is going on and heading it off early.

Here is some of what I have learned so far, it is nothing all that deep.

1)      Botswana – I don’t care for manual labor. Mentally I am OK with it and think there is something respectable and “manly” about putting in the work compared to sitting at a desk. But physically my body won’t take it. Perhaps if I did it for six months I would be accustomed to it but that six months would be very painful.

2)      Botswana – I am not a tree hugger. I like the wilderness and wild animals and want to protect them but I am nowhere near as into it as some of the people I met in Botswana. Not that there is anything wrong with it, the world needs people like that and I support it, I just am not that far to the left. Perhaps too spoiled by age and “civilization”. I thought the owner was a bit of a hypocrite talking about how horrible the rich Americans and Europeans are to the 3^rd world and the planet yet she is buying up a big part of Botswana and fencing it off with her neighbors as a preserve not allowing the locals to visit or use it without their permission. Yes, it is to preserve the area but also for her enjoyment of the space and she makes money off it. Perhaps she is not rich by American or European standards but in comparison to the locals, she is loaded. It seems to me she is just a local version of what she does not like about the Americans and Europeans. Perhaps the lesson is that it is human nature to take advantage and use things and other people. Perhaps that is not a good thing but it is a part of human nature and I think the goal is it needs to be kept in check. The good news is humans are capable of doing that, sometimes it just takes social media to do it.

3)      South Africa – The beach/surfing life agrees with me. I have to say that I dug working on the beach and the pace that went with it and could easily see myself living in Muisenberg South Africa. Perhaps it makes sense as the Outer Banks of North Carolina is one of my favorite places. In part because of the trips we took there as a kid but also I just like the lifestyle.

4)      South Africa – I also like doing something that feels like it is improving the lives of somebody else. The surf project in South Africa really centered on providing options and a release to people in trouble or less fortunate than I, and in a sense giving them what I am giving myself with this trip.

5)      South Africa & Peru – I like to eat healthy. I don’t care to shop at Whole Foods because it is absurd how much they charge and I really don’t like it that much to dedicate so much of a paycheck to that. Nor do I really need to have my meet and produce come from a farm that I know and can trace the cow from. All fine but I feel like I can eat just as healthy from the Jewel and Trader Joe’s. But I do like to eat healthier than the countries I have visited. I ordered a salad once for lunch in South Africa and they looked at me like I was queer (not intended as an insult.) So I do not need to have meat at every meal and as “the meal.” I also need less starchy stuff. It has only been two weeks in Peru but they eat potatoes, rice and/or bread with every single meal, sometimes as the meal. All well and good but I would put on a ton of weight if I ate like this all the time.

6)      South Africa & Peru – I am rich by most standards in the world. And for my friends you are too. You may not think you are but you should count yourself lucky to live in either the United States, Canada or Europe where you enjoy a much higher standard of living than many people in other parts of the world do. There is a reason that so many people try to go to the United States or Europe and that is because the standard of living is much better and the opportunities much greater. So the next time I or you feel like you are poor and life sucks, perhaps it is good to remember that there are a whole lot of people out there who would trade places with you in a heartbeat. There are always people who have more money, things or opportunities than you do, but none the less as an American, Canadian or European we are still very lucky by birth. It is not something to be ashamed of, any more than being born in a place where the living is not so good, but it is good to keep it in perspective.

7)      South Africa & Peru – The people I have met have been very open armed and generous with me. Granted my host families get money to house me from Project’s Abroad but they have been very willing to help and always wanting to know if everything was alright and if there was anything more they could do for me. They share their booze, would feed me until I burst if I let them, invite me to their family parties, and so on. This is not a part of their agreement with Projects Abroad and they don’t have to do this. I’ve grown conscious that I am very well off in their eyes yet, they don’t hesitate to share what they have with me. It is a good example to learn from.

8)      South Africa & Peru – Tolerance is another thing that I am leaning. There are a lot of people in the world that do not think the same way as I do and just because they don’t think the same way does not make them bad people or even wrong, they just have a different opinion. For all of you who hate Nancy Pellosi or Ted Cruze, go for it, they both drive me nuts and I think they are both crazy. I do not feel either one of them are part of the normal world but the political one. But I notice a lot of what I call “hate the haters” posts on Facebook about how terrible this person is or how horrible society is to one group or another and how these people are crazy, stupid, racist, even evil Nazis. Let’s use the dentist and who killed the lion as an extreme example. People hate this person and propose doing all sorts of horrible things to him because he did something horrible to a lion. It was wrong in my opinion and he should not have done it but often the conversation is not always rational but often just hateful. How is giving this guy and his family, whom you don’t know a thing about, death threats. How does that make you anything but a total hypocrite? It is wrong to do it to a lion but perfectly OK to do it to his entire family? I don't like hunting if you don't eat what you kill but for some this is a normal way of life. My point is this, somebody may not agree with you and their opinion may be even offensive, but that does not automatically qualify them as an evil person comparable to Nazis. Perhaps they just don’t understand something in the same way you do and perhaps you don’t understand their point of view either. Another example is I have met people on my trip who do not think positive things about Americans but talking to them about it often leads me to believe they don't have the full story and I may not have seen it from their point of view before. So having a little patience with people who don’t see things the same way you do is a good thing. Listening before hurtling the insults is also a good thing. Another way to think of it, when a homeless person gets insulting with me because I don’t want to give them any money it does not make me see their need or point of view any clearer. If anything, I will not listen to them and walk away even faster and be even less tolerant when somebody else needs something next time.

I have also learned a bit more of what I miss so far.

1. Friends and Family – I miss them and it will be good to see them again. However I’ll add that via the internet and telephone I am able to keep up with much of it as well or in some cases better than when I was living in Chicago. But perhaps there is a lesson here too that it is important to do a better job of this when I am not traveling.
2. Driving – I miss driving my car, both the crappy VW that I hate and the Buick which I love.
3. Biking – I miss biking along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. However I do not miss the 3^rd year of construction Chicago has been doing on the bike trails. How is it possible to pave an interstate faster than Chicago can fix and pave a one lane wide bike trail.
4. Healthy Foods – As I mentioned I miss being able to eat healthier, fruits and vegetables as a part of one’s diet is not the norm in South Africa and especially Peru. I’ll add a note that this probably has as much to do with the cost of importing them as anything else and I am lucky to be an American where we can import them from every corner of the planet and sell them at the Jewel.
5. Unhealthy Foods – I miss hamburgers, hotdogs and pizza. And Mexican food, I miss that too. I can get some of this stuff in South Africa and Peru but it is not the same thing.
6. American Style Coffee – It takes a bad rap but I miss drinking coffee at a coffee shop. It can be Starbucks, Peet’s, whatever. In South Africa they put so much milk in their coffee I would more call it drinking milk. In Peru they look at me like I am weird when I ask for milk for my coffee. I don’t know what coffee in Europe will hold for me yet but they really hate coffee in America so I am guessing it won’t be what I miss.
7. Putting Toilet Paper In The Toilet – You can’t do that in Peru due to the size of the pipes. Thank God my ancestors decided the new world would be a good place to go in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. I am hoping they don’t have the toilets that shoot water up your ass once I get over to Eastern Europe!