coming home, and a summary

i have never been so grateful to come home as i was yesterday. cheryl's, kt's and smutty's parents came to pick them up, while andy drove from buffalo to pick me up. i then went out for a solid korean meal with andy and my dad. awesome! :D

coming home is both scary and exciting all at once. we are all beginning new lives, and as of friday, ending our school careers. kavitha knows what is going on next with her job and new place, but cheryl, smutty and i are all switching careers and all need to figure it out, which should be interesting! it will be neat to see what we are doing in two months time.

so as probably my last post in this blog, i wanted to summarize a couple of things i learned on this trip, things i am grateful for, as well as some of the things that i deemed highlights!

things that i learned from this trip:

1) injustice of colonialism - the story of south america is spanish colonialism, save for brazil. tons of indigenous tribes were wiped out from disease as well as violence, and it wasn't until they gained independence over the past 200 or so odd years. but with the spread of catholicism and the spanish language and customs, did they really gain any independence whatsoever, save for administrative functions? hmmm.

2) american style litigation seems to be what motivates people to put warnings (i.e. coffee is hot! warning, there is a hole here!) on things in north america. it seems that where there are not large sums of money involved, it's up to you to exercise caution.

3) boxer briefs - as we learned from keith, boxers are hard to come by in every part of the world save for north america. oy!

4) processed food - is virtually non-existent in the countries we visited. and boy was it refreshing! the economics of buying local food were a lot more balanced, i.e. not perverted by crazy subsidies. and the food, particularly in peru, was amazing!

5) travelling as a luxury - travelling for prolonged periods of time is a luxury that it seems only residents of G7 countries can afford.

6) you can only be helped if you help yourself first - camilla raised a good point that in the slums, that they can help the residents as much as they can, but some people are too lazy to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty and don't care to get out of it.

7) purchasing only well-constructed things - i have learned more and more that it is better to purchase high quality items rather than things that will break quickly. things especially where people have taken pride in making then item. on a similar note, driving down prices as much as possible is a bad thing to do - cheating people for less than they're worth is not worth it because it has to compensate somewhere.

8) being openminded - i have learned that with many things in travel, it is important to go in with no expectations whatsoever and you just have to go with the flow. especially with language differences, listening first instead of bombarding people with questions is key.

9) vegetarian, vegan, no-cholesterol, gluten free, sugar-free, etc. seem virtually non-existent in other parts of the world where they have a stronger connection to their food.

10) the desire of learning Spanish was really strong for me throughout the trip. i felt as though i would have gotten a lot more out of it!

11) my travel buddies - i was glad to learn so much more about arti, bossi, cheryl, kavitha and keith! they were all so fun to travel with.


in terms of things i have been extremely grateful for since coming home:
- very little pollution
- consistently hot, powerful showers (although currently, our hot water heater broke - i wonder if i cursed it by coming home)
- the support of my family and friends
- central heating - i can't believe how warm we are in the wintertime and how much we take it for granted.
- clean clothing
- fast internet

and lastly, my favourite and least favourite parts of the trip:

favourite:

1) raro raraku in easter island
- the mountain where all the moais were made were totally neat. i had been waiting to see that for many, many years! i was giddy like a kid in a candy store, seeing all the moais!

2) the slums in rio
- this was an extremely eye opening experience that i doubt i would have seen without knowing camilla. props!!!

3) salar de uyuni, bolivia
- the endless expanse of white was breathtaking!! it was almost like being at one of the poles.

4) eating trout in lake titicaca
- i have never had such fresh fish before. YUM!

least favourite:

1) altitude sickness and cold in laguna colorada in bolivia
- talk about wanting to get out of somewhere ASAP. major headaches, nausea, and heart palpitations.

2) cholito wrestling
- probably one of the least humane things i have ever beared witness to. oy.

3) santiago in general
- was smoggy, smoky and unexciting.

and lastly, to all the readers of the blog, thanks for reading!!