Thoughts on travel ~ One of many lessons I learned in early adulthood is that all cultures and sub-cultures pretty much agree on one thing: they are the best. Best food, best drivers, best athletes. They are smartest, most attractive and are divinely chosen. Some people, from all cultures, travel more or less to prove that point. They come home with tales of bad coffee, rude cab drivers and general incompetence. “… we do things so much better here at home, blah blah blah…” Others travel to immerse themselves in new experiences. Fresh colors, aromas and topographies. They remember what they liked and bring it home with them in the form of a story or a photograph or an idea. They share their passions  with other curious people. The world in turn becomes a tiny bit better place. That is the attitude I hope to bring to the table.

I’m far from a habitual traveler but I have been around a little bit. Europe, North America, Asia. I usually don’t try to hide what I am when I find myself out of my “element”. In the early seventies I hitchhiked and rode some freight trains around the US and Canada. I wore my hair long and was often mistaken for a hippie which made it easy for people to put me into a certain category. Of course I saw myself quite differently. Just a quiet young guy from the suburbs, eager to observe and get along with people. I was crazy for music and hungry for adventure. I bathed regularly  and was certainly not into drugs. I approached people with respect. Usually I was rewarded with a certain amount of respect in return. As Canned Heat sang in a song popular at the time “…It’s the same all over, good people everywhere we go!”

The other side to that coin, naturally, is that there are some real SOBs out there and I ran into more than my share. Some wanted to kill me and others just wanted to cut my hair or verbally abuse me. There are open-minded but also small-minded folks everywhere in the world. Some are interested in healthy cultural exchange while others prefer to live their lives in fear of those who look or act differently from themselves.

As we travel about Argentina and Uruguay, we will not attempt to disguise who we are. We are tourists. Travelers from the United States eager to absorb as much of the local culture as we can. We’ll take photographs and try to post the best ones here along with some written impressions. We’ll be cautious when we need to and we’ll always endeavor to be respectful. Does this mean that I’ll root for Argentina in the Copa America Centenario finals as it plays out in the US while we’re in Argentina? ABSOLUTELY! (But hopefully Clint Dempsey and the USA will have already knocked them out in the semi-finals) ~ D