"The smile, laugh and dance with greater abandon. They do not exist through, and are not defined by, gadgets and routines to the extent of the western european. Life is hard here, but the people are so profoundly aware of the proximity of death and decay that they hold on tighter. They appreciate what they have so much more, in my opinion."
At my contracts study group yesterday, one of the girls had an old copy of a Lonely Planet from Mexico. I've never really been that interested in Mexico, other than to find out more about the culture that The Mexican was so fiercely proud of. Still, to see the sight of a Lonely Planet sitting there was like finding a sweater I used to wear everyday but hadn't seen in a long time. (I'm not very good at simile comparisons). I borrowed the guidebook to read through.
Everything about it is familiar; the layout, the maps, the sections... I read through the country history, and how to get there, costs... It just sparked something in me. A feeling of, "oh yeah... I know what this is all about!"
The quote from above is from a Scottish traveller in Peru. My next trip, I'm thinking, may come a year and a half from now, and will be in South America.
I like what the Scot wrote above, though; it reaffirmed a lot of what I felt travelling, and what a lot of people (like my boyfriend and best friend in Vancouver) don't understand about the luxury of Western living. Yes, we're rich by any measure, but as the Scot said, "Each feather in our nest makes us more comfortable, but higher from the ground; further from the realities of life, which connect us all."
In the middle of reading the guidebook I found myself wondering, "When did I turn into an old person??" Suddenly, i'm in this vocational program, and I'm thinking about investments, and RRSPs, and how I'm going to save when i'm working... it's all very wise, I know, but just over a year ago, I was so happy, and all I had was a backpack and some diarrhoea pills. Now here I sit on my brand new laptop, typing away with fake nails (yup), wondering how things can be so different in just a year?
But actually, to be honest, I'm pretty happy. Even if I have to work for the next year or two, at the end of the day, I'm enrolled in a specific program that has good job prospects. I liked the idea of this program for the freedom it would give me to leave and go travelling again in the future. It just felt funny to be reading a Lonely Planet knowing that I won't be using one for at least another year, or more.
