PURA VIDA

The wife and I are off to Costa Rica tonight for a belated honeymoon. We are both excited to get some beach, sun, surf, and exploration in such a beautiful place. I will post pictures when we get back and hopefully have a few stories worth repeating.

It has been a while since the last post and the main reason for that has been the lack of too much positivity in the world. Blog writing – at least mine – is typically reactionary and demanding of inspiration in some form. We are all inundated today with thousands of quasi-journalists and their take on the situation we are all confronting and I guess the thought of adding something new or positive to that body of work is daunting. And so this trip comes at such a welcome time for me. Costa Rica represents not just a honeymoon; it represents an unbelievable opportunity to escape to a world of basic need satisfaction. Sun, food, sleep, and nature. I look forward to hiding from news of stock markets, bail-outs, housing prices etc. and instead focusing on weather reports, tidal charts, and bar menus. With any hope this refreshment inspires more blog posts upon my return. Who knows, maybe I will get something posted while there. 

Before we take off though I wanted to say a thank you to my parents who are making it all possible. You have spoiled us rotten yet again but I hope you know how much this trip means to us at this particular point in our lives. It is very needed. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts and cannot wait to come back with tans and stories.

Quite A Job…..

Panama and Colombia

As I discussed in my last post, I recently took a trip to Panama and Colombia with my father and a few other co-workers in hopes of finding work there. My dad has done an excellent job of describing how it went at his blog, but I thought I would add a few thoughts of my own, especially in relation to my previous experiences in Latin America.

As he mentioned, the first thing that jumps out at you upon arrival to Panama is the level of development. It is rather remarkable to see a city that has literally been built within the last four years, specifically when it is vertical development as opposed to Los Angeles type sprawl. The skyline of Panama lends itself a certain air of sophistication that a lot of other Latin American cities are missing. I also found that this sophistication extended itself to the people as well, as we truly found some of the nicer hosts we have ever come across the next few days. Most of what I noticed and encountered was already discussed by my Dad quite well, so I thought I would share a few of the lessons I took away from the trip in general.

Most of us from the United States have a tendency to think of Latin America as an autonomous region where there is little difference between the nations. Any person who has travelled to more than one country in the area can tell you how false this is. I have now been to every country in Central America besides Honduras and Belize and this most recent trip was a reminder that each nation has its’ own very unique identity.

Panama has a unique blend of cultures with Spanish, American, Colombian, and even Afro-Caribbean influences. They also seemed to have a far smaller indigenous population than their neighboring countries which certainly shapes their identity differently. Their independence is relatively new and much of their culture today reminds me of a young twenty-something that is making good money for the first time in their life: Their intentions are good but unfortunately there are going to be speed bumps. In this case the speed bump is the growing gap between the haves and have nots, which is directly a result of the massive development that cannot possibly benefit everyone. However, I learned that there seems to be a great recognition of this from upper-class Panamanians and although it is very uncharacteristic for Latin America, there seems to be great concern in solving this problem. We met with several prominent and wealthy Panamanians who all upon having their country complimented, spoke instantly of the need to invest into infrastructure and not squander the opportunity at equality the recent economic growth gives them. These were not the statements of politicians to reporters, they all were in the context of private conversations and all seemed quite genuine. Latin America has a bad history of racism and class warfare, and to hear this coming from the “elite” of a country certainly made me feel optimistic for the prospects of the country.

What further struck me about the recent success in Panama is that it has coincided with the first real few years of independence for the country. On December 31st, 1999, at about a minute before midnight the operation, control, and ownership of the canal was formally turned over to the Panamanians marking the first time in their nation’s history in which they controlled their future. Most people know that the United States policy towards Latin America has been one of intervention and involvement, mainly perpetuated by a belief that these nations were incapable of governing themselves. In fact, in the years and months leading up to the Canal transfer, many American leaders attempted to prove that once in the hands of the Panamanians the canal would somehow fail costing untold billions in damages to companies who use the thoroughfare. What my brief visit to Panama taught me was that the leaders of this country, despite basic growing pains, are more than prepared to govern themselves and seem poised to invest their current prosperity to maximize long term growth and sustainability (as opposed to say every Middle Eastern leader).

I don’t have too much to say about Colombia, mainly because I was only there for about two days or so and could therefore gauge little about the country. Progress seems to have been made in regards to the safety within the country but this seems to have come somewhat at the expense of the nation’s overall economic strength. Most of the people we spoke to seemed to be pleased that it was safer but claimed the economy was in bad shape and that the Government is misleading on reporting economic figures like unemployment. The city of Bogota itself is beautiful and despite some bad weather, I enjoyed the country and would love an opportunity to return and see more.

I will upload my photos to my flickr account which can be accessed here and will try to place titles that explain what you are looking at.

 

Stubborn Ass Spaniards

I am going to try and devote a blog each month to telling stories from my various travels because as we all know foreigners, and their odd behavior, are always good for a laugh. Some of you may have heard this story but I think it is an important one as it was an indelible part of my first abroad experience.

Most of you know I lived in Spain for about 7 months in 2003. While those 7 months were some of the best of my entire life, they also forced me to learn a good deal about patience and allowing “nature to run its course.” I had always considered myself a hard-headed guy, stubborn to a fault I guess.  But upon arriving in Spain I soon found out that I was but an amatuer when it came to obstinance. Let’s just start with this concept: Despite all of the pressures of globalization and the market economy, these people still insist on shutting their business down everyday from about noon to 2:30 so they can get a nice lunch and nap in. Just think about the balls of a practice like that.

Although it took a few weeks to really settle in to this, once I did the stories kept piling up. First it was the rental car company that literally shut the store down in the middle of our transaction. We were trying to rent a nice little Fiat, when the manager advised us we would need to come back in an hour as the parade was coming by and he did not want to miss it. Enterprise this was not. Later it was arguing with a police officer that the man running around masturbating in front of women was a problem even though as he said, “he was not hurting anyone.” I even spent a good deal of time attempting unsuccessfully to convince Spanish friends that George W. Bush did not in fact win 99.8% of the vote to become President. Good times.

As the end of the trip neared these types of run-in’s were happening daily. At the grocery store for instance I was not allowed to touch the produce. They had women who stood at each display and I pointed to the one I wanted. Great service you’d think. The problem was once I chose it I could not put it back so often I would be given the apple to find a massive bruise on the other side. The wierder part was that once in the checkout lane the clerks sat in chairs scanning your stuff but refusing to bag it. The first time I learned this it was awkward. I just kept standing there wondering why the hell this lazy Spanish chick wouldn’t put my avocados in a bag. She just gloured at me, the stupid American. It was quite a stand-off until I finally caved in and began bagging.

But it was in last few days that I was told a story that I think summed up this trait quite well and in a way exemplified my experience in Spain.

I was in Madrid eating lunch with a former boss of mine who happened to now work in the American Embassy. My boss, who was a good guy, was not the type of American you would picture living abroad. This is a nice way of saying he was kind of a control freak. Anyway, his wife and he had just given birth to their first baby and because they knew they were leaving Spain very shortly, they wanted to commerate their stay and their baby’s birth there. They decided to name the child Kyleigh and give her Madrid as a middle name. Cute idea right? So they go to file the birth certificate with the correct government agency and are quickly questioned by the city worker.

“Wait, this is not correct. Madrid is not a name,” he quickly declared. They went on to explain that they knew but they were trying to pay homage to her birthplace and have something to remember their experience by. How naive they were to think this would work. So the argument goes back and forth with the city official declaring that this was not right, that Madrid was not a name, and that he cannot put it on a birth certificate. Finally, after about 20 minutes he seems to give up and my boss and his wife think they have won the argument. They underestimated Spain though, because one thing about Spaniards is they always get the last word.

Two weeks later the birth certificate arrive in the mail and said: “Kyleigh Madrid (I advised them this is not a name and they ignored me. I do not agree with or endorse this)”. As my dad would say, they got Spained.