Well, Carnival has come and gone, and so have a few thousand people. This quiet little beach town turned into a loud, crowded, and dirty tourist hotspot for about 4 days. The beaches, once practically empty, became impossible to find a small piece of sand to lay your belongings. All hostels and hotels were at maximum capacity, which made my job very easy (“No hay habitaciones, amigo”). We had a pretty good group of travelers staying here for the weekend, which made the experience a little more fun. Four Chilean’s, an American, a girl from Holland, and myself spent our afternoons enjoying adult beverages at the hostel then going to concerts on the beach in the evening.
The weekend ended way to soon, as weekends tend to do, and almost immediately the town once again the slow-paced city by the bay that I was missing. The beach was mine once again, the hostel cleared out, and prices were returned to normal. Life is overly simple once more. I spend my days reading, going to the beach, growing my beard, and talking to travelers. That’s the best part of living long term in a hostel. While it isn’t the greatest saying goodbye to people all the time, you do have a constant flow of new and interesting people coming into your life. Everyone has a story, and most of them are worth listening to.
I am about halfway through this adventure and found myself reflecting on all of the other day. My views on the world have certainly been reshaped. Before I came down here, and even a month or so into the trip, I looked at life in the states as “the way it should be” and compared everything that was different to life back home. Almost as if I thought they got this or that wrong. Typical American arrogance I guess. Now I view the way of life both here AND in the states as a way it could be but not the way it should be. There is no right or wrong culture, no better or worse. It also gets depressing to see some people cringe when you tell them you are American.
American’s have a terrible reputation with travelers. We tend to complain a lot, don’t embrace other cultures, and have a very elitist attitude over people from other countries. Something I have learned about us that never seems to be said, we are soft. Not all of us, but enough. I used to pride myself on my 60 hour work weeks. I worked for what I had. I complained when I worked too much, but really what did my work entail? Most of it was involved around watching sports, or walking around a restaurant cleaning tables. And it supplied me with more than enough income. I went to bars, spent money on food that sometimes would go bad before I got around to eat it, wasted gas, water, and electricity out of laziness, bought things I didn’t NEED (a lot of things), paid rent and bills, and still have enough to save about $500 a month that eventually led to this trip. Sure I “earned” the money, but people elsewhere work a whole hell of a lot harder for less, but complain a whole lot less as well. They don’t have cars, don’t go out to eat a lot, and get the most out of all they have. And they are happier. I remember when our dryer went out at home and we had to hang our clothes. I thought it was such an inconvenience. No one uses dryers down here. And they are happier.
This is not an attack on my homeland. I love America and wouldn’t want to be from anywhere else. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I guess this is more of a call to action. We aren’t better than anyone else, and even if you believe we are don’t look down on every other country and culture. Nothing is ever wrong with humbleness, and maybe over time, the rest of the world won’t hate us. Maybe.
On a very different note, I just want to offer my congratulations to the Sonoma State Men's basketball team, who will be hosting their first ever home playoff game on Tuesday. And a very contradicting spin, congratulations to Jake Lovisolo on his CCAA regular season championship with Chico State.
I will be staying here for another week or so then back on the road. Unless something exciting happens I probably won't post again until I leave, but exciting things rarely happen here. And that's just fine.
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