AA's SA farewell

Our time in South America is at its end… I vividly remember arriving in Buenos Aires to a lost bag and a Spanish vocabulary of less than a dozen words and later that day lying on the hide-a-bed of our first downtown apartment thinking to myself how we had 8 months and that I couldn’t wait for the time to evaporate to see what’s in store. Now I’m having thoughts (many of us find ourselves imagining from time to time) of wishing I could rewind the last 8 months. Jenny and I are flying back to Florida tomorrow where we have plans to explore the states until the end of July when we return home to Denver.

This experience has been wonderful in so many ways. It’s definitely hard to put into words what we’ve learned and how our perspectives have grown from living inside the States and the day to day to now living in South America for several months. By being immersed in this part of the world and only viewing and hearing little news and events from the States through a few forms of media as well as locals viewpoints – I feel many of the beliefs and assumptions I once had have now been altered somewhat due to the realities and life outside our borders. I was so unaware or hidden. This limited access to our culture, society, and customs has caused all I’ve known growing up and been exposed to in the professional world to slowly drift deep in the back of my mind. The duration of our stay has been long enough that it’s opened a window for these new cultures, customs, and lifestyles to penetrate and form a layer over my prior belief systems and way of life in the U.S. I now see happiness is much easier to attain than I once believed. Life can be simpler with less stress.

Some of the ways I feel my outlooks have changed somewhat are in the way I view food, eating out, shopping, cars, clothes, houses, careers, and many other things. One of the things I now realize is how much of a waste it is for me to have a really nice "cool" car – especially with the burdens it can potentially cause financially. After the time here and constantly seeing tiny, compact, little cars and trucks it makes you realize how much money could be saved for more important things and for me to use for travel again in a few years. When I first arrived I couldn’t believe everyone drove all these types of cars and trucks as for the most part I’d never seen any vehicles alike in the U.S. I basically thought they looked hilarious. Now I find myself wanting one and realizing how much easier it would be. After all, most of what a car is good for is getting you from point A to point B. The rest of the time it's just chillin' by itself somewhere anyway... That’s one of the reasons I mention the belief systems of our society and the influence it has on us growing up. It’s way too easy to just get lost in the hustle and bustle of everything and only pay attention to acquiring, building career, advancing, and then soon finding yourself on a road of pressure, strain, and constant worry.

It makes me almost sad in a sense to realize why people’s attitudes and thoughts (in several countries) are as they are about Americans and our society. I still get annoyed each time I hear someone from down here (or Europe) crack on the United States in general or about its decisions, views, and use of power. I admit that I can now see what they’re referring to sometimes. I suppose I just never wanted to agree or believe certain things about the U.S. and maybe subconsciously protected myself from letting anything negative stick in my head. I still love the U.S., desire to live there, and am proud to be an American, but just think we have areas in which we promote too many false assumptions and directions to our younger generations that lead to more stress and possible harm than needed.

I wish I could transfer all my experiences, conversations, and what I’ve learned telepathically to all I know so they could see what I’ve witnessed in the cultures, customs, food, transportation, poverty, people, happiness, and the awareness traveling creates in you. Then maybe the last few paragraphs would be a little clearer for some of you. Living in South America has definitely made me appreciate the things I have that I didn’t think were much before, such as the house we have that is plenty big and equipped with all we could need (before we left we nearly chose to close on a new and larger one), the vehicle I have (again, before leaving I nearly purchased a bran new truck with all the whistles - only because mine was older and I just wanted to have a “new” truck), and the heaps of clothes back home in my closet that I thought were crappy – just because they were a few years old I had the belief I needed new ones and began to desire the new looks.

Backpacking through these countries has also made me realize the many luxuries at our disposal that we so easily take for granted – even small things like: not having to pay for water in restaurants, or free refills on soda, coffee, and even water, actually having toilet paper in a public restroom and not having to pay for it or bring your own – also being able to flush it as opposed to throwing it in a waste basket next to the toilet. Actually having hot water for showers and sanitary conditions nearly everywhere we go inside our country.

A challenge that I foresee (and that I look forward to) will be coming back to the States and holding on to some of these viewpoints and discoveries as I begin to live and work in our culture and society again. I know some things have changed with the economy and philosophies since we’ve been gone – I just don’t want to fall back into all the false beliefs and assumptions I had and have grown up with before having this journey.

It's been neat to see the progression of how much we've changed in the way we travel and noticing the improvement and efficiency each time we pack up and head for the next leg of our journey. The stress level in the “moving on” has gone down immensely now that we have a good idea of how things work with transit (inner-city and long distance), places to stay on arrival, and the fact that our Spanish level is good enough to understand and say what we need.

I’m pretty sure I won’t even realize all the benefits this year of travel has brought us until several months have passed in being home. I do know it's been wonderful for my marriage with Jenny. We have discovered so many other things about each other that we had no idea about before – just further confirmation our relationship is true for the fact that even in the difficult times and stresses this journey has presented we’ve stuck together, learned to accept, compromised, and found solutions best for both. I feel some roles have come into play and been defined as well without consciously trying to figure them out. One of the things I’ve come to love about Jenny is the way she thinks, plans, organizes, and her practicality and logic in most situations. She’s wonderful! I often find myself looking at her as she sleeps and while traveling from place to place on over-night buses thinking how amazing, beautiful, and incredible she is and how happy I am that God introduced us.

Traveling together for this amount of time side by side, every day all day, without really anytime apart for privacy or individualism and mixed together with all the decisions to be made from where to go, what to eat, which way to turn, where to sleep, and who farted :) can be pretty overwhelming at times. Then adding to it the stresses of new areas and potential danger combined with the additional fact of recently being married last July has been the exam of my life in the most positive way.

We definitely do well together and have learned each others ways and how to work together. I do have to say my Mom said it best in a casual email to me, “This has been quite an experience for a newly married couple – all the adjustments and the learning curve of being newly married and getting used to each others’ personality, mannerisms, quirks, needs, etc. and then doing it 24/7 could have been quite a challenge to a “new” relationship. I sensed that the two of you could do it successfully.”

Thanks Mom! You definitely hit the nail on the head!

Thanks everyone for sticking with us and following along on this wonderful journey and most of all thank you God Almighty for your guidance, protection, and the numerous blessings you’ve provided.

Onward and upward…

- AA