Archive for December, 2011

Why I like to travel?

Sometimes the lens is on you. How do you react?

Porteños are always curious about why I chose to move to Buenos Aires. They can’t understand why I left the comforts of a developed country like Canada for one with so many problems, like Argentina.

There are plenty of times during the day when I think I can’t stand one more day in Buenos Aires. It’s dirty, the people are pushy, it’s loud, it’s crowded and it takes so long to do simple little things like order a coffee.

What I’ve learned about myself in the almost four months that I have lived here is that I need to work on my patience, and perhaps, just a little, on my xenophobia. I admit that I’m not a great traveler. I panic easily and I need to motivate myself to get out and do things.

In many ways that’s my answer. I chose Buenos Aires, in fact I chose travel, as a means to better myself. Traveling can turn all of us into fools. It can be an embarrassing, yet humbling exercise. My earthly quest as a human being is to constantly improve myself and Buenos Aires has shown me how much work I have ahead of me.

This city, despite its challenges, is one of the greatest in the world.

I was reflecting the other day on subtle differences. Canadians tend to be indirect. I often find that our Canuck culture is built on making people feel less than, undermining their efforts subtly so that we feel better about ourselves. I think about my career, there are many instances I can look back on where tasks were assigned indirectly. I don’t know if that’s because Canadians are concerned about being mannerly or polite, but they almost seem to relish in other people’s failures that result from the lack of clear direction.

Canadians are unhealthily concerned about intelligence and appearing smart, usually at the expense or exploitation of others. They are even obsessed about the intelligence of dogs and cats, as though it means anything if an animal is intelligent. If it’s intelligent it has more value? It is my personal philosophy that every living thing on this planet has equal value, regardless of IQ.

Argentines are more direct. You know exactly what they are telling you to do. There is little back talk, and if they do gossip about you, they will do it to your face. They are not afraid of confrontation, conflict or arguments, being polite, is of little concern to them. But in their blatant, unfiltered honesty, I find that they are more polite than average Canadians.

So that is why I travel. I enjoy exploring the human psyche and understanding how geography shapes the way we view our own personal world. I also like to step outside of my comfort zone, and reflect on what my own country can learn from those it frowns upon.

There is nothing more exhilarating .