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Boca del Toro, Panama
7° 30' N 80° 37' W
Dec 18, 2005 01:15
Distance 0km

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Great times and Good Wisdom

Text written in: English

Noah and I have had a great time here in Bocas del Toro. We've really enjoyed our time staying at Mondo Titu; its a completely relaxed, friendly atmoshphere and we've meet some interesting and fantastic people.

During the week here, I've seen dolphins in a giant lagoon type area filled with jellyfish (the dolphins eat the jellyfish), biked on a road through the jungle on the main island of Bocas, eaten coconuts that I found on the beach, and talked (in spanish) to some locals and travellers. Overall Bocas is a beautiful place, and I love to just walk around the place and see what it has to offer: the people here live very differently than we in america do. For example, today I went to send some things to the u.s. at mailboxes etc., but the store (which I had been assured would be open by the owner) was not open. I was annoyed, but at the same time its part of the culture here, its more informal and slower paced which makes it more relaxed. Sometimes this "relaxed" atmosphere can be frustraing as I talked to 2 german women who absolutely hated the fact that all the locals moved so slow in serving them. I would imagine that this might be especially frustrating to americans too (I definitely was at some points) because we value efficiency so much, but if you just remind yourself that in Bocas your to-do list should defintely be shorter than it is in america, and that sitting down to a lunch that takes an hour and a half is not painful at all in bocas as most likely you are staring out at the ocean. In point of fact, once you accept the fact that things move a little bit slower sometimes, then its quite nice.

 On the topic of different cultures, I think that so far in my trip, my stay at Mondo Taitu has been the biggest confrontation with different types of people. For example I spent an afternoon (sitting in the shade at a beautiful beach), chatting with a spaniard about fraternities, differences between universities in spain and america, and why a lot of people in america have guns. She was shocked at the price of private universities in America, and I was surprised to hear that many spaniards live at home until they are almost thirty. She often times asked if things she had heard about america were true, and most times they were. For example she was not sure if it could be true that a highschool kid might go into school and shoot his classmates, but sadly I had to confirm that this was true almost every year. She had no Idea that healthcare was't free in the U.S. because she looked at the thing as a right (just like a college education).  I was shocked just by the differences between spaniards and americans (both captalist westerners). It was almost mind blowing-  and it made me realize that I cant wait to go to asia where I will be completely lost.

It was also great to see Dan and see his life here. I've been really impressed with what he's done here, and he's had a big impact on how i've looked at my travels. At one point Dan told me that travelling is the best selfish thing you can do, and I never really thought about how true that is. People travel because THEY want to, they leave everyone who may want them to stay, spend their own money on themselves, and go wherever they want when they feel like it. So part of the allure of this type of travelling may be that people can indulge their desires as they see fit. It leads me to think that travelling is a form of assuring yourself that you do have some control over your life and your desires.

By contrast, Dan told me that travelling is a form of taking yourself out of your comfort zone,  which I think is opposed to my thoughts before. If you constantly feel slightly uncomfortable how could travelling be a form of assuring yourself that you do have control? Part of the allure of travel in this regaurd is that you lose yourself in a place or a time and you let the place or the culture dictate how you live. So in a way you lose a little bit of control. Perhaps the two may go together as one who can succesfully travel has controled their desire to lose control in a different place for a time. Does the traveller want to gain control over their life or lose control *question mark* overall its hard to tell as most travellers arent exactly sure what they want on the outside, but if I was to guess right now I would say that whatever it is that travellers are looking for its something they don't think they can find at home, fun, different cultures, music, love, knowledge, etc..