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What are ‘family values’? How can quality of life be accurately measured? Having just returned from a semi-extended trip, these thoughts run through me. I love America. Love doesn’t mean you don’t find faults and try to improve. Finding faults doesn’t mean you want a divorce either.

French Family Values – New York Times

For example, I’ve found that many people refuse to believe that Europe has anything to teach us about health care policy. After all, they say, how can Europeans be good at health care when their economies are such failures?

Now, there’s no reason a country can’t have both an excellent health care system and a troubled economy (or vice versa). But are European economies really doing that badly?

First things first: given all the bad-mouthing the French receive, you may be surprised that I describe their society as “productive.” Yet according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, productivity in France – G.D.P. per hour worked – is actually a bit higher than in the United States.

Crystal, my traveling companion was on her first major trip outside of the confines and relative security of the USA. More than one fight (of more than a couple total ) was started by my comments on life outside the US versus life here. For me, life outside the US tends to focus more on interpersonal relationships, family and pleasure for its own sake (good and bad). Life here (again, in my opinion) leans more towards career, money and success (in a myriad of forms). Here I feel the need to suceed. Everyday. While I’m away I can relax and leave some goals for tomorrow and just enjoy being. Not trying to be anything, just be-ing.

Some of those feelings may be predicated on the fact that abroad, most times, it is a vacation for me. Given my history of extended (lengthwise… 1 month, 6 months etc.) travels I believe I do have a clear perspective that its not all vacation. At some point even extended trips turn into everyday life. Gotta eat, pay the rent, take a bath, get a haircut. Email starts piling up, funds get low, I have my computer, I can always find a job to do locally or back here. Its good for sanity’s sake too, a little bit of normalcy when the exotic becomes mundane. [Its hard to remember you're an average looking guy when you hear 'sexy man' catcalls on the street in Bangkok a hundred times a day for weeks on end. A client screaming for the final build of a project has a way of bringing reality crashing in.] I have a unique job that I can work from anywhere at any time, I just need a box and a job to do. Seeing the world while I do it is my biggest reward.

Democracy is a blessing on the world.

A free market economy fuels productivity.

Balance is key.

Related Link: Science of Identity Foundation | Real knowledge – Sri Ishopanishad: Mantra 11

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This summer’s series of travels is finally over. Arrived home from Buenos Aires Saturday afternoon. Nice not staring at a computer for hours on end for nearly five weeks total now. To recap, I left for Venezuela on 5/11. I had planned to spend about two months exploring Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina. Due to issues back here, I returned home for a month in the middle and picked up back in Argentina at the beginning of July.

Many great stories from my paper (ie. offline/real) journal that I hope to get copied over here sometime shortly.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from Argentina and Venezuela.

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We went to the grocery store to stock up on miscellaneous items for the trek up Roraima (and things we forgot to bring). It was a supermarket in an eight-story mall in the nicer part of Caracas. [I wanted to go to the open-air fresh market to see how the locals really shop, but I imagine they would have been out of Colgate.] Immediately opposite the main entrance there is a baby grand piano. It was a nice serenade for our shopping experience. Except for the piano and the immense selection of fresh vegetables and fruit, the market could have been in Austin.

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Thursday I went for my visa at the somewhat more friendly Brazilian Embassy here in Caracas. Sharing a good sized border, I’m sure they get lots more traffic. I get the form and find out it requires a picture (actually, I had planned on the photo, even carried the extras from the Russian visa fiasco with me down here. If only I had them with me when I left Bob’s that morning.) No problem, mall close by, sit for photos, go get a coffee whilst I fill out the forms. Some amazing questions I had to answer. These are a few word-for-word…

• Are you a drug addict or drug consumer?
• Have you ever been a drug dealer?
• Have you practiced prostitution or been pimp?
• Have you ever taken part in genocide?
• Have you ever ordered, incited, helped or taken part in persecution to any person because of race, nationality or belief under the direct or indirect command of Germany’s Nazi government or any of its Allied or occupied countries?

Those were really word for word. I wrote them down.

For some reason here (you can guess why), no one takes money directly. If you go into a fast food café you order from a cashier, pay there, then take your ticket to the kitchen window, order your food again and show them you have paid. They have proper sit-down restaurants too, but they are always more upscale.

Government services are this way to. If only I’d known that before, I could have saved a lot of scratching of the head. Back at the embassy, Brazilian consul guy hands me a deposit slip and points to the bank. Why do I have to pay a deposit for a visa? No English of course, so he can’t explain, but it’s obvious no deposit, no visa, so off we go. I need to deposit 240,000 Bolivares (2500 Bs = $1). Interestingly that is almost $100, which is what the visa is supposed to cost. Maybe?

Checkout the new pictures

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Welcome to Caracas, the murder capital of the world. Five million people in Caracas, last week there were forty-seven murders. This I did not know.

In case some of you don’t know, I left last Wednesday (5/11/05) for South America. I flew into Caracas, Venezuela and fly home from Buenos Aires, Argentina some time in June or July. Between the two, Michael and I don’t have much set in stone. The highlights should be: Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world at 3300 ft; Roraima, the mountain (~9000ft) from Conan-Doyle’s Lost World, a 4-day boat down the Amazon from Manuas to Belem; Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.

What would a trip without visa troubles? Brazil requires a visa for any American to enter. The fee is officially called a ‘Reciprocity’ fee (at $100 its pretty steep for a visa). We give them a hassle to come into the US, so they return the favor. The Houston Brazilian Consulate website says five business days for processing, but I talked to several that have done it in the last few years as next day service. The not-so-friendly staffer must not have liked the look of me because his solution was for me to change my trip. When I confused the issue by mentioning that I was flying in to Caracas and wouldn’t be into Brazil for several weeks, he said I could get the visa in Venezuela and was through with me. I knew this, but wanted to only rely on that if I had to. As you may remember, getting a visa outside of the USA (and in another language) can be a task itself.

I don’t know how these things always happen to me. The Atlanta-Caracas flight, my seat was in between two pairs of Polish models on their way to a fashion show in Caracas. Hey, I’ve been to Poland! Somehow I managed an invite to a party at a club in Caracas hosted by the designer they were going to be doing the show for. I also now have a place to stay if ever I am in New York or Warsaw.

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Beijing, China
We stayed in Beijing for 8 days spending our first few days with a group of Swiss, British and Japanese travelers we met on the train from Mongolia and the final five with Swedes who finally made it to town.

Remember Eric, Sara and Linda who were kicked off the train leaving Russia? They were kept in a holding room until the train left the station and then kicked back out into the station for the night, where locals were waiting to change their money right there (at a greatly unfavorable rate). Had they not been held in limbo, they could have quickly changed their euros/dollars into rubles and gotten back on the train with the rest of us. Chalk another one up for the wonderful Russian tourist relations.

I think all we did was eat our way around Beijing. The first meal, we each ordered a plate of food (eight total), to the smiles and snickers of the very-little English speaking staff. If we had an extra four mouths to feed, I don’t think we could have eaten it all. Every meal was wonderful, and we became more and more bold ordering anything thing that ended with, in hot chili sauce. We didn’t have a chance to try any of the local delicacies like barbequed scorpions, whole baby chickens, snake (the Swedes had the snake one night before we hooked up with them and said it tastes like very fatty chicken). Our outing to the night market to try all of these was called off because of a sudden downpour (oh well).

We spent one day hiking the Great Wall and one day in the Forbidden City and the rest just wandering around. The wall hike was to an unrenovated part of the wall and proved to be quite a strenuous adventure climbing up and down over parts that had succumbed to the surrounding terrain. Had this been back home, I think our whole trek would have been declared off-limits because of the lack of safety.

See the pictures

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