Colonial Style with Angry People

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Trip Start Apr 09, 2006 Previous
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  Sucre, Bolivia
Monday, April 2, 2007

Sucre is a small city with a rich colonial history.  As evidence, many of the public spaces, buildings and churches remind me of that rich, colonial past.  I came here for recovery time after the excursion into the Salar.  Felix and I arrived and have done nothing more productive than walk to the city center to find some food or spend time talking with other travelers.  Looks like Felix will stay here to study Spanish (his is already quite good), but I've decided to move on to La Paz after spending only a few days wandering the city.

On a less pleasant note, the Israelis in South America are driving me mad!  Generally, Israeli travelers have a reputation for being unsociable and just plain mean and grumpy.  You're walking down the street and step aside for someone coming near you while saying "excuse me" and smiling and they simply grunt and roll their eyes.  They travel in large groups and take over every place they encounter and rebuff any attempt by outsiders to engage them.  Of course this is the stereotype and not all Israelis are like this.  I know this first hand because I've met some great ones in the past year - Moshe, Reud, Neti.....WHERE ARE THE GOOD ONES LIKE YOU??

I'm seriously getting to the point that I don't even give an Israeli a chance when I meet them.  I find myself sneaking away every time a large group speaking Hebrew is in earshot.  Just yesterday I was with a group of three others for lunch (that I had just met and really didn't know) - we walked through a little cafe, all heard and saw the Israeli group and made polite suggestions to each other that we go to another place.  None of us said a word against anyone or even mentioned the Israeli group; yet, we all knew why we wanted to go elsewhere.  Step into a shop and you find an angry Israeli shouting at the shopkeeper because they think they're being cheated.  Internet cafe - hostel - bus station - same story.  I don't even know how they can enjoy traveling in that constant state.

I've become a racist.  No - what is it called when you assume something about someone because of their nationality?  It's not their religion...I know tons of Jews that aren't Israeli that are great.  I've discussed this topic with several travelers and we never come to any meaningful conclusion.  For now, I guess I'll write it off as something I don't understand and try to avoid them as much as required to ensure I continue to have a good time and meet good people.

Oh - the last week has also included the loss of my iPod (my fault) and one of my ATM cards.  I left it in a machine and the next person came along and withdrew $150USD!

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