The Search
Trip Start
Feb 10, 2006
1
22
32
Trip End
May 31, 2006
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
It's the same sensation when you're visiting an entirely new place, you see something that's new to you, and the deeply unconscious, involuntary prejudice we have inside, bonds you to your home and you think "Wow, I'd never see this back home". The chances are that you probably did see it before, in another space and with different colors, scents and words, so it all appears different but in essence nothing's really new.
Maybe some religious ritual in a city in South East Asia looks completely new to you but you've probably been though the same when you went to your baby cousin's baptism, or an Easter celebration with chocolate eggs backs home. I'm sure Hindus in India might look at it all and think "Wow, I'd never see this back home". So it's not really the situations that change, but the spectators. And with those spectators come the idiosyncrasy, the culture, the language, the customs, which all make how we deal with certain new spectacles exciting and completely unknown.
01 Granaderos
This is why we travel. To get away from what we know to be normal; from what we know to be our commonplace. And to observe another people's natural order and in some level want to take part in it.
Are we escaping from our lives? Most probably so. Even if you travel for a week or for 10 years, for that amount of time you leave yourself behind and everything you know along with it, and instead of being the player, you become the spectator, the voyeur. You do all the things you probably wouldn't be able to do back home. You do all the things you wouldn't want to be seen doing back home. You find yourself talking to people you probably wouldn't be talking to back home. You might even find yourself saying things had never crossed you mind before.
So is it all about discovering yourself? Are there really things about you to discover? Or do you unconsciously pick who you want to be and program it in as you go? I recently had a very interesting talk with a smart friend (Hi Rich)and we came to the conclusion that we probably all waste our time trying to find ourselves. It's not like we have some secret potential deep inside us just waiting to flourish. These things come from the social habits we learn, our likes, dislikes, but most importantly, what we want. We usually don't find ourselves doing something which we HATE with amazing ability and expertise. We are usually good at the things we like. Because we choose them, and we program it in our systems.
Not too long ago I tested myself. For the 27 years that I've been alive, I've always hated melon. I not only disliked the taste but I also disliked the color and its smell. This was not a spoiled attitude but rather a real rejection. One day I sat down with a full melon, and decided it was time to start liking melon. I don't know how I did it, but I incorporated it in my food list. Even though the example is simple and easy, it led me to believe that a lot of the habits we have are indeed social, capricious habits. And we can decide what we want and how we want it and actually accomplish it.
So no, I don't think people travel to find themselves, I think people travel to find who they want to be. And when they find this, the time comes to start formulating and programming it all in. Could take a day or could take years.
Most of these questions and affirmations I will most probably answer or change during my trip. Nothing is ever definite and nothing is ever constant. We should all be as fickle and ever-changing as the lives we lead.
