4/30/15
It always amazes me when I tell people I have worked in the U.S. since 2001. (Man that make me feel old…) Through the years of working, I have learned a few U.S. Idiosyncrasies: taking about NFL is usually a good conversation starter; knowing someone’s hometown earns brownie points, and never ever discuss politics (especially in the last 5 years). For a country that is so vast with a large population, people in U.S. seem to find comfort in familiarity. With the “invention” of Fox News, news programs started to take on an angle for profit. Conservatives and liberals fill airwaves with their own views and agendas. Politics has become a conversation filled with land mines. (Getting off my soap box now, thanks for reading! Wait, where are you going?!)
The second day of the Salar de Uyuni tour started at 7am. I think everyone slept poorly, so we were all up and ready for breakfast. (Before the trip, I read a lot of reviews that said food and water were minimal. To the contrary, we had plenty of food, about 4 meals a day.) We all piled into our respective trucks, and the guys were nice enough to let me have the 2nd row seating. The last row seats were pretty confined in space. (Reminds me a lot of birthing position- legs wide open, body hunched, head back. Well, that or a prostitue ready for business, but I went for the nicer metaphor…wait…)
If you have ever taken a long car ride with friends, you know weird conversation happens. That was the theme of the day. We started off with animal sex (how dogs, flamingos, and ducks procreate-I’ll skip the details). As we drove through the beautiful desert landscape, where we often stopped talking and stared out of the window in complete mutual silence since we were in awe of the amazing landscape (and bumpiness of the road), Anita, Tobias and Simon started talking about global politics. I must admit, I cringed a little (or maybe I was just dealing with altitude sickness), but it actually went great. I learned a lot more about Germany, Welsh, European Union, and the rest of the world views from citizens of other countries. It was actually a great learning experience, interjected with lots of awesome sceneries and traditional Bolivian music (3 songs on a loop).
We visited a lot of lagoons, desert landscapes and eventually ended up at a salt hotel- where everything are make of compressed salt. As expected, the sceneries are breathtaking and unexpected. We also saw quite a lot more wildlife dotted across the vast landscape. The salt hotel was a little less impressive than expected, but the company more than made up for the disappointment. We all grabbed beers and wine and had a really great night, even though we were told to wake up at 4am the best day to watch sunrise over the salt flat.
As I laid on my bed in the salt hotel (made from wood, sadly), I thought quite a lot about the political discussion (well, and food industries discussion that happened after). I guess as a citizen of the world, we have a responsibility to stand up for what we belief, and not be afraid to make a stand, even if that may cause discomfort to others. After all, if we don’t stand up for what we think is right, the medias will twist facts to suit their underline anyway. So why not stand and make a difference?
(But if there is a way to make lots of money while standing up for my believes, I am certainly more than up for it. May I should form a coalition too??? A for profit one?)
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