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Wanderlust

I wrote most of this as a reply to one of our “quick to take offense” posters, but decided to modify and post it here also. My point is that as a “stranger in a strange land”, much of the “why” of interaction will remain a mystery. It’s easy to get frustrated from time to time, but it’s better to simply enjoy the ride and just be thankful when things don’t get totally screwed up. Save the “outrage” for when you’re kidnapped at gunpoint by the FARC…

If you can’t discern (or deal with) obviously benign sarcasm posted here in PBH, then how are you going to deal with a culture as different as Colombia ?

Are you going to become “insulted” when a cab driver charges you three times the normal fare just because you’re a gringo tourist ? Are you going to be “enraged” when the food you get at a restaurant wasn’t what you “ordered” ? If someone can’t help laughing because you dance like a retard, are you going to go home and sulk ? What are you going to do after the hundredth person has glommed onto you expecting a handout because you’re “rich” and you owe them ?

One of the most amusing moments in my travels occurred in Bosnia. I stopped at a little roadside café outside Zenica for lunch. The waitress there only spoke Bosnian, which is not even remotely close to English, and there didn’t seem to be a menu. So for about five minutes I tried in vain to use the little Czech I knew as well multiple awkward hand gestures hoping to place some sort of food order. Finally, I said, in English, “Cheeseburger ?… Coke ?” and she burst out laughing. Eventually, she responded “Cheeseburger… Coke… OK” and ran back to the kitchen where everybody else seemed to think the whole thing was funny also… (and by then, I did as well). Ten minutes later she returned with one of the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever had in my life.

What did she find so damn funny ?… who knows… maybe her country had just gone through a brutal civil war and she just needed a laugh… but whatever the reason, I wasn’t the least bit insulted and I’ll never forget the smile on her face.

By Albatross on Jan 31, 2005, 11:38 in Friendly Talkzone.

WidowerfromCanada says on Jan 31, 2005, 11:50:

Life is too short to let things like that bother you Life is too short to let things like that bother us. I agree with you when we travel we are a stranger in a strange land.

Jeff

Love is like a butterfly , if you chase it you will not catch it but you can hope the butterfly of love lands on your shoulder.

Love is like a butterfly , if you chase it you will not catch it but you can hope the butterfly of love lands on your shoulder.

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Albatross says on Jan 31, 2005, 11:58:

P.S. I think perhaps the reason I remember her was that Bosnia in the late nineties was a desolate place, much worse than Colombia, (whole towns had been decimated in the war a few years earlier) and I don’t remember anyone else there smiling like that.

P.P.S. "Stranger in a Strange Land" - Robert A. Heinlein

“Democracy - a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H.L. Mencken

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lpdiver says on Jan 31, 2005, 11:58:

Maybe She pissed in your cheeseburger? What we don't know won't hurt us...huh?

Tony

"cook some rice!"

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YEP says on Jan 31, 2005, 14:47:

a at Albatros ....
Hell why didn't you have ½ a bottle of slivovitch first then you would have gone for the obvious solution right on (if you had been able to after ½ a bottle that is).

Some good Bosnian friends introduced me to this "drink of evil". And one should really be carefull about it (hangovers garanteed).

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Just another scandinavian getting ready to explore South America

------------------------------------------------------------------- Just another scandinavian getting ready to explore South America

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Jan 31, 2005, 14:57:

or maybe the waitress was watching old Saturday Night Live re-runs and remembered the "cheeseburger, cheeseburger, Pepsi, Pepsi" skit with John Belushi.

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