2007 - Road trip to Venezuela

Last summer, my family decided to cross the Amazon rain forest by car in order to arrive at our destination on Margarita Island in Venezuela. It was not the first time that I went to that country, but definitely one of the most insightful. When we crossed the Brazilian-Venezuelan border by car I began to remember my other trips to Isla Margarita. Every time I went to Venezuela I learned something fascinating about Venezuelan culture and something new about my family.

The primary reason that we travel to Venezuela are the beaches. My family loves the salt water and the tides of the ocean; however, we live in part of the Brazilian Amazon that does not have any ocean. The Amazon state is surrounded by the waters of the Amazon River and the closest sea water is located in the Northeast of Brazil that can only be reached by plane. It is true that a trip by plane to any place in Brazil is more expensive than a trip to Venezuela by car. But ironically, the Amazon river offers fabulous fresh water beaches with white soft sand in the middle of the jungle; however, we take for granted our natural beauty and still desire to travel to see the ocean. After living in the Amazon for several years, our desire to swim in the ocean grew stronger than to swim in the Amazon River. Not only are the salt water beaches more appealing to us, but I believe our human nature tend to value whatever we lack access to. Thus, my family has traveled several times by car to Venezuela.

Isla Margarita is located in the Caribbean Sea and belongs to Venezuela. The island is a photographer's paradise. The gorgeous blue ocean with Cristal clear water, the majestic nature, and the adorable people make that place like heaven. I think the fabulous blue ocean is so appealing to my family that we usually travel ridiculous amounts of time simply to touch the salt water and return back to Brazil. It usually takes us four days driving from Manaus to Isla Margarita and another four days to return. We often spend only two to four days on the island. When I told a friend that my family traveled such a long distance by car just to enjoy the sea waters for a few days, he said that we were completely out of our minds: “You must be nuts to do that. I think your family gives you alcohol before you enter the car, so that you are too drunk to make any decision”. I laughed about my friend's comments for a while, but I began to question whether it was worth it or not to drive that far merely to glimpse the ocean. Immediately, the journey flashed in my mind: we saw beautiful landscape, encountered people from different walks of life, and learned about different aspects of Venezuelan culture. In retrospect, I think the ocean was simply an excuse for us to cross that country by car. Now, I realize that when people think about traveling, they tend to underestimate road trips either because they are keen on arriving at their destination or because now they are accustomed to traveling by planes. It is true that traveling by car might be tiring and time consuming; however, the road trip in Venezuela lent me a rare insight into the culture of the country. While a trip by airplane allows me to reach a destination quickly, a road trip allows me to see incredible things that I would never notice through a little airplane window. Nevertheless, I have to acknowledge that the airplane has facilitated my life getting me from one continent to the other.

During the road trip to Margarita Island, I thought about the numerous landscapes and realities I observed from the car window. The bad snapshots I took while the car was moving displays some reality about that region. For instance, I noticed the contrast between one region and another and I thought about how capitalism had affected some regions and ignored others. We crossed the country from the farthest south to the extreme north and took a ferry boat to arrive at Margarita Island. I saw two Venezuelas: one going backwards and another advancing forward. The Venezuela next to the Brazilian border and far from the capital was extremely poor. People struggled to survive without electricity, water, and health facilities. In terms of tourism, it lacked decent facilities such as restaurants and hotels. The "other" Venezuela seemed very advanced with big malls, fast food chains, and international resorts.

Unlike the other trips that I just enjoyed my free time, in this road trip I became more aware of the reality of that region. I realized that Margarita Island was an international destination that has been adapted to offer the best facilities and services to foreigners. Although the southern part of Venezuela was impoverished, the north seems to be an extension of the United States. The regions near the capital have many American fast-food joints such as McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Cinnabon. By the way, I could not believe that Isla Margarita already had Cinnamon Rolls! It seems that many fast food chains have been introduced to developing countries. In terms of the mall, I noticed that it offered more international brands than local stores: Oscar de La Renta, Guess, Gap, Banana Republic, and Ralph Lauren. One of the reasons for the existence of so many international brands is that Isla Margarita is a free trade zone. It was quite interesting to observe the elite class inside the malls spending their money freely, exorbitantly. The bourgeois in the northern part of Venezuela seemed not to worry about the impoverished people suffering in the south. At the end of my trip, I came to the conclusion that "Americanized" cities in Venezuela revealed a sharp contrast between the wealthy and the poor.

1998 - About to become an exchange student in America

As I was preparing for my first study abroad in the U.S., I felt nervous and happy. I always wanted to become an exchange student. The idea of learning another language in the country in which it was spoken fascinated me. Often, high school teenagers participate in exchange student programs in order to not only acquire the language, but also to learn how to survive in another country. Study abroad also helps people to broaden their horizon about the world, respect other cultures and traditions, and learn how to co-exist with people from other nationalities. Going on study abroad to live with a host family can be described in two words: frighten and delight. Although I was terrified by the idea of attending American high school classes without knowing how to communicate in English, I felt thrilled with the opportunity to broaden my horizon.

My first day of class at Rogers High School in the little town of Puyallup, WA was quite remarkable. First, I rode on a yellow bus which I had only seen in Hollywood movies. To me, the yellow bus really symbolized American high school. During the short trip to the school, I reflected upon my country’s public transportation in which students have to be squeezed in crowded city buses in order to get to school. As the bus was approaching the school, I saw many students outside talking and became nervous about speaking my broken English. After arriving at school, I went to Mrs. Scioli’s English class. No matter how hard I tried to understand her, I was not able to recognize a word that she spoke in class. She spoke so fast and I felt I was bombarded with empty words. When I was about to raise my hand, I remembered what my program coordinator said to me during orientation week: “Don’t ask questions during the class. Please wait until your teachers finish the class to approach them. Otherwise, you will have to interrupt the class many times and the other students won’t like it.” Once the class finished, she talked slowly and made sure that I was not discouraged by my first English class experience. I kept smiling and laughing with her, although I still did not understand what she was saying. But I figured out that whenever I did not understand a conversation in English I just had to nod my head, keep smiling, and pretend that I understood the subject. Even though I thought this would enable me to avoid embarrassing situations, my strategy was not effective enough. At the end of the day, I went to my last class and some American students began talking to me. As they realized I kept smiling, they tried to teach me some kind of expression in English. Mrs. Doyle became mad at them when she noticed that these students were teaching me how to curse in English. I stopped smiling and felt embarrassed.

At the end of day, I realized that study abroad was not going to be an easy experience. But I felt hopeful regarding my future at Roger High School. Regardless of my lack of ability to communicate in English, I was able to survive the first day and I began to realize that my English skill would improve as I put effort and eagerness into learning. As Mark Jenkins said, “To travel is to expect much of the places you visit; to move to one of these places is to expect much of yourself.” Being an exchange student taught me that I can survive in a different world far away from my home zip code.

1992 - My first trip overseas

I couldn’t shut my eyes the entire night before my first trip abroad. As a kid, I was extremely excited and happy to travel overseas. Consequently, I was not able to fall asleep, already imagining myself at Disney World. Like any child in my country, I have always dreamed of traveling to the fantasy land famous for those theme parks. I had butterflies in my stomach as I heard the voice in the airport calling for our plane. It seemed unreal that my dream was actually coming true. Going abroad to the U.S. not only meant that I was going to encounter for the first time my childhood idol – Mickey Mouse; but also that I would be in another part of the world where every-day life was entirely different from mine.

The airport has always been exciting for me. Whenever I go to the airport, it brings back childhood memories of yearning to travel and discover the world. Watching airplanes in the skies from the balcony, I envisioned a whole new world that existed far away from my reality. Arriving in the United States, I realized that most of the airport facilities were really new to me. I encountered a world which seemed to be light-years ahead of my own. I learned at school that Brazil was considered a "third world country", while the United States was a "first world country". I had a vague idea of what that meant, but I was still surprised to see the difference first hand. The evidence of a developed country became clear as we landed in the States. While in Brazil people walked forever to arrive at the next terminal, in America, people used flat escalators and concourses to get to terminals. This was quite a revelation. Riding the concourse from terminal E to D was my first remarkable experience in America. The concourse and flat escalator fascinated me because they represented American progress. Ironically, now I just take for granted the airport facilities that assist me in commuting from one terminal to the other.

After we left the airport, I was constantly reminded of the fact that I was in an alien land. For the first time, I was able to see clean streets, new asphalt, and respectful drivers. I was amazed at the organization of the traffic and the lack of noise. Why did Americans not honk their horns and curse at other people while driving? This reminds me at a Mark Jenkins’ article. In “Leap Year”, he described the muddled traffic in Spain which is very similar to Brazil: “Triple parking usually blocks the entire thoroughfare, giving all involved something to honk and yell and wave their hands about, which they seem to enjoy far more than actually getting where they’re trying to go” (185). Today, Jenkins’ description makes me wonder if the chaotic traffic in Brazil is not our heritage from our colonizers, the Portuguese. I thought that chaotic traffic was a characteristic common only to third world countries as they lack a strong police to enforce the traffic rules; however, it seems that my hypothesis was wrong. Although Spain is considered to be a "first world" country, it appears to be another stressful place to drive. And Portugal might be the same. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the unusual silence and the fact that drivers did not try to kill any pedestrians while driving.

Another aspect of America that I perceived as an evidence of progress was the fact that I did not see favelas (slums) nor did I see homeless people living under bridges. In my little mind, I wondered where the homeless people were and if there was any poverty in the U.S. But I was soon distracted by the gorgeous buildings and cars that I saw through the shuttle window. I could not stop staring at the beautiful limousines. And I soon returned to my original thought: I didn't see people squeezed in to buses. At sundown, I noticed the large amount of colorful lights which gave another atmosphere to Miami. Wow! It was amazing, I thought, American people know how to light up the night!

Before the day was done, I had my first encounter with American people. I thought I would be more successful in communicating, but I was extremely confused due to my language limitations. All I heard was "blah, blah, blah". While I was waiting for our group to finish checking in, my siblings and I saw a group of kids laughing and playing in the reception area. We wanted to talk to them. Although we had learned a few words, they were not enough to engage in a conversation and start a friendship. I felt irritated because I only knew how to say a few words: “I don’t speak English”, “Hi”, “Thank you”, and “Nice to meet you”. As Jenkins says “It is not possible to know a country well without knowing its language”. Reflecting back, Jenkins' comment express exactly how I felt in my first experience abroad. Everywhere I went with my family, we felt awkward because we were unable to communicate what we wanted to people. In restaurants, we noticed that customers and waitress always engaged in funny conversations. At the mall, the salesperson greeted us nicely, but we repeatedly failed to get what we wanted because we did not know how to explain ourselves. I felt even more frustrated when I arrived at Disney World. All the conversations were conducted in English and I was not able to understand a single conversation about the many attractions they offered. Language does play a major role in traveling abroad. A person can travel overseas without knowing the native language; however, acquiring the language enables people to establish better communication and contact with local people. Now that I look back on my first trip overseas, I realize that the frustration of not understanding English became a motivation for my future commitment to learn the language.

At Disney World, the theme parks appeared to be so magical; however, there was one big disappointment. As I looked forward to seeing the real Mickey Mouse, the one which I would only encounter at Disney World, I realized I was deceived. Mickey Mouse was a man in a costume. I was appalled that I had been cheated for almost ten years of my life. It was shocking to travel with the expectation of seeing the real cartoon and realizing that it was another fantasy that adults created for kids. Why do adults attempt to deceive kids? They created stories such as Santa Claus and Easter Bunny, making children so disappointed when they discover the truth. For a moment, I was convinced that my trip to Disney had been ruined, but then I saw the incredible night Disney Parade. All my irritation disappeared and it was Magic all over again!!! As any other kid, I was easily distracted and entertained again.