A small man and a big man

I was intrigued by the title of this article, "Q&A With Leon Logothetis, a $5-a-Day Traveler," until I read it. I won't repeat what was said in the comments-- you can read them for yourself.

But onto something more positive: Barack Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States in four days. It doesn't get much better than that. Except maybe this: an open letter to his daughters.

Barack Obama is my hero.

Stroke of Insight

I was interested in the idea of right-brained thinking, and my friend told me about this woman, whose story is pretty amazing. I will let you watch the video for yourself.

Some may find her a little cooky but wow, what a story. Enjoy!

Carpe diem vs. growing up (a list of clichés)

So, when I asked the random questions yesterday, I (not surprisingly) had my own preferences in mind. I would have said tiger, pig, cow, horse. Just kidding. (Have you all received those emails repeatedly, too? Maybe someone is trying to tell me something.)

Anyway, in the Be, Do or Own (Bedouin) competition, I would rather Be. To me, owning something offers little appeal. I believe one's possessions end up owning the owner (cliché #1), and even now, living in a little one-bedroom apartment, I feel I've accumulated too much stuff and want to simplify. To do was a popular choice-- it's the American way, right? I think it is important to do (and not loaf around), but to do above all else to me means to be so focused on the destination that the journey becomes forgotten (cliché #2). This doesn't mean one shouldn't have goals-- it just means that they shouldn't take precedence over all else.

To me, choosing to be means living every moment fully and making the effort to be the person you always wanted to be: the one you wanted to grow up and become, the one your child self would be proud to see herself as. It means being focused on the present, every moment of it, on little surprises that come up and being open to what life brings you. It promises little in the way of reward or social recognition, but those are shortlived highs. Seeking others' approval = a life of slavery. Feel free to disagree.

Onto part II. My partner was the one who came up with the phrase, 'a life of cool experiences,' and it really resonated with me and what I considered living life fully. When I'm old and growing barnacles on my head (yes, this is something that happens to people and not just old ships), I feel that that is the life I will not regret. Within this life, it is also possible to have a great family life and some success, but again, the journey is what drives you. And it is very possible to serve humanity while doing so-- it just might not be in a traditional way.

By this philosophy, traveling is the obvious answer. I feel like, even though I would advise traveling without hesitation if someone asked me this question, most of rational society would counsel taking the job. And say things like 'Oh, but going off and backpacking is so irresponsible-- what if (list of horrible consequences)?' Or 'What a waste of good talent. Talk about selfish.'

And so on. But isn't that what life is all about? Pushing out those voices of narrow-minded condemnation (disguised as rational, responsible logic) and doing what you feel will make you feel like a liberated, enlightened human being? Or am I just glorifying my desire to traipse around the planet?

Which brings me back to the title of this post. I want to seize the day every day (cliché #3), and perhaps I will feel that my limited number of days have not been wasted but were actually lived. I am beginning to suspect that the term, 'growing up,' was invented by someone justifying their so-so job and boring existence.

So, yes, it is a luxury to not be financially responsible for anyone but yourself (I remember being humbly silenced by a student who said he had to help support his family as soon as he graduated, and that was why he was taking the finance job that he didn't want), but if you have the opportunity to pursue your dreams, it seems crazy to me not to try.

Last part of the sermon. (Yeah, I know, sorry-- and for all of the clichés, too. No more journey/destination crap, I swear. I wonder how many I have officially offended, insulted and alienated with this post.)

Living the life of your dreams doesn't cost as much as people think (unless, of course, your dream life involves being filthy rich), and not trying is the greatest waste of all. My twenties have flown by, and I'd never want to relive them, but I have no regrets and love all the nutso things I tried. And maybe I just have too many wild oats to sow, but the idea of settling down into a job that you will go to every day for the rest of your life while living in a home that you will stay in for the rest of your life just looks a little too much like death to me. And annual weeklong trips to Hawaii or anywhere else, really, just aren't enough to revive you from the numb monotony.

It is a daunting challenge to say 'I want my life to be full of wonder and exploration and adventure.' All of those people who advised you to be normal and responsible will only be too happy when you fail, but imagine if, every time you failed, you learned something from it, got up and tried again. (And anyway, we are in debt to the normal people (who are too responsible to take risks) who keep civilization running. They allow the small minority of us to experiment with the wacky vagabond life.)

The hope is that eventually, you will have created a life so full and so magical that even if fraught with failure, it will be a beautiful thing to behold. And maybe most people would rather witness it as a spectacle of art than experience it, but for those who want to live it, I say go for it! (And that means me, too.)

(Ducking to avoid incoming hurled stones.)

Be, do or own?

This little article about sums up why it's good to travel now. Go out there and see some new places and cultures!

< /plug>

Okay, so it seems people are pretty split on whether it is better to take a prestigious job or to go backpacking around the globe, and arguments for both sides have raised good points. The funny thing was that in the last day, largely due to your feedback, I was starting to lean away from a year of traveling and towards going to a nice little college town-- and my partner was starting to lean towards traveling and giving up the tenure-track position. Of course. I guess we'll have to hash this out some more. (I am guessing we were both trying to 'see the other's perspective'/be nice.)

Also funny: we were hanging out with another couple we are friends with, and their reaction to our job vs. traveling was incomprehension. As in 'how could you even ask such a question?' To the job offer, 'congratulations!' To the backpacking possibility, 'again?' (Mind you, the last time my partner and I went backpacking was in 2005 to Croatia and Slovenia-- it is not at all like we go backpacking every other weekend.)

So, here is another version of the same question. On your deathbed, looking at your life, would you rather say, "Ah, I'm glad I decided to _______ above all else"?

1. Be
2. Do
3. Own

(Sounds like a game where the answer is Bedouin, but no, sorry, that's not the answer.)

To be means you have fulfilled your potential. You said THIS is me at my best, who I want to be in life, and that is the life you lived.

To do means you set out specific goals to accomplish, and you can review your accomplishments with pride when you look back on your life.

To own means you want to build something to leave behind, either for future generations or in a museum or some other form of legacy. This is a life in which you cultivate something for history's sake.

They are certainly not mutually exclusive, and I realize that this is starting to sound like one of those zen chain emails (an oxymoron, if ever I heard one-- talk about the stress and un-zen reaction I get when I get a *&%$ chain email...). But bear with me for part II.

A final version of the same question. Again, on your deathbed (if hindsight is 20/20), which life do you want to have led?

1. The perfect family
2. A life of cool experiences
3. A life of success

My partner was wondering if he had a duty to use his scientific ability to serve humanity-- not in an egomaniacal way, but in the sense of 'am I slacking off if I go travel?' I believe travel enhances everything we do, but then again, I am a travel addict.

So, if family life is the goal, then a small town which is safe, full of nice and grounded people and good school districts is the way to go.

A life of cool experiences means you always go where your comfort zone will be stretched, and you seize every opportunity to live more fully that comes your way. When you die, you have an incredible array of stories and experiences to share. The downside: you have no guarantees and cannot follow a carefully prescribed plan, you may never find conventional success, and your searching may lead you wandering for the rest of your life. When you die, you may have nothing but stories to share.

A life of success for my partner could mean doing a post-doctoral research fellowship (my partner would rather eat pocket lint), but then he would be able to be a professor at any of the most prestigious universities in the world. Short-term sacrifice for long-term goals.

All right, that's it. Your thoughts?

Trip around the world or a prestigious job?

This question is more for my partner than for me, and I know they are not at all mutually exclusive.

So, back to Mexico. My partner's mother has no fear. Kind of like the scene in "Finding Nemo" where the kids taunt each other for touching the boat, she kept inching closer to these pelicans when we were swimming in the ocean one afternoon. Now, these were no ordinary pelicans, which are already large birds. No, these were modern-day pteradactyls with approximately six-foot wing spans, and they were divebombing out of the sky into the water for fish. She grinned as she swam between them and said, "Look, they're not afraid of us at all!" I thought to myself that they were not afraid for good reason, and that maybe she should not be treading water between three very large ones. But, she was fine (and I kept my distance). Here is a photo of a pelican in Mexico (and a man named Ernesto) I found online, to give you an idea.


My partner's papi had been pushing us for babies (even before we were properly married- gasp), but all of a sudden (I think it may have been the near-death experience of swimming with pteradactyls), he and my partner's mother had switched gears and were telling us to travel, to have fun, to enjoy life. Scratching my head but excited by their new advice, I turned to my partner to see what he thought about this. I'd always thought it would be neat to backpack around the world for a year. Why? I have no idea. It sounded cool. You'd have time to explore the faraway places you flew to rather than having to turn around and head home after a week. But, I also wondered how much of it was not curiosity to see the world but childish bragging rights and that nagging type-A desire of wanting to check a box off the list. And I had already been fortunate in how much I'd been able to travel. So, I never gave it serious consideration.

My partner, who now has an offer for a tenure-track professor position (go, honey!), shrugged and said he'd be game. Of course, that was before he received the letter that said he should be on campus by August. Now, with a little more than a week to choose, which is the better life decision? I love the idea of wandering around the globe, but in a way, I've done that. There are certainly more places to visit, and I do want to go there, but I don't have to take a full year to do it. In this economy, when half of the universities had canceled their job searches, my partner is really very fortunate to be offered such a job (and straight out of his Ph.D., too).

On the other hand, once we start popping out babies, backpacking for a year will be near-impossible. Doable but much more complicated. In a way, this year would be our last chance to really rough it and go exploring freely. It was easy to say 'sure, let's do it' when nothing but time was at stake, but I understand those concerns of will I be able to get a job after traipsing around the globe for a year, how do I explain the empty year on my cv, etc. (And incidentally, it isn't just the prestige of the job that attracts him but the work itself that he would do, the people with whom he'd work, etc.)

I have told my partner that I'd be 100% cool with his accepting said prestigious job and traveling for seven weeks this summer. That's still a pretty awesome chunk of time, and as my partner says, he doesn't feel he's earned the right to go dillydallying (not his words) for a year yet. I would definitely see it as win-win if we backpacked this summer, and then, he started his fancy-pants job in the fall-- but then, I think, wow, a year. What's your take?

Secret world travel

So, it may seem rather ridiculous and strange, but I didn't really tell anyone I was going to South America. Why? Well, you know: the economy, people getting laid off and losing their shirts in both stocks and retirement funds. Not quite the time to brag about distant travels. So, pretend it was just some random person on the internet who wrote this.

But I have to tell someone: I got to see penguins! And they're awesome. I thought they lived on large, floating blocks of ice. Not always, apparently. Here is what I saw:

Grasslands! Who woulda thunk? But there you go. A highlight from my trip. Oh, and I will only post on weekdays from now on. I don't know exactly who is reading my blog, but I can see the numbers, and it looks like people relax from the internet (i.e., don't procrastinate from work) on the weekends-- so I will, too. :-)

Happy 2009!

I hope you all had a wonderfully relaxing, fun and otherwise enjoyable winter vacation!

It was great to be traveling, but it's such a nice feeling to come home, too. I forgot the feeling of getting tired of living out of a suitcase/backpack and how nice it was to unpack and sleep in my own bed.

So, my partner and I spent yesterday eating ramen, catching up on email and unpacking, saying we weren't leaving our little apartment until it resembled a home again (and not some burglarized hovel).

Once I have all of my pictures uploaded, I will share stories from my travels. In the meantime, I thought this was a good simultaneously uplifting and grounding piece: Nick Vujicic went to visit a school in Hong Kong, and here is the video clip. (Once you get past the Chinese titles, it's in English.) Enjoy!

Saludos from Mexico!

What a change from blustery, below-freezing Boston. We flew into Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (via Los Angeles), last night, and the pilot said the weather was about 83F as we were landing. What a change from what I described to my mom as 'colder than a freezer.'

Puerto Vallarta is a touristy, resorty stretch of beautiful beaches, and we tend to fly in and immediately drive away. Last night, we went to Sayulita for an outdoor taco dinner. Sayulita is about half an hour away and a picture-perfect little town, complete with cobblestone streets, tiny storefronts and perfect waves for surfing. I haven't checked Lonely Planet, but I would guess that it's listed as a backpacker haven. We saw signs for 'Revolucion Tacos' as we drove in, probably of backpacker travel guide fame.

Is Sayulita charming? Absolutely. It could easily be a movie backdrop, and there is no bad angle from which to photograph postcards and photos for friends. The thatched roof over us as we ate dinner was exactly as one would dream of it being; the tables were beautiful slices of tree trunk balanced on delicate black wrought iron stands. Everything about the tacos was handmade from scratch-- the tortillas, the toppings, and the meat was grilled right next to us. Yum. What was jarring was that most of the people walking around were American. Young Americans with surfboards, American families with little children and slightly older, American hippies.

After dinner, we drove another half an hour away from Puerto Vallarta to Lo de Marcos, a sleepy little fishing town (population about 1000), where my partner's parents have chosen to retire. Here, there are also a few foreigners, but it feels much more authentically Mexican. This morning, we took a walk on the beach, and we saw a few blowfish, a pelican, and a huge stingray (diameter about 14") that had washed up onto the shore. Black vultures were pecking away at the stingray but hopped away as we approached. (This would never happen near a resort.) We saw one couple as we walked away from the house and two more as we returned, and we greeted all of them with a smile and a 'Buenos dias' as we passed.

I enjoyed how deserted the beach was, and it made me (selfishly) wish no one else would come along. Of course, I don't agree with private beaches and think that Mexico does a good job of keeping its beaches accessible to all (at least in the places I've been), and it's silly to notice that the three couples we passed were foreigners-- because so were we.

I inquired as to how the locals felt about all of these Americans moving down to Mexico, and it sounded familiar: The Americans kept to themselves, the Mexicans kept to themselves, and there was a little mixing at the edges. (Venn diagrams come to mind.) The Mexicans were happy that the Americans brought money down with them, but there wasn't that much blending of cultures. Not yet (on the individual level), anyway.

Posting will probably be on hold through the holiday season, but stay tuned-- I'll be back with stories from Chile, Argentina and Uruguay when I return. Happy December!

Shopping, packing and traveling

As the hectic season approaches, where everyone scrambles to get everything done, I wish you luck, deep breaths and some happy surprises.

My partner and I will be traveling with limited internet access, so posts may be more sporadic during the rest of the month, but I'll do the best I can.

In the meantime, here is a metta prayer for you (metta = loving kindness, and dukkha = suffering). It is over 2600 years old, but I think it is still quite relevant today.

May you be well and happy.
May you be free from danger.
May you be free from worry.
May you be free from anger.
May you be free from dukkha.
May your mind be free from hatred.
May your heart be filled with love.
May no difficulties come to you.
May no harm come to you.
May you have mental happiness.
May you have physical happiness.
May you find peace of mind.

Happy holidays!

Money for everyone!

It's brilliant. Kiva. It's mindblowing how little money is really needed to make a huge impact in the lives of others. Kiva is a micro-lending website that allows regular people (a.k.a., you and me) to lend as little as $25 to someone trying to start up their own business in the developing world. Apparently, more than 98% of the loans are paid back, and I'm not wealthy by U.S. standards, but I wouldn't be very upset if I lost $25 taking a chance on an entrepreneur trying to better herself and her family/community. Women seem to benefit the most from this project--and not just in wealth, but in empowerment and self-confidence. As if that weren't reason enough to celebrate, here are journals of the women describing how their lives have changed.

I love how internet + great idea (available to everyone) = no more middle man.