The Reality Checks of our South American trip
Most of the time I post happy stuff just as most people do on social media but here’s the other side that qualifies as reality checks from this trip. I don’t mean to complain or to disrespect anyone, I just want to talk about some of the realities of international travel. So here it goes:
#1. I got hit by a taxi. For real. The sidewalks and streets merged together in Buenos Aires and it looks like this. No curbs, so it’s easy to just walk right into traffic if you’re walking between these little bumpers. Thankfully I wasn’t hurt.
#2. Ashley got stuck in a subway door. I think it malfunctioned, but one beep and the door slammed shut. Normally it beeped twice. Again, thankfully, nobody was hurt.
#3. They made me throw away my aerosol hairspray before getting on the plane in Peru even thought it was in my checked luggage. I know, first-world problem, but it didn’t make any sense.
#4. There was so many homeless dogs in Peru that I cried. These dogs were all over the streets. No pictures, it just bothered me too much.
#5. In Peru, they eat what we call pets…guinea pigs! They call it cuy, and to them it is a delicacy. Not so much for us, and needless to say we didn’t try it.
#6. Just because it’s called South America DOES NOT mean they have Southern charm! Southern Charm comes to a screeching halt at the Gulf of Mexico.
#7. Their Uber drivers get lost even in their own city using a GPS. Not all of them mind you, but it happened several times.
#8. Uber drivers in Peru canceled us after they saw us. They would accept our ride, see us, then cancel our ride. We even tried to flag one of them down in the intersection and they drove right by.
#9. Dog 💩 on the sidewalks…not grass…was like maneuvering through a mine field. Between that and the broken, uneven surfaces on most sidewalks we may as well have walked in the streets. Sights like this were very common.
#10. Bottle water comes in 2 varieties – sin gas (without bubbles) and con gas (with). Con gas is gross even if it’s all you find in a foreign country at midnight after you have flown all day and you are thirsting to death.
#11. Water might be on a timer. So much for flushing or washing your hands at night!
#12. Deodorant being behind locked doors in Chile is common. In several stores, deodorant was under lock-and-key and you needed a store attendant to purchase it. Why you ask? Your guess is as good as mine.
#13. Unless we were in a popular, well-known tourist area, locals were not tolerant of us and our broken Spanish. One cashier refused to check me out and just yelled “No!”; thankfully another kind lady cashier came out to my rescue. One subway attendant got frustrated quickly and left the window.
#14. We walked into a bar for a snack and EVERYBODY…workers and patrons….stopped talking, turned and stared at us. Awkward! So we left.
#15. People in Buenos Aires love to smoke. It was everywhere.
#16. The PDA in every country we visited was unreal! Gosh! Those people just need to get a room!
#17. Exchange rates were poor unless you used their native currency just like everywhere else we have visited.
#18. It makes me sad when they use their babies and small children to beg for money.
I’ve learned to appreciate our diversity of food, our sidewalks, Walmart which I would not have said until I started traveling, Southern charm, a clothes dryer, a dishwasher, iced tea, fresh water from a faucet, water that runs all the time, hot water in the shower, and my own car! For me, traveling has this unexpected side benefit of increasing my levels of gratitude for the things that we enjoy and what makes our country so wonderful.
