Musings

I am thinking about Costa Rica...it is really a small country, compared to Mexico, which I think of as a much richer country culturally.

Costa Rica is approximately 51,100 sq km, while Mexico is approximately 1,964,375 sq km, making Mexico 3,744% larger than Costa Rica. Meanwhile, the population of Costa Rica is ~5.2 million people (123.9 million more people live in Mexico).

On the other hand, it is equally interesting to compare life in the USA with life in Costa Rica:

https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/compare/united-states/costa-rica

My souvenirs from Costa Rica: a "pura vida" water bottle; a small shell with a hole for a necklace; and a pendant from the Butterfly Refuge. I have so many souvenirs from my year long travels in South America, my trips to Mexico, and my trip in Bali. 

Why travel? This question goes so unexplored in my social circles, even with climate change bearing down on us. "Now for something completely different," as I said in my journal from my year in South America.  So is it just that we want something really different from our normal lives? We want to experience the abundance of different places, different people, different lives? 

We want to be travelers, but not tourists! Why is it that everywhere we go there's so many damn tourists... like ourselves! Is there anywhere worth visiting that is not inundated by tourists?

Isn't it in the Constitution,  the right to travel, specifically to take planes? 

Is it just an automatic assumption, as a retiree, that we will travel? It is compounded because of just having been through the restrictions of a pandemic.

And it is so much work to travel, especially at this age! I don't know how it would be easier, and less work. Perhaps a Road Scholar tour? Perhaps returning to a place I have visited before, like NY or Ireland? I still want to return to Spain after so many years (1974)! Trying to find a traveling companion is daunting, at least as hard as finding a life partner. 

I could use 5W and find women to visit in various places. But first, visiting relatives on the east coast. There may not be much time left! I will complete 70 years in 2+ months!

Everyone is always so excited when I say that I've been to Costa Rica and I feel I should live up to their expectations but then I talk about 7 visits to the dentist and getting bit by a parrot and the 2 week tour group (which one friend said sounded horrible). People lower their expectations that it should have been a paradise or a heavenly experience (as Costa Rica has that kind of reputation), like the woman in some store I went to in Sedona who said she loved Ireland but it turns out she actually had never been there.

I wonder if we travel so people are envious of us. So many people say they want to hear "all" about my trip but then they have a question or two before we move on to talking about something else.  Of course, it's an opportunity for them to talk about their own travels so if that's the reason we travel, it's not a very satisfying experience.

After learning more about the unfortunate people who live under flight paths, the health risks from pollution and noise,  I feel more committed to less travel. Easy to say!