Hi all,
I read this forum fairly regularly, and have come to recognize a few folks, and even know one or two in person. I am 37, live in Key West, and plan on travelling to central and south america for fun, also to save a load on some elective surgery, and possibly meet someone(s) special. I DO NOT have a burning desire to get married, and I most definitely DO NOT plan on bringing a female back here to the good old US. While I am not down on the US per se; I think we have a serious (and growing severe) set of social problems here, and I need to travel around a bit down south to see if I can take it, much less enjoy it. I mention that since I have read some of Traveller's comments about the frustration of trying to do business in Colombia, and they echo the thoughts of a great lady from Bogota I dated for quite some time. She left family, a great job of some status, a car and apartment there; all for the same basic reasons Traveller mentioned. Probably, living in the US, its hard to relate too.
There are a couple of running themes here that never seem to go away; like others, I suddenly felt the need to add something.
Crime (and the misguided notion of 'safety'): This really ought to be a dead issue. People spout inane statistics with no backup info about "Gosh its really dangerous in XXXX". Well, when I was 12, my Mom drove me to my new middle school, saw all the girls who suddenly had boobs and, God forbid, eye makeup, and told me they were dangerous. I actually beleived her. It took me way too long to realize that she meant dangerous to HER, and that these were specifically the girls I wanted to know. Point being; when the (especially US) gov't issues travel warnings and statistics implying danger, the opposite is likely true. If one goes through the various US gov't agencies, it becomes crystal clear that they want to limit travel, much less emigration, and even international awareness. While to some that may seem a rash statement, I will leave it at that and perhaps it can be picked up as a general topic. I am meandering here; my argument is that any remotely in depth look into international crime...almost invariably points to locals mostly victimizing one another; but thats boring headlines, isn't it?
Sexuality: As a person very interested in Brazil, I have found some of the recent commentary alternately amusing and repugnant. Apparently, all of the girls in Brazil are (immoral)....sign me up...I've been looking for such a place my whole life. If I had read that here once, I would laugh; I have seen this topic some up multiple times. I especially like the fact that some of the people who make such claims also claim some kind of religious/moral high ground. How is it you get "I want a morally superior woman...and I won't go to Brazil since its common knowledge they are all (immoral)"? I think that person SHOULD seek a morally superior woman (perhaps Tibet), to teach him how to speak without insulting everyone within hearing range.
Poverty: This is a good one. There have been posts recently about the wealth gaps, for example in Brazil. Again, a more than cursory look at this stuff highlights a number of things. According to the one posted areticle, Brazil has the worst wealth gap among its population in the world. Aside from being fundamentally false, such statistics are inherently nearly meaningless. National and international statistics, by definition, tend to rely on statistics as calculated by each gov't. We in the US, and secondly, Japan and Germany, can gerally be considered the most reliable, since *most* workers actually show up somewhere...lets say 85% do. In contrast, the Argentine gov't reports point out that their own data seems to cover about 30% (this from my own memory) of that economy. The point being, when Argentina comes out with an unemployment rate of say 25%, thats 25% of the people they even have an ability to count. Anyone with a basic statistics background will readily admit that is a dubious statistic, and simply useless in comparisons to another economy which keeps tabes on 70% or workforce, or 10%. So, like the crime statistics doubt all of them.
I would truly like to see more (constructive) info regarding Brazil, Peru, Argentina and hell how about French Guyana. Ok maybe not. If and when I get there I will contribute. I don't know where my asbestos suit is, but I had better find it; since it seems every post here offends someone.
Locii
