Comandante Che Guevara & Why People Travel
This post is inspired by the book and film Motorcycle Diaries written by the former Che Guevara- a known political activists in Latin America he started off as a doctor who took time prior to finishing his final semester to travel throughout Latin America. A continent he had only "read about in books" to learn more about it. Here I'm going to talk a bit about why people travel, tie it back to Refresh Bolivia experiences and end by sharing some personal musings/ stories on travel.
Why Travel?
People travel to experience new things, to see the world for what it is, some get tired of this seemingly perfect reality and want to see the real world in action. Meaning poverty. The last thing Che said in the movie was “there’s so much injustice in the world, I need to think about what to do now” and that’s what a lot of people come away with after traveling in a not tour/luxury touristy manner. It’s kind of sick, on one hand, that people want to see that poverty because they kind of gawk at it but then again it’s good that they want to see it. It’s good that people want to leave their own bubble for a change and get out there and see what’s up. Hopefully in seeing it they’ll come away with something and even if it’s not devote their life to political change like Che - they’ll be nicer to their Indian gas man because now they know more about his culture. Or bigger scheme they’ll start a small project to help. Or even bigger they’ll change their career trajectory. Comparing one to the other and even using the terms big, bigger, etc is just for logic, not to imply that one has more emotional value/impact than the other. Everyone processes and sees things differently, and adapts accordingly. These are things that I think about and talk about to volunteers when they come to Bolivia. I want them to see it, the reality, but not in a zooish way. I’ve had people come away with a lot of different experiences: some treating latinos better, others joining RB and even one who changed his whole life path from becoming a wealthy overseas businessman to pursuing a major in international development. He was a fun kid to deal with let me tell you - day one, he told me he was just here to look good and hated Bolivia it was poor and it’s people were ugly. Day 10 - drinking local alcohol with trufi drivers and making jokes in english to women who only spoke quechua. There can be no judgement for why people travel because everyone’s just looking for purpose - an answer of what am I doing here for some for others (like me) the motivation to keep working from a distance.
My Travel Experiences
When I started reading the book and even as I saw the beautiful scenes flash across the movie I was like man I gotta try that, I have to leave and travel all over the world! Then I was like, oh wait. I did that - I spent 8 months traveling India, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Czech Republic, France, Spain and Italy when I turned 20. I did it because I was restless of the wood paneled rooms of Harvard, I was looking for what they were leading me towards and since I had just taken over a student org (RB) that I wanted to grow into a clinic I wanted real world experience to help me out. It worked on all fronts but especially the latter- it worked so well that now I can take the time to write this blog because I'm not struggling to balance a million different things in RB.
My 20th birthday was probably the best birthday I’ve had in my adult life. I was in a small village in northern india and all the people in my study abroad program got me a cake and the director of the program even hired some traditional indian musicians to play - it was horrible, really, 3 hours, my friends were no longer happy it was my birthday. But I loved it and them. Watching Che celebrate his birthday at the leper colony in Peru brought it back. Since I was 10, I haven’t stayed in one place for more than 4 months. So naturally I get a little restless in one place, I like traveling to see new things and to be in a new environment but still long for stability. Before I didn’t long for stability at all, but after that 8 month adventure I learned that the place I could be the most use was in South America. In Bolivia especially given RB’s presence there. So that keeps me in one place for a solid amount of time, but movies/books like this one always make me want to experience new places. And I will but not just blindly anymore. Now with a purpose, which is so much more rewarding. The purpose is learning as much as I can about politics, cultures and the KAP towards health in different countries to be able to work more effectively in health. Sure, sometimes I do just want to look at a beautiful mountain or two but the conversations with the people generally drift around those subjects and that’s one of the best parts - learning about other people and of course about yourself.
In the picture of below you’ll see naive,angsty me at the age of 17, doing a small project in Ecuador, this is what got me into this whole world of global health. The project was me collecting money from my school/fam/friends to give basic food staples to this village I had done an internship at the previous summer. In Ecuador the health system assigns doctors to rural posts for 1 year - I loved that doctor, but the one after him didn’t care at all about the village and we broke ties*. I was definitely restless to see the whole world, since then I’ve seen 20 countries and I learned that people are so different yet inherently similar in their needs/desires and dreams. We all have basic physical needs, we all need emotional support/validation and we all need a purpose in this world. I’ve been lucky enough to travel a lot and find a good purpose, so the balance is shifting more towards stability for me - not to say I'll give up traveling at all but maybe now I'll be able to stay in one place for more than 3 months.
Of course, everyone is different and requires a different experience - so get out there and travel if you want to, or be like one of my best friends who only travels when he has work to do in a place - and don’t. I think as long as people are conscious that there's a reality outside of theirs and are doing something in their lives - from knowing the difference between Ecuador and Mexico to building a clinic in Haiti - to recognize that, it's a huge win.
* Here's a bit I wrote about the experience I had that summer in Ecuador:
I peered out the window at the dirt spotted chickens as I accompanied a doctor making house calls during his year of rural service in Ecuador. Crouching as we entered, I saw an old man lying next to a roll of dirty toilet paper, one eye bandaged. The doctor revealed a grey-blue iris surrounded by angry red capillaries. Cleaning it he asked: “Are you cleaning your eye every 3 hours?” Yes! he said, holding the toilet paper. “Good, keep trying your best, you’re okay.” Back in the car he let out a sign of resignation: “That man has cancer, I’ve never told him because it’s useless. The nearest center to treat him is three hours away, he has no money, his wife is dead, his children live in the city, he’ll die in three months.” It made sense: the man had no hopes, knowing his illness would only deteriorate his emotional state. Not out of pity, but out of powerless at how brutally unfair the world was. While, the injustice still gets me, now I strive to use the privileges this world has given me –education, health, ambition–to aid in balancing the scales a bit more.
