The Shrinking World
I spent two weeks in Tamarindo. It was my last stop in Costa Rica, before I headed north to Nicaragua. The hostel was perfect. La Botella de Leche has it all: offbeat décor (think cows everywhere), open air seating, a full kitchen, and an owner who you want to get to know (a women from Argentina, who would have lunch with you, or let you borrow a surf board). I was stretching my time here. I loved seeing Costa Rica and I had come to a conclusion: it would never be like this again.
You travel to expand your world. Instead you shrink it. Relative distances get smaller. Countries that were a vague concept are now clearly defined. You know the major bus routes. You know what to expect in certain cities. You have climbed the hill and know what is on the other side.
Before my travels in Central America, my mental image was so different. It feels smaller now. It’s safer than many major US cities. It has it’s wonderful parts and it’s ugly sides too. But the feeling consuming me in the last few weeks in Costa Rica was pre-emptive nostalgia. It would never be as exciting to be in Puerto Viejo, as the first time, when I saw the massive waves and churning sea. I would probably never spend time in San Jose again. Or Jaco. I won’t be able to surf for the first time in Mal Pais or meet the same people.
If I do return, it will always be a comparison. Fresh, New, Exciting– I’ve used those things up.
On a larger scale, I worry about these things. It probably seems weird, for someone who has traveled to 16 countries in the last year, to be concerned that she will run out. But the truth is, one day I will. The world is finite. And for me, it’s getting smaller all the time.
So I’ve started hoarding places. One of my first dream locations, the most exotic place I could think of in those days, is Thailand. I’m saving it. India. Easter Island. The Galapagos. Morocco. I will go, but not yet. I burned through Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Belize, Panama. As much as I want to see everything, I’m slowly becoming aware that the excitement of the unknown is as large a part of my impetuous to travel as actually being there.
Is that why world travelers continue to find more and more obscure locations? Do they forever chase the thrill of seeing something for the first time? If you travel long term, perhaps you have had a similar feeling. You’re in a new city and two weeks in, you still like it, but you’re ready for the next thing. It’s time to go. Where does it end?
For most people, it ends when the trip does. One year later, a few pounds lighter and broke, they return home, slightly burned out from living in their backpack. They travel for the rest of their lives, but usually never for a year again. In two weeks a year, it’s almost impossible to see everything. But what if you don’t stop?
As they say, this is a ‘quality problem‘. I am aware.
In Tamarindo, I tried to make mental snapshops. The guy on the beach who talked to me for an hour while my husband surfed. He was from Nicaragua, but wanted to live in Texas. The way the rice and beans taste slightly seasoned here. The dusty road and iguanas that peek out from the brush. The fat limes that drop on the hostel roof with a loud thud. Talking to a kid from Holland, who did impressions of American actors. The snowboarder from Montreal who wanted Quebec to form their own country. Making homemade guacamole for everyone in the hostel. Little things, yes. But it’s the best I can do. Appreciate now, travel as slow as I can bear, and while it won’t last, and it’ll never be the same, I still have right now.
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The world is definitely finite but to most it doesn’t seem this way. I wish I had more money so I could visit some of the places on my list. I have never been to South America but you make it seem like paradise. I usually go to where I have family (Poland, Sicily) but would love to visit a place like Costa Rica. Regards and happy traveling!
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Wow. Never thought about travel being finite. The world is so vast,running out of places never seemed possible but I guess it is. I think that regardless of how often you travel, being present and living in the moment is a significant part of truly experiencing a place. I savored each moment I had in Costa Rica and now, 4 years later, I can recall each adventure vividly.
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Sure, the places of the world are finite… but you could spend soooo much more time in each place.
Costa Rica, for example. There are many places - ‘must-see’ places - that you did not get to (Corcovado, Pavones (for surfing), Arenal, Tortuguerro, etc, etc, etc).
Then, each place - each village or pointbreak or jungle - they each have a rhythym of their own. They change hourly with the tides, daily with the weather, and seasonally with the climate. There are weekends and workdays, holidays and festivals to attend - there are peak swell seasons…
Given unlimited resources - I would barely be able to see a fraction of what the world has to offer… and that is the euphoria of traveling (or tragedy - depending on your viewpoint).
And if you’re ‘novelty-threshhold’ is no longer satisfied after a couple weeks - befriend more local people, chase more waves - every one of both of those are unique!
So, I hope that this doesn’t sound like a lecture - I am appreciating reading about your travels while I program away… and save up for my turn to escape…
The world might be finite, but I believe if you scour through each aroma, each sound and each sight, you will take more than a lifetime to see every corner of the world.
I’m a different type of traveler I guess, and the old me would agree to what you said - the excitement and freshness of that first encounter with a city/country would always be IT. It would never get more exciting than that first time.
But no I was wrong, revisiting Amsterdam, going back to the coffeeshop I’d fallen in love with the first time, discovering a new ice-skating rink and seeing the city from a different perspective. It felt like a rendezvous with an old lover - even feisty than the first time.
Beautifully written, Christine. Your descriptions are poetic. Live every minute for the minute, they won’t last. Stephen Kin once said, Time is a pretty pony.
[...] writing simply rocks. I highly recommend checking out her fantastically thought-provoking piece on the shrinking world and her engrossing narrative of surfing in Mal [...]
Great post, that hostel looks great! How was the beach? What where your highlights from Central America? Thinking of heading there soon…
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The novelty of experiencing something for the first time is part of the thrill a traveler feels upon reaching his destination. I haven’t travelled for that long or that extensive yet so I can’t say if I agree on your point that the world seems to shrink with all the distances covered and cultures soaked in.
Nice post. And the accompanying photo is really good, too! ^_^
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I guess if you’re always looking for the new experience, the world is finite. But you can always return to places and see how they change over time, see how they are after 6 months in them…that’s my dream.
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That is very profound and I have never thought of travel that way before. Beautiful piece.
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For me it used to be about the places I was going and now it’s almost entirely about the things I’m doing, instead.
The idea of going to Costa Rica doesn’t excite me but the idea of volunteering on a sustainable farm does. Peru seems like an interesting place and obviously has Machu Picchu but what really interests me is the opportunity to work witha group striving to rebuild Pisco, bit by bit. Northern Nicaragua and El Salvador seem interesting enough… but how much better would it be doing the journey north on shitty bikes with a crazy friend of mine?
So when the excitement of travel for the sake of travel runs out and all of your dream destinations have been tapped, be creative, look for the ‘do’ rather than the ‘where’ and that’s when things will really start to get interesting.
I like Kirsty’s practical take on how you can avoid that point of “getting sick/swamped” with travelling. It somehow puts things in perspective.
mauie´s last blog post..Might Not Be Too Late for Bora (or winning a 1000-peso gift voucher to your fave resto)
All we ever have is the eternal “now” so I’m afraid I must agree with sumdumsurfer. There is no way, even with unlimited time and resources that one can fully experience the whole world in a lifetime. Fear not, you will not run out of new places to explore, or new things to learn. No hoarding is needed.
Go deeper, stay longer. Just because you are a little more familiar with a place, does not mean you “know” it. Some travelers return to places they love over and over and over. Just like sex, it is not always best, the very first time. Sometimes the luxury of time adds an element to travel that compares to how true love over time is far superior in value to a quick infatuation.
As you say yourself you’ve “burned through” many places & as sumdumsurfer mentions you did not even see many of the must see’s in Costa Rica. Countries are not places to just cross off ones list, but always ripe for deeper and deeper explorations time and time again.(Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with burning through or missing places, but just trying to show a different perspective.)
There are always new things to explore and learn, even with places that we know well. I am always amazed at what incredible and delightful discoveries I have made in areas where I have lived for years. No place is ever “done”.
I can not tell you how many times over the last 30 years that I have been to Paris and London, yet, I never go without discovering brand new things. On one level I know them well, yet in others, I do not know them at all. These last times, I have introduced them to my young daughter, which gave them a whole new meaning.
We are into our 3rd year of our world tour and have traveled to 4 continents, 29 countries & over 76,000 miles ( mostly over land and mostly in Europe). We have added another year on because there is just so much to see. I could spend decades just in Spain and not see it all!
We have spent more time in Spain than any other country since we have wintered in the same tiny 15th century village for that last 3 years. We certainly know Spain better than most travelers will ever know it ( including regions like Galicia & Asturias which most American’s never see). We have seen more than most Spaniards. But I do not feel “done” with Spain, or Andlalusia or even my small village.
I could spend decades just exploring all the fabulous nooks, crannies, villages and beaches of Andalusia and not see or know it all. This was our 3rd year of participating in many of the festivals and I continue to delight in seeing them in new ways.
The more we travel, the more we see, the bigger I find the world. It feels frustrating to me that we can not see all of Europe. That there is no way in a lifetime that we could see it all. I have traveled for 6 months around the U.S & been to almost every state and feel the same about America. I have been all over the former USSR ( way more than most will ever see) and feel the same there too.
Every winter when we come back to “our village” it is new. We have changed and it has changed during the time apart. No, we will never have that “virginal” first sight, but so what, it is still exciting and new in a different way.
No, the world is not shrinking, you are growing, shifting, changing. Fear not, that will continue and the world will always be oh so much bigger.
My wife and I are just over a month into our one year trip and I have felt a sort of nostalgia since day one. Its like buying a book that you feel has changed your life but somehow there aren’t enough postcards, souvenirs and pictures to capture a place, an experience. I can understand your need to take mental snapshots and yet feel sad that they slip away anyway.
The first day you enter a new city is frightening and thrilling all at the same time. All the stories of being robbed, how beautiful the architecture is and how exciting it is to truly know nothing except what you read from a book are all thoughts that fight to crowd your mind. Given a few days, you start to feel like this is a new home, the people are now less alien and you know by heart the exchange rate.
Most of Eva and my trips feel like a whirlwind and having a year to travel seems actually even more hectic, like we are trying to pack as much of the world into our year as we can, without a day to relax. Its a sort of panic of gluttony to live. This I think is connected to what you said about the “quality problem.” We either fear we will never get this chance again, to busy and broke, or dreaming I can find a way to never stop but fearing it will never be the same.
Somehow though, I think I am just scratching the surface of each local. Like some kind of fear of relationship, we run before we really get to know what is there. Even a month in Mexico does not make me a mexican. I have met people who have traveled their whole lives and have never run out of space so maybe I can stick it out a little longer in the future and see where this relationship is going.
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Christine, I love what you said about hoarding places. I’m totally hoarding Paris.
Don’t despair about running out of places. It can be exciting to go back to a place and see how it has changed or see it from a different point in your life. “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
Hi Christine. Your point of the shrinking world is absolutely true, perhaps the kick back of it would be an opening mind in us… as what you’re having. Great stories on your travel to central America.
Unfortunately, shrinking world is also evident in the rapid spread of the swine flu infection…
I’m celebrating 100th post in in my travel blog though it’s much lesser than I would have planned. Feel free to drop by and comment on your link to travel Feeder. Cheers!
Oh so true Christine. As someone who just embarked on a mobile life style I too am finding the same issue. When does the endless want of new experiences end? I have found like yourself that we will never get to a point where we are satisfied unless we are satisfied with the moment. Mindfulness and present living is all we will ever have. Learning how to grasp each and every moment is the skill to learn. Great work and cheers from Sydney!
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Seasoned beans, guacamole and surfing. aahhh I wish I was there. I can see Im going to have to start plotting out a trip to CR soon! Thanks for the inspiration.
This post is very useful for those people who are used to for travel world wide and who are always to ready for go abroad, specially for those people who want to go European countries like UK. You blog is not a blog it is a informational guide for us. we appreciate your work. Keep it up
I’ve never thought about travel being finite like a video game with levels you can complete. On the contrary I feel that I can visit a country or a city again and again at different occasions and experience completely different things. That’s the beauty of travelling! Take Bangkok in Thailand for example, I’ve been there four times now and I always discover new things!
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I love this post. It has this layer of dread that I fear is in my own thoughts. Thanks for levelling.
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