travelenvelope: 12

See the World for Free

The idea here is to TRAVEL THE WORLD regardless of time or budget. It dawned on me one day that even if I had unlimited time and money (which I definitley do not), I still couldn't see everything in the world that I'd like to see--I'm simply not going to live long enough to do it.

But I had a bit of brain wave and soon after the travel envelope was born. This is an actual physical envelope. I typed the name of every country in the world, plus every state in the US on little slips of paper which I then put into the envelope. In the beginning we (myself, my husband, Dave and daugher Catherine) would draw out a slip at random at the beginning of the month and that's where we would go---at least in our minds. We grab some books about the country from the library and put them in our bathroom to look at. We also check out some videos about the country if any. We check it out on googleearth, listen to the music, try the food, maybe even attempt to learn a dance or celebrate a festival.

After the first two years we discovered that even virtual traveling can be tiring, so we travel now whenever I happen to be in the mood.

It's great fun. I especially love it when people I meet have been to the place I'm "visiting" in real life, or get excited and have some virtual adventures of their own. I hope that anyone who comes across this blog will feel welcome to come with us on the trip!

You have a standing reservation to see it all!

Mar 8, 2012

Politics

Generally, I steer clear of politics on this blog--my vast ignorance coupled with an almost total lack of interest makes politics a difficult subject. However Uruguay had something interesting come out of its civil war in the early 20th century. The war led them to establish a "Collegiate Executive Office" which elected a new president every year. I like the sound of that! It worked so well that Uruguay was considered the Latin America Switzerland with terrific freedoms in banking and business. Yay Uruguay! Too bad, a power hungry military coup called the Tupamores upset everything in the 60's. Now--and this is why I don't like politics---I'm confused. The civilians took the nation back in the 1960's and now, according to the internet, Uruguay is among the most free of the latin countries. Great, except in the next sentence it says that in 2004 a coalition which INCLUDED the Tupamores won elections and they are now in control of both houses of congress, the presidency and most of the regional and city governments. Ouch. The situation now is...? I don't know, and I'm probably going to be too lazy to find out, so going back to the only concept I really grasp---a new president every year. Sounds refreshing and it sounds like it worked.

Mar 7, 2012

Punta del Este

The picture for this month is of the beach at Punta del Este--this is where the glamourous people go--especially right after Christmas one can see the movie stars. Apparently Uruguay has been sort of overlooked as a travel destination despite the beaches and terrific beauty. Neighboring Brazil and Argentina have now figured out that it's a great place to go and some places like this or Montevideo can be touristy and crowded, but the internet assures me that there are many places where a person can still have the whole beach to themselves, or go shopping and be the only gringo there.

Mar 5, 2012

Meat!

Well! We had a very promising start to our adventures in Uruguay---sort of that is. Uruguay is located directly beneath Brazil. Dave and I decided to have a romantic night out on the town and just happened to pick a Brazilian restaraunt--the all you can eat kind where the waiters go around with meat on swords. Absolutley fantastic and even reasonably appropriate for Uruguay where the favorite thing is MEAT and MEAT and MEAT.

Barbecued meat is beloved and served up in the homes with huge potatoes. This is my kind of country.

The Benin Picture

These voodoo dancers are the picture I had up as the profile picture the month we were in Benin.

travelenvelope

Welcome

Hawaii