back in Oaxaca i am sure that this time will be the final visit of this trip. it is bittersweet i suppose as i am catching up with friends and then saying goodbye once again. certainly this city is familiar to me now and the past few days i acted as a guide (and sometimes translator) for one of my newest friends, this one from Slovenia. we actually met in Puebla and upon realizing we were going to the same place decided to travel together. the hostel in Oaxaca has been full so there have been lots of new friends and interesting conversations amongst those of us from all over the world who have one simple thing in common: we are all here now.
i have had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful, funny, interesting people throughout my trip and certainly many of them have been at the hostels. the whole culture of hostels is unique and while each hostel has it´s own "flavor" as a friend of mine would say, the world of hostels is certainly all it´s own. sometimes it kind of feels like you are living in a bubble.
for instance, as i write this, one guy from New Zealand and one guy from England are watching Honey I Shrunk the Kids as they relax after a morning of learning to cook chile relleno, guacamole, tortillas, and tacos dorados. next to me sits a couple from England who are traveling the world in 6 months and a German girl who is here in Oaxaca for a week and is volunteering during the mornings because she feels she needs to do something besides "see pretty buildings and old ruins." the owner of the hostel is from the state of Washington who after traveling for about a year returned to the states and quickly realized he wanted something different. a friend told him that this hostel was for sale so he bought it 5 months ago. the hostel provides breakfast, free internet, open kitchen, hot water showers, book exchange and a tv for use throughout the day-night. i could feasibly stay here all day and hang out, read, write, eat, chat with others and never really know i was in another country much less oaxaca. it is a strange little world.
and in this hostel world after 4 months traveling i have moved up in the hierarchy of travelers. yes there is a sort of weird hierarchy which is loosely based on how long you have traveled, and where you have traveled. being a girl who is traveling alone adds a little something and it appears at this point that i have some sort of clout. it is a funny thing and certainly is a contradiction since the moment i walk out the door into the oaxacan neighborhood i am just a tourist...a gringa.
as a gringa i walk a fine line between accepted tourist and annoying outsider. this too is a funny thing to manage and one that is only better managed when you accept that you are somewhat untouchable but on the outside, in your own alternate universe and no matter how much you may try or no matter how much you may want to be a part of the culture of where you are, you will always be "different" and may never be "a local"... i have had many conversations with travelers, ex-pats, volunteers, and residents (locals) about this and other related topics and it is enough sometimes to make me wonder: how is we all get along, much less live with, each other?
but that i suppose is question better left for the philosophers.
No comments:
Post a Comment