USA Reflections:

Saturday was the official day we were to depart from Marathon and set sail to Cuba, but once again, the weather has shown us otherwise and it seems we still have business to do here. So I decided to write some reflections of my experience in the United States of America. I realise that I won’t be able to please everyone, everything I write is from my personal experience and networking with friends. This is not an attempt to define, judge, or discriminate anyone in any way.

This is where I was born and grew up - Farm Satori, Brasilia, Brazil

I spent my childhood in Brazil then moved to Toronto, Canada as a young teen. I never visited the US before; so most of my knowledge and opinions were based on the distress and mass destruction that the US has inflicted on all corners of the globe. I developed a bias to avoid any transaction with the States, whenever possible.

As I started to formulate the idea of this odyssey (Infinity Cycle), I became aware that the US was not only geographically essential but I also needed to get rid of preconceived ideas and find out for myself, through its people, and first hand experience. It also tied in nicely with the intention to experience both extremes and unite South, Central and North Americas together as one.

Sunrise in the state of Delaware, late October 2008

As I cycled through the states of the east coast (NY, NJ, DE, MA,VA, NC, SC, GA and FL) I intentionally let go of pretensions and negative thoughts that came up, trying to absorb it all for what it is. I found most of the people I met to be very welcoming and generous in lending me a hand by offering camp/shelter, shower, food and/or most importantly their friendship. In between a number of set destinations to friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends houses and so on, I had wonderfully unexpected experiences meeting new friends, who would in turn give me more contacts of their friends in places further along the road.

A deer near the Hudson river, Stoney Point, NY

I feel it is also important to talk about my impression of the “American way of life”. How in this country, almost everything is disposable. Many of the places I went through I found its people to be disconnected from each other and their environment. Small cities have lost their sense of community and are dependant on oil and technology to survive. Only a handful of villages had a little character of their own and most had multi-national chain shopping centres as their only source of food and other living essentials, putting most small/family operations out of business. It made me very upset to find that the ONLY place I could buy camp fuel was in Wal-Mart, one of the multi-nationals I boycott. I tried to buy my daily food from local farmer’s road stands and small grocery stores whenever possible, but sometimes had no option but a big chain store.

My bike in the morning before hitting the road - Tifton, GA

I was told by friends that in school children are taught that the USA is the BEST country in the world (wealth, health, power, etc). Strategically, to some degree it promotes patriotism, which can be a good thing when it is combined with common sense. But the frustrating part is that most of the population doesn’t even have the curiosity to find out for them selves, and instead choose to live arrogantly ignorant without ever leaving their home country.

Flying on an Ultra-Light in up-state New York

I felt privileged to be present at such a glorious moment when the people of the USA elected their first African-American president, Barack Obama. This marks a great milestone in history and gives hope to the rest of the world for a future with peace. I hope he can pull the integrity of this country back together to make peace not war, environmental responsibility with recycling/composting programs, better education, free health care, strengthen communities, teach the public about the importance of holding ourselves accountable for our actions.

Finally I am glad I had the opportunity to see and experience for myself the reality of the American life. This way I will be sure to remember the contrast with other nations of the south, where resources are not such a privilege and material goods are not wasted in vast quantities. Thank you to everyone I came in contact with during my stay in the USA.

Peace and respect,

Lalo

After having written this text, I came across a documentary movie that I highly recommend.

Zeitgeist Movement - please take some time to watch it...