People are strange

I’ve spent the last week staying at a hostel here in Rio. It’s a great place, I’m really starting to enjoy the hostel life. Everyone is very outgoing. You meet interesting people from all around the world. And when you’re traveling by yourself this is a big deal! I just wish everyone had a little better hygiene, the bathrooms were clean, the air-conditioners actually worked and there weren’t six people sleeping in a room. But besides that it’s fantastic. Here it seems to be an even mix of Latin Americans and Europeans / US Citizens.

And it’s amazing how different the two groups are. The Latin Americans are always so social, so lively, so friendly. They all know how to share really well. If someone buys a bottle of water, a beer, a banana or whatever else, it’s going to get offered to everyone. But as far as I can tell, it’s not done out of some sense of obligation or duty. It’s just that it doesn’t occur to them not to offer something they have to their friends who might want to try it.

Us “westerners” aren’t like this at all. In fact normally this behavior throws us off our balance, confuses us. We don’t know how to respond. I’ve seen a lot of us say no to the initial offer, and then grudgingly accept when the offer persists. And then we feel honor bound to return the favor, which of course defeats the whole purpose.

The Latin Americans also are always the life of the party. Actually when I’m hanging out with my new Latin American friends, whether it’s the Chileans or the Argentineans or the Colombians or whoever the party is wherever we are at.

The “westerners” are not the life of the party, ever. We like our private time, and sometimes we need our space. We like to go off by ourselves and read books at the beach, while everyone else is socializing and dancing and eating.

I find it really fascinating that the people from the poorer countries of the world are the most generous with the things they do have. They also seem so much happier than the folks from the richer countries too. You never see a Colombian moping around because he’s depressed. I think I’ve decided I don’t actually like us “westerners”. We’re selfish, we’re greedy, we’re power-hungry, we’ve got a superiority complex and we can’t dance worth a damn.