We’re only just beginning our journey across this great world of ours, but we have in the rear-view mirror some life-informing experiences and treks where the wind has taken us in this life. We anticipate the growing potential of people and their dreams in every place we have been. There is nowhere where the vitality of life does not thrive and we have seen the best smiles in every place, from beach to palace, from dirt road to city sidewalks laid with mosaics.
My (Chris’) home and native land. This is the container for many experiences and structures that I will seldom forget or shed. A launchpad for a life of curiosity and striving for something more. It’s not the top nation in the world or nearly the place where everyone should dream of making home, but it’s a stop on the way. It’s not perfect, but its beauty is legendary, and it has some of the most beautiful people I’ve met!
Traditionally the freest nation on earth, where the template of the American Dream can be witnessed if one looks in the right places, and home to a vast landscape of natural, diverse wonder and peoples of many intricate cultures, both native and international.
It is no cliche to describe the country as a love affair and a feeling of coming home for the first time. For the tourist, cultural explorer, or native resident alike, discovering and rediscovering the country through the eyes of those who arrive and connect to its historic personality and heart, is a once-in-a-lifetime, though repeatable experience!
This is definitely an undiscovered mystery, unassuming in its identity, but rich and attractive on many levels. I can’t wait to go back and meet all those who make it home, or a stop on their journeys, for the nature, the seafood, the business culture, the tech vibe. Who knows what connections will avail themselves to the curious explorer?
My second home where I felt a tie to family and my roots, perhaps from a previous life? Patricia’s native land and forever a go-to for connecting to health, nature, and healing. The air is filled with the stuff of revelry and appreciating life in various forms.
People went out of their way to get my attention and say hello. Life was colorful and proud. The flavor of the sea permeated the constitution and reflections upon the faces of all those I met.
A rich tradition and diaspora of natives and expatriates, a world and economy unto itself, where one may find oneself staying for longer than expected, and leaving for even greater plateaus.
Do not be confused or distracted by the surface of this country or its people. There is a depth here to be discovered, a history to be absorbed and understood over time, and a culture not to be lightly assumed or dismissed. Next time I go back, perhaps I will embed myself with a family and surrender any ideas of being a tourist, to see how I can truly integrate and discover its majestic secrets.
It greets one with respect, lives each day at a time in the moment, and never forgets its history. A modern wonder of people and places whose heritage stretches back in time, yet humbly meets the newcomer with service and opportunity. Just remember to bow and take off your sandals too.
I only began to scratch the surface in my 4 hour trip to Frankfurt. But there was an open invitation on many levels, from the business to the culture to the natural world, begging for me to discover more. When I return, I will give each aspect the attention richly deserved. I want to understand the peoples’ identities, unique and collective.
I (Chris) haven’t been there, and Patricia only visited briefly, but this is fascinating reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria
Dancing in the streets is a primal exercise that must be celebrated and experienced, along with the majesty of encountering breathtakingly beautiful waterfalls and people of rich culture. A taste of Europe in Latin America, whose resilience and roots will make it as glorious in the future, a land never to be forgotten.
Though I was there a long time ago, the magic was palpable, and a country and people of potential and growth met me where I was coming from. One of my first foreign culture experiences which planted the seed for a curiosity to step out and invest in the world.
The business culture here is an extension of the interpersonal culture. This is a good and refreshing revelation, where billionaires will unbutton their collars and talk about real life issues over a breakfast meeting. From the humblest farm to the Hotel 27, one may traverse the landscape and discover what Amsterdam or the rest of the Dutch countryside have to offer the curious and motivated explorer. Style and design are certainly not lacking, and it’s one of the rare places where I did not hear a car horn in traffic during a whole week.