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Published: November 24th 2006
Temples
A historic past...I have to admit I was slightly dreading it for quite a while. Leaving Latin America that has been my home for the past 9 months and flying to New Zealand, an English-speaking civilisation. How will I survive?
Well I have been in New Zealand a week now and I still feel very out of place and more than a little lost. The differences here compared to Latin America are apparent immediately. For a start I am now no longer the tallest female in a room, and I’m certainly not the palest either. And then when the noise becomes voices I am disorientated to find that everyone is speaking English. Even bar tenders, waitresses and shop assistants. I still find myself making a mental effort to speak English to everyone, and even thanking people with “Gracias”. Somehow English now seems louder, maybe it is just that everyone here feels the need to raise their voice, as if the antipodean twang was not enough to irritate me. It certainly sounds so harsh after the soft sound of Spanish. Several times I have to get up and leave for a minute until the sound subsides.
Although I like my space, and
My home
A not so historic past... I’m not a big fan of crowds I find the lack of people in towns very peculiar, a sensation almost like that of a ghost town. Instead of the pavements being so busy that there are people spilling into the road, a great throng of people pushing their way forward, I find myself on a deserted stretches of pavements. And there are no street sellers, no tortillas for sale, no cold bottles of water; no one selling freshly squeezed orange juice from the corners. I have yet to come across a market. There must be markets I hope, somewhere other the large impersonal supermarkets of boxes piled high in a warehouse fashion.
Everything is new, the houses and other buildings are all modern and clean and well built. In Latin America the buildings range from vast ancient Mayan Temples to beautiful colonial buildings, to bright painted homes to mud huts with tin roofs in a permanent state of unfinish. It is as though there is no history here, no past. Everything is modern, and I feel as if I am in an artificial world, not dissimilar to Alton Towers (complete with attractions).
The indigenous populations - Mayas vs.
Zorbing (hamster balls)
Alton Tower like attractions, the home of éxtreme sports'so carefully regulated that you are more likely to get injured walking in the park Maoris; are starkly different too. I have left the Mayans, a group of poor people who left legacies of huge cities like Tikal and Chichen Itza but now are struggling to survive, treated as second class citizens, speaking their own languages and still living in the way they have done for hundreds of years. Compare this to the Maoris, who arrived in New Zealand a few hundred years before the Spanish arrived in Mexico, and therefore lack the spectacular historical legacy left by the Mayans. They put on dances and shows to illustrate ‘traditional Maori customs’ but most live a very modern life. And the shows are used to create an income; tourism is big business, with money going to the indigenous people, not the colonists. (I fear a longer debate at a future time re tradition vs. progress…)
Perhaps another problem is that everything is so similar to England without actually being so; the weather is grey and miserable, the scenery involves a lot of cows in green fields, everyone speaks English, the corner shops are owned by people of Asian descent, TV programs lack subtitles or dubbing, the toilets can all cope with toilet paper (I still
Busy streets
This is what I am missing... find myself looking for a bin to dispose of the paper), shops all shut at 5.30pm, and there is even a choice of Indian takeaways. Cars all drive on the left, and public transport is expensive and indirect. Admittedly there are plus sides to this as well - including Cadburys chocolate and The Green Wing on TV. And so far the highlight is renting a house for 2 weeks and not having to repack my bag every night…
…So other than reminiscing, I am enjoying the company of good friends (so far I’ve met up with 5 university friends and 1 girl I knew from retake college), sorting out paperwork to allow me to work, and gradually coming to terms with my next life. One that unfortunately will have to involve some sort of work...
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Chantal
non-member comment
Hey anna, Hope you won't miss Latin America too much (but I can understand why..) and you can settle in New Zealand. Still enjoy reading all your blogs! Good luck with everything!! Chantal, Holland