7 lessons learned in South America

Ted. During the three months we spent exploring this, my sixth continent, I have come away with a renewed amazement at the rich diversity of life on our planet. The variety of peoples and their range of experiences are further sources of wonder. In my ignorance, I have always found it convenient to pigeonhole people. Croats are just like Serbs, only Roman Catholic (wrong!). Chileans are just more English versions of Argentineans (wrong again!). When I have stopped speaking and just listened to people such as Santiago, Rafa, Joel and Frank, here are some of the things I have learned.

1. The Andes are darned big mountains! They are the tallest outside of central Asia and have an AVERAGE elevation of 13,000 ft. We flew near Aconcagua in Argentina. At 22,837 ft high, it is the tallest peak in the Western Hemisphere and the tallest in the world outside of central Asia. 

2. South American systems of government are descended primarily from the rule of Spanish and Portuguese monarchies. This has lead to a distinctly different concept of freedom than that found in the US and Canada (thank you, Magna Carta). Indirectly, this has had a profound affect on the economies of these countries.

3. All three countries that we visited have had dictatorships in recent memory. There is, in fact, a wide range of opinions about the pros and cons of each government. Like the political situation in the US now – it’s complicated.

4. Chile has a very visible indigenous peoples heritage and roughly 10% of the population considers themselves descendants. Farmers and Mapuches still have occasional battles in the south of the country. Argentina is more like the US with only about 1.5% claiming an indigenous heritage. In Uruguay the indigenous peoples are virtually extinct.  

5. I knew that many Europeans had emigrated to the US but a TON also went to Argentina and Uruguay. This was not as true in Chile, though a smattering of Chileans of German and British descent still exist. 

6. Uruguayans are not “latins” and are nearly all of European descent.  No salsa there!

7. We met several individuals who are part of the “Bolivarian diaspora.” This is a term given to the mass exodus from Venezuela that began in 1999 when the socialist Hugo Chavez was elected president. To date, 3.5 million people, representing over 10% of the population, have fled. The number of people leaving Venezuela will soon eclipse those who have left Syria. This may prove to be the largest diaspora in history that was not caused by a war.