Travel broadens the mind. Since ancient times, man has felt the need to move

around from place to place. In prehistoric times, he didn’t

have a permanent home; he travelled from region to

region searching for food, or fleeing the cold…

Jumping forward in history to the early 16th century,

European explorers started searching for new markets and

faster routes. The Spanish, Portuguese, and the English

felt the need to leave their countries and travel in search

of something new. The idea of a mysterious India and,

later, the exotic and wild America, was exciting for

anyone.

And then at the time of the Industrial Revolution,

distances no longer posed a problem. Man developed a

huge variety of means transport, overland, by sea, by air…

We can appreciate this travel need in all forms of human

expression, from the invention of the motorcar, through

art and literature. Monet painted a crowded train station

with plenty of people eager to travel. Jules Verne, the

famous French writer, never stopped dreaming of the

thousand of ways in which man could travel, whether it be

by hot air balloon, or submarine…

We can classify journeys in many ways. I will divide them

into two categories: local and international journeys and I

will talk from my own experience.

Starting with local travel, local means: ‘restricted to a

particular place’. Therefore, when I say local I’m referring

to my own country, Chile.

Chile is a country located on the South-Western tip of the

American continent. Due its long territory, it has a great

variety of climatic areas, like desserts in the North and

dense green forests in the South.

Local tourism within Chile is quite popular, because it’s

cheaper than flying to other countries, and people like to

know about theirs own culture. My favourite places in

Chile that I have visited are:

- Atacama dessert

- Riñihue lake

- Torres del Paine

Another kind of local travel in Chile is the so-called

‘Trabajos’, in English ‘Jobs’, led by a non-profit-making

organization called ‘A Roof for Chile’. They are a group of

young people who go to poor areas of the country, in

order to build basic houses for people who haven’t even a

place to live. It was a Jesuit priest, Felipe Berríos, who took

this initiative thirteen years ago.

This kind of local travel is really amazing, because

normally it’s said that young people aren’t motivated by

anything, yet this proves that they are capable of leaving

their comfort zone, with no financial reward in exchange,

only the satisfaction of helping those more unfortunate

than themselves.

Talking about international travels, I have been very lucky

in this aspect, because I have had the opportunity to

travel to many countries.

I was born in the US, due to the fact my parents were

studying for a Master degree in Georgetown University in

Washington. Two years later they decided to move to

Barcelona, in Spain, in order to study a PhD. I lived five

years in this city, and during this time we travelled a lot. I

got to know France, Italy, Austria, Greece, and many other

European countries.

Many people could say: ‘You were so young, you can’t

remember so much’, but that’s not true. Having lived in

Spain was an amazing experience, and I still have many

Spanish friends (actually in the half term I went to

Barcelona to one of my best friend’s house).

When I was eight, we finally went back to Chile. The first

months weren’t easy. However Spain and Chile have the

same language, there are many different words, and my

Spanish accent was pretty funny for Chilean people.

As time passed I got used to it, and I started to enjoy living

in my country. My father got a part-time job in Central

America, where he started up some companies, and we

started to travel to these countries.

I went to Guatemala, which today is one of my favourite

countries. It has the mix of culture, with all these Mayan

ruins, nature, amazing local people…you can see colours

in every corner, from the marvellous landscape, through

people’s clothing.

Another country I have visited is Honduras, very close to

Guatemala. Given that my mother is a historian all our

journeys are half culture, half fun. I’m not saying that

culture can’t be fun, but sometimes you need to escape to

a beach or some relaxing place. Anyway, in Honduras we

went to another Mayan ruin named Copán, and later, we

moved to a hidden island, Roatan. Roatan was a British

colony a few years ago, therefore even though Honduras

is a Spanish speaking country, most people on the island

speak English. I said hidden, because it’s very difficult to

reach Roatan. You have to take turboprop from a little

known city in Honduras, and not many people know about

it. That is due to the fact that they want to conserve this

ecological place, it isn’t a massive resort, and local people

take care of their environment. Roatan has the most

amazing beaches that I have ever visited. You can do

scuba diving, swimming with dolphins…

And the last country I’m going to talk about is Peru. There

are many conflicts between Chilean and Peruvian people,

because Chileans think they are superior. In terms of

economic power, Government policies and so on, Chile is

hugely superior, but Peru is a very wealthy country. It was

the cradle of the Inca civilization, and its old capital city,

Cusco, is wonderful. There you have several colonial

churches and cathedrals, characterized by their colonial

paintings. A few hours away you reach Machu Picchu, the

ancient Inca ceremony centre, now a very popular

destination for young people.

And on the Peruvian North coast you have very nice

beaches. One of the most popular is Máncora, one of the

best surfing beaches in the World. People who like seafood

are going to love this place, because you have a large

variety of fish and shellfish and this kind of food is very

common and cheap.

In conclusion, living in Europe showed me the rich culture

that the Western World has. In London you have the best

museums, in Rome the mix between the Roman and the

Catholic World. On the other hand, South America doesn’t

have this classical culture, but it has another kind of

historical architecture and a unique natural surroundings.

Neither is better than the other, they are just different. I

like to compare different lifestyles, like the British one with

the Chilean one, and you can learn a lot from each

experience.

I think that travel broadens the mind, it gives you a wide

view of the World, and you can understand many

contemporary issues, things that happen every day.

I encourage all people here to travel a lot and discover

other cultures, because Travel broadens

the mind.