Having just returned from a trip to the Iberian Peninsula, I came back marveling at the homogeneity of the world.
South Buffalo’s Steve Bunko talks about the paradox of travel.
In Madrid and Lisbon, I saw McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, and Burger King side by side. Brand-name stores such as Ralph Lauren and Victoria’s Secret are dotted around the city.
H&M and Banana Republic were in attendance, as were Bose, Microsoft and Google. There is an American Liberty store, which made it easy to get some products that are hard to find outside of the US. There was also a Tim Hortons in Madrid. If you take snapshots of pedestrians on the streets of big cities or small towns, you’ll be hard-pressed to tell Lisbon or Madrid from St. Louis or Buffalo.
The Converse All-Star sneakers that I once had to wait until I got to Bishop Timon’s are everywhere. In the university city of Salamanca, the students looked like students from UB or Buffalo State University, and asking them questions was almost the same as listening to them as we would listen to them.
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Skinny jeans and Lululemon apparel were everywhere. Unusual haircuts, tattoos, and facial piercings were reminiscent of Americans. While we were traveling in Europe, we were embarrassed to talk to Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, etc., but they spoke pretty good English. Schools in other countries have recognized the global contraction and are requiring students to learn English from third grade.
On the other hand, we make little effort to impose foreign language proficiency at universities. Even native European speakers know enough English to understand themselves. The prevalence of graffiti throughout Spain and Portugal was a reminder that different types of artistic expression are universal and not something only Americans tolerate.
There were also obvious differences. In Toledo, Spain, I lamented that my uncracked hooves might have made it easier to climb the steepest hill I’ve climbed since I was in Southeast Asia. I looked at the centuries-old cobblestones and wondered if my knee replacement would last me the entire trip.
And wherever I went in Portugal, I was greeted with lengthy explanations about the country’s “addiction” to cod and the process of building ports. But when we got tired of talking about fish and wine, we remembered how much we love bragging about our chicken wings and football team in Buffalo.
Our trip included a week on the Douro River. While working as a speechwriter for the New York State Legislature, I spent a week traveling through the locks of the Erie Canal with the late Dick Keene. Lock 17 at Little Falls raises and lowers boats approximately 40 feet and is touted as a “marvel of engineering.”
By comparison, the Carapatero lock on the Douro River is 115 feet deep, earning it the nickname “Big Mother” by the Portuguese. During our cruise, we often saw the remains of the aqueduct, still standing after centuries of war, weather, and natural disasters. We marveled at the ingenuity of the agronomists who groomed the terraced hillsides to utilize all available land for planting vineyards. The Douro River helped transport wine and large quantities of agricultural products economically, but the efficient, timely, and clean trains that moved travelers were most envied.
Still, the people left the most lasting impression on our trip. They were friendly, helpful and courteous. The more you travel, the more you realize the similarities between the different nationalities you’ve met.
Given all that we share, it’s hard to understand how much emphasis is placed on what divides us. Mark Twain once reminded us that travel is fatal to bigotry, bigotry, and bigotry. My only regret is not being able to afford it when I was young enough to actually explore – oh yeah, and those damn cobblestones.
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