The allure of more beach life in Costa Rica gave us the motivation we needed to continue our journey, and to face another three straight days of bus travels. Due to bad planning we had to rush through both Honduras and Nicaragua, only stopping for the night in the countries` capitals. If nothing else it gives me a good excuse to come back.

In just over one week we would be in Ecuador and I didn`t at all feel ready to move on...

I claim to travel to learn about people, culture, history, politics etc, but it is nearly impossible to learn anything when you don`t stay more than a few days in one place. I am skimming the surface, seeing some sights, meeting a few people, then moving on with an extremely superficial understanding of the place I`ve been. It feels a little wrong, but this is traveling and very few travelers break the mold, me included.

But can I really be traveling and yet learn a great deal about the places I go? I`ve found that it usually takes about a year to really start getting to know a place. Hell, I spent 5 years in the USA and was still learning new things every day until the day I left!

Another traveler asked me if I "feel American". Uhm, no, and I`m not sure that I ever could. 5 years is nothing, and there are so many subtle cultural "things" that are hard to get when you didn`t grow up in a place. There is so much about me that Americans will never understand, and so much about them that I just won`t... And now we are talking weeks / days, not years! When it comes down to it, I haven`t really a clue about Central America and its people. I see the world trough my "goggles" (how can I not?) though I try to take them off once in a while.

The more time I spend in other cultures, the more of a gap I see. I admire those who have successfully pulled off a cross-cultural relationship. What great confusion and compromises must lay behind those couples.

Rant-with-no-real-point over!