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‹ Previous (28/09/2010) MONTH Next (2010-11-27)› ‹ Previous (2010-10-08 - Canada) COUNTRY Next (2011-01-23 - Mexico)› US Portland (Maine) (see on map) 29/10/2010:
Portland is the largest city in Maine, where we finally could take shelter from the rain in a cozy house where we were hosted by John, another man of couchsurfing. John proved to be a retired man with dreams of traveling and he had a passionate life. Among many anecdotes, he told us how he was lost for 10 days through the forests and mountains of Alaska and by luck found an inhabited hut. Each morning listening to radio news, he often expressed concern about the radicalization of political opinions in the United States, as they approached the next election to the Senate. For example, many Republicans were trying to instill radios to their electorate that Obama is a radical Muslim and who is not even American. But more worrying was that the Fox network, with host Rush Limbaugh to the head, tried to convince his listeners that the earth was not experiencing global warming. And many have already been convinced, including brothers and sisters of John, who did not want to check the information that came and finally replied that there were too many different opinions, it was difficult to draw any clear conclusion. According to John, this thought would be disastrous for future generations, but also for the American economy as well as in the past the U.S. industry had been producing cutting-edge cars and computers later, at this stage should focus on green technology to return and generate employment. In the same line when i interviewed John, taking the pulse of the world: (www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4yiWnddguM), he said that the main problem of the world was global warming that will dramatically affect the entire planet , and we should solve the problem together, taking each country will be affected by the problem. The main problem in America is the Republican Party, which can destroy the country, so he tries to help in the solution by voting in all elections. On a personal level, John is more or less happy, but he would be better with a different attitude, basically using his secret of happiness, being happy with what you have, not what you want. The day after our arrival in Portland I grabbed a bike and pedaled to the center of the city, with some older buildings constructed with bricks but not too attractive. I was taking a few steps around the port and by different cobblestone streets to convince myself that Portland was like most North American cities, with almost nothing interesting to offer. I came home a little disappointed and convinced that my views of American cities would not improve in the future. At that moment I remembered the comments of some of our friends in California, who thought we were devoting too many months to tour the United States, and I began to give them reason. I wanted to start the visit to Latin America, a land more rich in history and cultural contrasts. Anyway we still have about 8,000 or 10,000 miles and we still expect other U.S. regions and cities that could surprise us, as could be New York, Miami or New Orleans.
For some weeks, from Canada, i had scheduled our next visit to the United States and I had realized that we would be on October 31 in Salem, a famous city in 1692 where they had prosecuted several persons accused of witchcraft, as currently defined a city haunted or enchanted. This property qualified Salem as the ideal place to celebrate the pagan festival of Halloween (or All Saints). I wrote from time to Couchsurfing and one of the members answered to my hosting request. And surely was a wise decision, because little later I read an article that defined Salem as the best city in the world where you can celebrate Halloween. Similarly, hundreds of drivers had blocked on Saturday October 30th morning all entrances to the city. Fortunately, despite the chaos, we had booked Darrels free parking and we were able to discover the city with him and his girlfriend Michelle, both eager to party. On the street there are enough people in costume, scary or just dresses funny, like a carnival, although unlike the carnival in my town (Torello) there were fewer people wearing costumes. There were also many Japanese in disguise and intrigued by the festival and many other groups of tourists visiting the many haunted houses and other places categorized as the most terrifying of the United States. However, there was something that surprised me more than people in disguise. On several corners there were Christian preachers (some of them Catholics) with banners or microphones and speakers , accusing the gay of worshiping the devil and inviting listeners to follow the path of Jesus. Fortunately, the youth in costumes did not pay attention to the preachers or simply kept listening and laughing is their face. The second day out we returned to Salem in disguise but on the way back home I was listening to one of those preachers and i took pictures. I was so fascinated by the nonsense that they were saying (for example, ´Before I was a homosexual but Jesus saved me and I´m cured´) that i could not help but take pictures to immortalize those moments. But at one point the man confronted me and asked me: Although i really enjoyed the Halloween party in Salem I had a feeling of grief, as a preacher reminded me that in that same town, the year 1692 and 1693 some like-minded religious zealots managed to accuse 150 people of witchcraft , getting them hanged or stoned about 20 of them. Tourists visiting the cemeteries of Salem and the homes of the accused witches or judges of the court walked without meditating too much on the sadness of the events. It all started when the daughters of a minister of the village suffered several seizures of madness that the family attributed to a spell. Then they began to accuse people of Salem, enemy families and often women that did not seem too Christian, using as evidence the spectral visions of the crazy girls and in the coming months 14 women and 5 men were sentenced and hanged. There was also another victim, a 81 year old man who refused to plead guilty or innocent, unable to be judged legally in two days he was drowned by the weight of the stones that were piled over his body. In this way, the man could keep their property (no life) and by inherited by his children.
As we descended to the south the temperatures were more pleasant and in St. Augustine, a coastal town in Florida, we began to walk with short sleeves. We liked St. Augustine, a former Spanish town, with an imposing fortress, which reminded me slightly of the tourist towns of the Costa Brava, with a main street full of small shops. But much more we were impressed by Kennedy Space Center we visited the next two days. The entrance was very expensive, $ 50 per person, but really worth it, with several IMAX 3D movies, museums, performances of several space programs, excursions to the launch pads, chats with astronauts, ... Those days there was a presentation of Mark Lee, an astronaut who had traveled 4 times in the shuttle craft, and asked if he would join an expedition without a return to Mars, as suggested by some scientists, but said he was not quite convinced if he preferred history to his grandchildren. Finally, after those intense two days, I realized there are many other space missions, and I ended up surprised that over 500 people from 38 nationalities have already flown in space since 1957 and have launched more than 6500 satellites in orbit around the earth. From Boston to NY (see on map) 07/11/2010:
We left Boston under heavy rain, being prevented from visiting the US Constitution and made us park near the village of Chatham, on Cape Cod, until the next day at midmorning, when the rain began to slacken. Taking advantage of a few minutes without water, we visited the port and the dune beach of Chatham, and immediately started making way into the village of Little Compton, which we liked more. The next day we visited without haste, walking through the rocks where the waves snapped a raging sea and visiting the small roads in the region that snaked through the side of beautiful wooden houses surrounded by stacked stone. Even more interesting was the following day, when we visited some of the fabulous mansions of Newport, a town that began to prosper thanks to the slave trade and the existence of various pirate considered honorary citizens. Anyway, the real growth started in mid-eighteenth century from the arrival of several families of Jewish merchants from Portugal, where they practiced their religion in secret the last 3 centuries. And more prosperous when the early nineteenth century several wealthy families of the Southern plantation began to build splendid mansions around Bellevue Avenue, an activity that continued over a century, attracting the wealthiest families across the country. Today, many of these mansions are still private, but there are some that have been turned into museums and are open to the public, although the high price of entry only allowed us to visit the outside. The last day before entering New York, we stopped in the city of New Haven, in the center of which lies the famous Yale University, which impressed me much more than Harvard in Cambridge. Just in time, we went directly to the visitor´s center to join the free guided tour of the university. Before, all the participants visualized a fun 20-minute video that Yale had a way so attractive that I felt like going back to college and study. Then a girl student and guide, took us to the university, which surprised by its gothic buildings of the early twentieth century attempted to mimic the architecture of the ancient English universities. As explained the guide, some Englishmen compared this architecture with Disneyland, but I liked it, because i still had withdrawal symptoms for historic buildings. Anyway, although I liked more Yale than Harvard, Yale does not have as good statistics as the University of Cambridge and only has 49 Nobel Prize winners affiliated with the university and has only produced 5 U.S. presidents.
New York is the city of skyscrapers and we were not disappointed at all. We had high expectations for the city, the capital of the world, and virtually all were met. We only had four days to see New York, because it was difficult to find free accommodation through couch surfing for longer. But we took these four days and did intensive walking, covering long distances every day to see and feel our presence in the most important city. We walked beneath the skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan, past the famous and ancient side of Empire State building, crossing the bright Times Square, and visiting ancient relics as they could be, the library, the Cathedral of St. Patrick, or the train station Grand Central Terminal. The second day we caught the free ferry to Staten Island, where we saw the Statue of Liberty and the lofty skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan by the sea, below which we walked later, passing in front of the big Wall Street, on the side of the works of restoration of the World Trade Centre and the next building where they were building the mosque that is a reason for conflict, finishing our gruelling trek across the Brooklyn Bridge. The third day I decided to visit the headquarters of the United Nations, an international territory in downtown Manhattan and making an exception to my policy of not visiting places of payment, that day I paid $ 16 for being able to enter the building of the Great Assembly where charismatic governors and leaders from around the world have delivered important speeches. The room was no more impressive than a theatre, but allowed me to impregnate with the significance of the place and for a moment I felt much closer to the events of contemporary history. Then the guide led us through different rooms as he explained the noble goals of the UN, to end wars, ban landmines, prevent the proliferation of atomic bombs and weapons of mass destruction, to end hunger or finding a solution to conflict between Israel and Palestine. Upon leaving the United Nations compound, I thought that very few objectives had been met, but later, while strolling through the beautiful park of High Line occupying a former elevated rail line, I thought that probably the world would be much worse without the UN. The fourth day ended with a walk in Chinatown, Little Italy and Soho, popular southern suburbs of Manhattan near the neighbourhood of Ian and Magda, our hosts in New York, a couple who we had met about three years ago in South Africa through a Couchsurfing meeting in Johannesburg. It was a shame that Ian and Magda were a little stressed with work and could not spend too much time with them, although one night we went out for a beer with Ian and some friends, a couple from Chile who we also knew, having exchanged several e-mails during the trip. During the conversation, we realized that Ian used the word liberal or liberal Democrat to define a person´s left and progressive, while the rest of the world was rather backward and identify a person´s right to self-commitment economy. Then the Chilean and I discussed that in South America or Europe we used the word Republican to define a person of leftist ideology that had traditionally struggled against the hereditary monarchy, while in the United States, the term was used to define the Republican Party as right wing. I thought the comment would be a mere curiosity, but I was surprised that Ian knew to explain the reason for this difference in definitions. Ian told us that the Republican Party was initially left and the Democrat right-wing, that is, the Democrats were against high taxes and in favour of free trade and Republicans were opposing political betting. In addition, an important part of the Democratic Party was favourable to maintaining slavery, or that states were entitled to decide the issue, while Republicans were more progressive and were mostly against slavery. Finally, with the rise of the Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1861, he resolved the matter with a bloody civil war, which increased the fervour that most white Southern Democrats were the conservatives. During the following decades several things were exchanged in the government of Republicans and Democrats, until the outbreak of the Great Depression of 1929 under a Republican administration. The next elections were won by Democrat Roosevelt, who began to implement measures that previously were detested by the Democrats but had to be done to prevent another failure: more economic control, business regulation, civil rights, social benefits, ... all financed with higher taxes. That was how the ideological shift occurred because the Republicans who began to advocate the business and the free economy due to slow economic growth in the coming years. Thus, before who voted the Democrats (eg southern whites) began to vote Republican, and vive versa, those who previously endured the Republicans (eg black or working class) began to vote Democratic. And that is why many Europeans do not understand American politics. It is the same with the definition of liberalism, because most people understand the term as used to define the position in favour of free market economy, advocating a government with limited powers for the benefit of individual freedoms, but to the detriment of equality or social justice, individual freedom start to end could lead people to refuse to pay taxes. By this definition, used almost everywhere in the world, a liberal person is a person clearly right, but not in the U.S.. In this country historically has always been a majority of the population defined as liberal (according to the European definition), but normal people considered this position and not defined as liberal. Anyway, the term was first used to define those who fought for individual freedom and the rights of oppressed social classes, as they could be women, blacks and later immigrants. Extending this definition of the concept, were also liberals who defended freedom of expression, freedom of press, freedom of religion, the right to equality before the law and the separation of church and state, all these clearly a political stakes left, completely opposed to the liberal policies in Europe. We did not miss the opportunity to take the pulse of the world with Ian, Alexandra debuting as an interviewer. Ian felt that the main problem in the world or humanity is excessive population growth, a problem that could begin to solve with more education, although education was the main problem in the United States is too focused on studying the actual country. On a personal level Ian is happy, but would be happier travelling more. The secret of happiness is to have confidence that decisions made throughout life are the best you could take.
After 4 strenuous days in New York, when we had been walking 5 hours a day at least, we went to relax in the next state of New Jersey, in the village of Cranford, where we stayed with Dan. Dan, a man aged 47 lives in a nice house, gave us total freedom and let us spend the entire weekend locked up at home, basically editing photos and writing the diary, but also spent a few good hours maintaining very interesting conversations with him, exchanging views on religion, God, and on a subject that fascinates me and which I have planned to write a book on the way home: free will. Among the topics, we also talked about the fact that perceptions can be wrong sometimes, for example, believed that Jews used to vote Republican, because its presidents have been the most obtuse fighting against Islamic countries, but Dan said its practically impossible to find a Jew who is not a Democrat, so it is difficult for Obama to pressure Israel to sign to agree to peace with the Palestinians. Dan also said that contrary to common perception around the world, including most Americans, the U.S. is a socialist state, likely devoting more resources to social policies (about 35% of GDP) than most self-described communist countries (China, Vietnam, North Korea ,...). Among the benefits of the welfare state in the United States may be listed the free primary and secondary education (compulsory until 16 years), scholarships for college access for students with low incomes, pensions for all workers from the 65 or 67 years (that is paid with 15% of salary), disability insurance, the income support for low-wage workers, housing subsidies, food stamps, Medicare program offers health insurance coverage to all persons over 65 years, the Medicaid program that provides health coverage to individuals and families with low incomes and resources, and many other programs, in addition, anyone is entitled to be treated in services Hospital emergency, even without private health insurance contract. Most of these programs were created between 1935 and 1965, driven always by Democratic presidents, however, despite all these programs, currently the majority of families without private insurance are not covered by the state and that is what tried to fix President Obama for the first two years of his mandate. But it was not easy, because of the objections that put the Republicans is that many social programs are for immigrants who end up benefiting from the aid. But Dan felt that it was not negative, because he was a second-generation American (his grandparents had come from Slovakia and Ireland) and their grandparents and parents had also previously received aid, promoting their integration and enabling Dan has a company that has hired about 15 people. And according to conversations about misperceptions, Dan asked us how Americans are perceived around the world, because Americans tend to think they are in the center of the world and all humans look at them with admiration for its democracy and for his tireless fight to establish freedom throughout the world. Naturally, we said that not all people that we saw think this way, no doubt some people admired but many others also detested. Even Alexandra was biased towards the Americans before the journey, hating the politics and the radicalization of religions, although last five months immersed in their culture she has also begun to appreciate the friendliness and warmth of the majority of people who we have met. Alexandra also interviewed Dan, who believed that there were several major problems in the world, global warming, terrorism, diseases like malaria, ... Choosing the first problem, the solution would be given by further promoting green energy and even nuclear energy. He can help in solving the problem by voting for politicians who care about the problem, as well as recycling or using alternative energy. Locally, the main problem in the United States is the bad economy situation that prevents investment in the solution of other problems that are also important. The solution should come at the political level but also at the corporate, and in this last section is where he can work, improving the efficiency of your business. On a personal level Dan was happy because he shares life with friends and family, something that is part of the secret of happiness, but also economic security cannot buy always happiness.
With Joshua from Philadelphia we continued to talk about perceptions, although in this case we were not so wrong. Joshua had no problem expressing his gay sexual orientation, although when young he also had sex with some girls. Sensing that Joshua was a very open person and nothing repressed him, I dared to raise some questions that are not normally asked for education and end up left unanswered. I told him that the U.S. seemed a society very tolerant of homosexuality and he responded in a way that was true and there were a growing number of boys and girls that came out of the closet earlier. But he added that there are homophobes and that churches that spend a lot of money for campaigns that finally ban gay marriage between same-sex couples in California. Because of this, i did not understand the existence of gay people in America who needed to feel integrated into a church, although most religions reject their sexual orientation. Without being insulting, I asked if he believed that homosexuality was genetic or cultural and said that was probably a mixture of the two, and maybe freedom and tolerance in the United States favoured the emergence of more gays and lesbians. Finally subscribing just that in a world where overpopulation was one of the main problems, homosexuality was very positive for humanity, because in general the gays and lesbians do not procreate and only take kids in adoption, this positive effect was substantial. In any case, I was clear about my heterosexuality and had to admit that I belong to the party responsible for the problem. Of course we talked about many other subjects with Joshua, and shared dinners, movies and even a walk through the beautiful Philadelphia, a city i compared to Boston for its history. If Boston had its historical importance in initiating the confrontation and war against the British, Philadelphia was the city where they consolidated the political struggle for independence. In particular, it was in the beautiful brick building called Independence Hall where the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain signed on July 4, 1776 a formal, unilateral declaration of independence. A moment that American students are forced to study in great detail, as was shown to me by visiting the building along with some children some ten years old and almost all knew by heart the names of famous people who had participated in the written and signing of the declaration. Obviously, the Declaration of Independence is a crucial historical moment, achieved independence but also because it planted the seed that caused the American Civil War almost a century later, because in the signed text stated that ´all men are created equal ´and the southern states did not want to admit in the case of slaves. Besides the historic buildings we visited in Philadelphia, Joshua advised me to visit a modern place and I was impressed. It was Philadelphia´s Magic Garden, a building completely covered by solar mosaics and unique sculptures created by artist Isaiah Zagari. It was a fantastic work started in 1994, which had occupied the artist for 14 years, during which up to 280 square meters covered with pieces of ceramic, glass bottles, bicycle wheels and many other objects. The magic garden reminded me slightly of Park Guell in Barcelona or another Gaudi building, if not because this was an architect who had just mentality dominated the chaos, while Isaiah Zagari just had a mind of the artist, where chaos and disorder dominated all the work to better express their feelings and emotions.
Washington is a paradise for tourists and also for travellers, and personally I would have been here many more days but we did not want to abuse the hospitality of Mack, Masha and Giana. The three treated us very well, but we just did not connect very well, perhaps because they were too young or because they relied on too much fun, party and the alcohol. However, Macks crazy mentality allowed us to enjoy a unique experience, I would say very American. As soon as we arrived in Washington, Mack told us to go with him and Gianna to see ´The Room´ the worst movie ever filmed and projected in a cinema. I wondered what was the point of going to see a bad movie but then he told us that the film was so grotesque that it was precisely the grace, and that´s why viewers are cut short. I thought the director (and actor) Tommy Wiseau have expressly made a bad movie, but no, the film tried to be a good movie, but it was blurred in many instances, the sets were horrible, the dialogue and the reactions of the characters were whimsical, the engagement of all actors was painful ... However, the public and even we had a great time, thanks to alcohol, but also by the environment. Many spectators had come filled with plastic spoons and every time a scene was showing a picture of a spoon (the decor) the public threw spoons against the screen. At the same time, the audience kept shouting ´it´s out of focus!´ or repeating the absurd dialogues of the actors, while some others were playing throwing the football ball, and a few others were poured into the soil beneath the screen to pick up some plastic spoons. It was a surreal spectacle that many of them repeated every month, coming to worship a director that did not deserve anything and that had become famous for a bunch of drunks. As I said, me and Alexandra also we had a very good time, but honestly, before repeating it, I prefer to see a Marx Brothers movie, where surrealism is a little studied and worked. The movie ´The Room´ was an exception to Washigton, a city where the harmony and order could be one of its main features. Washington is the capital of the United States, where the White House, the residence of the President, the Capitol building, where the Senate (two senators per state) and the chamber of congress (with a number of delegates proportional to state population), which together with the president decide the future of the country. We visited the White House and the Capitol on the outside, but also visited a couple of the many monuments dedicated to different U.S. presidents, such as 169 meters obelisk dedicated to the country´s first president, the general who had fought in Washington against the English, and the monument to President Lincoln, who had united the country after a bloody civil war. I also visited the memorial to American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War, leaving aside the visit of the memorials to the Holocaust or American soldiers who died during World War I, World War II or the Korean War. Added to all these memorials and monuments around the park called the National Mall one can also visit many museums, all free of charge. I visited the air space and the museum of natural history, all with much interesting information that I practically oversaturated myself with knowledge and decided not to visit any other, partly because of lack of time. To be more slowly absorbed so much knowledge, would have been better than other cities in the United States had received some of these 19 free Smithsonian museums, which would add a zoo and botanical gardens. Although the current distribution allowed the observation of the overall legacy of the British scientist James Smithson (1765-1829), who in his will left 104,960 gold coins (equivalent to $ 10,100,997 in 2008) to the United States government to create an institution dedicated to the development and diffusion of knowledge among people. Surely today should be more people like this man James Smithson.
With an eye on the state of Florida, we began descending from Washington towards the south, stopping on the second day in Jamestown and Yorktown, two historically important sites, although not as visually appealing. Jamestown only has some ruins of an ancient town and an interesting museum illustrating how, after 18 failed attempts to settle in other parts of the coast of North America, English colonists finally managed to create the first permanent settlement in 1607. However, not easy because the settlers had settled in a wetland full of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in late April, too late to plant crops. During the first months 51men were killed, and many more died during the famines of the next two years, leaving only 61 alive of the 500 original settlers. However, they were lucky that the Indian tribes who lived around helped the settlers, but later began a conflict that ended in 1613 with the capture of the chief´s daughter of the principal native tribe. The girl, known by the popular name of Pocahontas, was raised, educated in the Christian faith, baptized and a year later was married to John Rolfe, who had a son. Unfortunately, the family traveled to England in 1616 and a year later, Pocahontas died. Meanwhile, the Jamestown colony began to grow with the arrival of new settlers, including women, but also experienced the odd setback as the slaughter in 1622 that killed 300 settlers and an internal revolt in 1676 that burned the city. However, the English were determined to stay in Jamestown, thus starting the first part of United States history. The second part of the history of the United States also began near Jamestown, the town of Yorktown, where the English lost their last battle in 1781 against the army of George Washington and against the French navy, becoming genuinely independent. Unlike Jamestown, where only the archaeological remains of people and an interesting museum is found, Yorktown also had an attractive village with some houses from a more modern time trying to mimic the colonial style. |
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