I've Lived Outside the U.S for 6 Months. Here's What I Miss (And What I Don't).
I've learned a lot in six months. There's still much more to learn.
Time stops for no one. And yet, we’re all free to step on and stop off whenever we’d like. To take it all in. Or to duck our heads, sleep, and wait for the next exit.
My time over the last six months has been spent outside of the United States. After a year of towing a camper around the U.S., taking the journey further, beyond my homeland, proved too tantalizing an opportunity to turn down.
No kids. No spouse. No obligations beyond my own work, the time proved right. I could put it off, announce to the world "another time" as if making a promise I know I won't keep, and then curse myself later in life for not taking the opportunity.
And so, after six months in Peru, I’m moving on to my next destination of Argentina. Perhaps I’ve grown from this experience thus far. Perhaps I haven’t. Maybe it’s the world that’ll decide. Often, we do not see the aging. The growing. Relatives and friends remark on how much we’ve changed. But we don’t see it. We only see the deeper wrinkles on their faces. The added gray behind ears and the wider belt in use.
I’ll wait for friends and family to do the same to me.
This time away has shown me things I truly miss about the United States. It’s also presented me with new ideas and concepts, making me forget some of what I once knew as fact as well.
These are just some of the few things I miss and don’t miss, about the United States.
I Miss Target
Heck, toss in Walmart, Meijer, Kroger, Fry’s, Piggly Wiggly, Wawa, or whatever else you’d like to in here.
I didn’t realize how easy it was to go to a store and buy everything I needed in one stop. Sure, you enter Target for some Q-tips and sandals and you leave with a phone case, glitter tank top, extra-large bag of chocolate drizzled popcorn and neon pink Halloween decorations, but even the option of buying what I need in one stop is something I truly miss.
Here, I can buy food groceries in one store. Need anything medical-related? Have to go to a pharmacy. That could be anything from Rogaine to Tylenol to condoms to band-aids. Need to get protein powder for a workout? To the nutrition store. A screw? Hardware store. There are a lot of stores.
But there is only one Target. And it’s not found here.
I Don’t Miss the Food
Surprisingly enough, I haven’t had a single food craving for something from the states. Sure, there aren’t the ready-made sushi rolls just calling your name at the grocery store, but there isn’t anything that I’ve found I overly miss.
There are plenty of U.S. restaurants throughout the country. I’ve seen more T.G.I.Fridays here than I’ve seen in the United States. Heck, just around the corner there’s a Johnny Rockets and a Chili’s. If I want American food I can get it.
What I can’t get in the U.S. is Peruvian food. Probably the most underrated culinary scene in the world. On the Top 50 Best Restaurants in the World list, Peru has two in the Top 10. the United States doesn’t even show up on the list until 22 (Cosme in New York). I was able to take a ceviche cooking class, so if you ever run into me on the street, maybe I can make you some. It’s fresh, delicious, totally different from the Mexican version you might have had, and I think it’s just a matter of time before it takes off in the States. But for now, I crave it, not burgers and fries (although In-N-Out Burger is about as close to a craving as I’ve had).
I Miss Competent Driving (And Driving Rules)
I know, you’re thinking, “well in such-and-such state the drives are complete morons!” Trust me. I get it. I towed a camper around the country. Anyone who has towed anything knows it’s a magnet for idiots and the confused. I’ve been cut off on both the entrance and exit ramps of Florida highways towing a 60-year-old trailer.
But here it’s something else. Cars are coming, and they are not stopping for pedestrians. In the crosswalk? Doesn’t matter. Walking your dogs and crossing the street? Better run. I’ve also never seen an entire collective of people struggle so much at going in reverse. It’s remarkable. There are people standing in parking lots, accepting tips for helping you back out.
Of course, that might have something to do with driving laws being more loose guidelines. Stop sign? What stop sign? In order to control traffic, they actually installed speed bumps at every intersection to force cars to slow down. No speed bump? Cars will honk as they approach the intersection to notify the other honking cars they are approaching.
I will never complain about U.S. drivers again.
(Okay, that’s a lie. I absolutely will, but I will still take U.S. drivers over what’s going on here).
I Don’t Miss the Cocktails
You can get a negroni or gin martini anywhere in the world. They aren’t complicated drinks to make. But the drink presentation in Peru is next level. What’s the fanciest drink you’ve had in the States? Maybe something served in a pineapple? A bloody mary jammed with enough meat to feed a small village? At the first bar I went to in Peru the cocktail was served in an I.V. bag, and when opened up, the drink funneled through the line and filled my glass from the bottom up. The second bar? The specialty cocktail lit fresh rosemary on fire, put it out, then put the still-smoking sprig into a special top that allowed the smoke to infuse into the cocktail.
And these kinds of cocktails were the norm. Things got wilder. I had a cognac served on its side, with frozen mango stuck to the inside top of the glass, and paired with a small light, that would slowly melt the mango, which every-so-slowly dripped its juice into the spirit.
I don’t know why cocktails became such a thing, but I’ve never had anything like it.
I Do Miss Walking My Dogs in the United States
I brought my dogs with me. That in itself was a chore (I won’t get into that here), but I’d never leave them behind. I live next to an especially nice park in town. The kind of park you tell people you live next to and it’s greeted with “ohhhhhhhhs.”
But walking the dogs can be a challenge. There are a lot of other dogs in the park (all owned). But, maybe a third of them are not on a leash, and they are also not trained. My dogs very much love people. But they aren’t big fans of other dogs. Especially other dogs charging up to them. I also have to be extra careful, because Peru is on the United State’s rabies list, and if my pups are involved in an altercation and have to be treated for rabies, it becomes that much more of a challenge to get them back into the States.
So I very much miss walking dogs in the U.S. It’s just less stressful.
I Don’t Miss Asking For Help
People in Peru are, in general, extremely friendly and helpful. I’ve had loads of strangers help me out. I had reserved my taxi driver for two hours upon arriving in Peru. It ended up taking 8 hours to get the dogs through all the paperwork. The cab driver remained with me the entire time and even found a dog importer to help me out. He never asked for more money throughout the entire time (I took care of him, don’t worry).
Heck, even the cab driver was arranged with help from someone I had never met in person before. I have another person helping me with traveling to Argentina. I locked myself out of my apartment once and had four different people offer to help.
It’s my experience that help isn’t always that easy to come by back home. That’s not to say it doesn’t exist. I had some total strangers offer to help while campering around the country. But there’s just a general level of friendliness that’s truly remarkable here.
Heck, I could almost say I don’t miss Americans, but that’s not exactly the case. I just don’t miss the Americans I run into here. There is such a thing as an ego traveler. That person who believes they are better than the country they are visiting. It doesn’t happen as much here as in other places, like Europe. I don’t see too many U.S citizens wandering the streets of Lima. But when I do, they stick out like an ingrown toenail.
And, Lastly, I Don’t Miss Politics
Oh my god. Politics.
Wouldn’t you like a break from it? Like the ability to just put your head in the sand and not hear screaming from every corner? It’s refreshing.
I still keep abreast of things going on in the United States, and I know of the political issues in both Peru and in Argentina. But nobody is yelling at me about it. I don’t have to talk about it. I don’t have to worry about offending someone when giving my opinion.
People do ask me if I like Biden. Or Trump. But typically, most people just ask me, “why are you here? Everyone in Latin America wants to move to the U.S., but instead, you leave it!?”
Times Will Change
Time will tell what things I’ll miss after a year. After two. I’m sure I’ll discover new things to fall in love with and remember old things I crave. It’ll probably be something random like Pop-Tarts or energy drinks or something.
But in the end, time doesn’t stop for anyone. It’s just up to me, you, and everyone else, to get on or off as we see fit.
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