South America - the journey before the journey

I am usually somewhat superstitious about travel plans. Until tickets are bought and flights are booked, I am often reluctant to openly discussed some plans. I often have some secret plan on the back burner somewhere in my head. Something I want to do, or some place I want to go to. And these are things that matter a bit more than say, I want to buy a new pair of shoes. I am superstitious enough that I don't like talking about it in case I jinx it. Then of course, not talking about it saves having to explain and field questions and comments if things don't work out. And if nothing else, people are much too often much too quick to offer unsolicited and often, unwelcome, advice. It sometimes makes life easier to just not talk about things.

So why am I writing about it now? I'm not sure really. I have already revealed to many, not least in the previous post, that I have now set my sights on South America despite the fact that the plan far from certain. I haven't even got as far as to make any plans, let alone figured out if it is feasible; if I will get the time off work and if I would be able to afford the trip. Many people already know because I started taking Spanish lessons. Not many people wake up one day and decide to sign up for Spanish lessons so it raised a question or two. So it's not secret. And this time, some unsolicited advice would actually be welcomed. I know so little about South America and the realities of travelling there that someone else's experience would be a big help. 

The real reason that I am compelled to write though - I have decided - is this: though I have not stepped foot on the continent and not even made any travel plans, my South American journey has already begun.

I knew very little about South America before this plan was conceived. The countries I could name were more or less the ones which I knew from World Cups. But my knowledge of South American geography was almost non-existent.* I had read Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende, which were just about the total sum of my Latin American literary knowledge. Oh, and I had read The Ministry of Special Cases and Drei Minuten mit der Wirklichkeiten. I had watched some documentary or other about the drug trade out of Columbia. I knew someone from University who went to live in Ecuador, and someone else who went to Peru. I had pockets of random knowledge but not enough to have formed any kind of specific impression in my mind.

When I do make it to South America, I do not want to just visit the country and places, I want to experience it. So I decided I needed to get to know more about the continent. And I set out this by doing what I do best: I started reading. 

So much of my knowledge and world view comes from the books I read. I don't read a great deal of non-fiction, it has to be said. Some, but not a great deal. Fiction though, in my opinion, is often unfairly dismissed by "serious readers". A particular plot might be imaginary, the characters made-up and events fictional. But these are often set in real places, around actual events; the characters represent characteristics and personalities which exist outside of the authors' imagination. Even fantasy and science fiction portray relationships and political and social struggles true in our societies. When I read fiction, I am temporarily transported into that world which has been made real to me through the printed ink on the page. For a while, I lived in that society, walked those streets, fought their fight. A good book always leaves me feeling like I have experienced a different life. 

I recently watched a TED Talk video about someone who set out to read a book from every country in the world (as recognised by the United Nations).^ To achieve her goal, she got in touch with people from the countries to help find books to read and reached out the the public to get books translated into English. It sounds like a phenomenal task. My plan is not quite as elaborate.

My Latin American reading list

I simply decided to start reading more books from or about Latin America, set in Latin America. I started with scouring charity and second hand bookshops on recent trips to the US and England. That threw up Aunt Julia and the scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa and an advanced readers copy** of What The Moon Saw by Laura Resau. Aunt Julia (the book, not the character in the book), set in Lima, Peru threw about anecdotes about what Peruvians thought of Bolivians, and divorcees. What Bolivians thought of Argentinians, well one Bolivian; and what people did on dates in Lima... in the seventies.*** There are also a bunch of short stories laced into the main plot which, while seemingly over dramatic and somewhat extreme, are a fascinating glimpse into the lives and society of a different world.

Accounting for a certain amount of inadvertent inaccuracies, the personal and political views and social prejudices of the author, and artistic liberties which the author can be expected to take, this book along with others I have read thus far are having a wondrous effect. I still don't know much about South America. If anything, I am so much more aware now of how much I do not know. But it is as though the continent is coming alive for me. What was once an outline on a map, a silhouette, empty and flat is slowly starting to be filled with people and personalities, places and streets, colour and life.

Also: My Latin American reading list

^ Ann Morgan - My year of reading a book from every country in the world; posted Nov 2015 (https://www.ted.com/talks/ann_morgan_my_year_reading_a_book_from_every_country_in_the_world)

* It should be a bit better now seeing as I now have a map of South America on my living room wall. 
** It seems like the Upper West Side is good for that, or maybe it'st New York in general. From three trips to New York, I have come across at least five pre-publication books in charity sales. And bought two, I may add. 
** Well, I assume it is in the seventies because the book was first published in the seventies, but I cannot remember if it is mentioned in the book.