I’ve had a number of ideas about some of the things I’d like to accomplish on this trip. Here are a few of them:
- Visit Americans and Britons incarcerated in foreign prisons who may not have had contact with an English speaker in years. My thanks to Kira for the idea.
- Visit banana and coffee plantations, among others, that are the sources of our produce back home. I feel Americans are becoming more and more removed from the production of the things that we use and consume everyday, and I’ve no doubt it will be a valuable experience to see what kind of labor goes into the growth and transport of my bananas.
- Learn something about farming, and hopefully exchange labor for a bed occasionally along the way.
- Try to grasp the differences in Spanish language and accent country to country and learn their origins. I’m a linguist at heart.
- Dispel common misconceptions about South and Central American countries and their people.
- Conduct interviews and gather material for a book of unknown content. But not a travelogue. No one reads a travelogue for very long.
- Listen to the stories of ordinary people. As my dear friend Nora mentioned to me, the storytelling tradition is dying in the US. I want to hear about the life stories of the people I meet, and stories of their hardships, and victories.
- Avoid death, robbery, and physical harm so that my family can sleep at night.