Travel broadens the mind.

Since
ancient times, man has felt the need to move around from place to place. In prehistoric times, he didnt have a permanent home; he travelled from region to region searching for food, or fleeing the cold Jumping forward in history to the early !th century, "uropean e#plorers started searching for new mar$ets and faster routes. The Spanish, %ortuguese, and the "nglish felt the need to leave their countries and travel in search of something new. The idea of a mysterious India and, later, the e#otic and wild &merica, was e#citing for anyone. &nd then at the time of the Industrial 'evolution, distances no longer posed a problem. (an developed a huge variety of means transport, overland, by sea, by air )e can appreciate this travel need in all forms of human e#pression, from the invention of the motorcar, through art and literature. (onet painted a crowded train station with plenty of people eager to travel. Jules *erne, the famous +rench writer, never stopped dreaming of the thousand of ways in which man could travel, whether it be by hot air balloon, or submarine )e can classify ,ourneys in many ways. I will divide them into two categories- local and international ,ourneys and I will tal$ from my own e#perience. Starting with local travel, local means- .restricted to a particular place. Therefore, when I say local Im referring to my own country, /hile. /hile is a country located on the South0)estern tip of the

&merican continent. 1ue its long territory, it has a great variety of climatic areas, li$e desserts in the 2orth and dense green forests in the South. 3ocal tourism within /hile is 4uite popular, because its cheaper than flying to other countries, and people li$e to $now about theirs own culture. (y favourite places in /hile that I have visited are0 &tacama dessert 0 'i5ihue la$e 0 Torres del %aine &nother $ind of local travel in /hile is the so0called .Traba,os, in "nglish .Jobs, led by a non0profit0ma$ing organi6ation called .& 'oof for /hile. They are a group of young people who go to poor areas of the country, in order to build basic houses for people who havent even a place to live. It was a Jesuit priest, +elipe 7err8os, who too$ this initiative thirteen years ago. This $ind of local travel is really ama6ing, because normally its said that young people arent motivated by anything, yet this proves that they are capable of leaving their comfort 6one, with no financial reward in e#change, only the satisfaction of helping those more unfortunate than themselves. Tal$ing about international travels, I have been very luc$y in this aspect, because I have had the opportunity to travel to many countries. I was born in the 9S, due to the fact my parents were studying for a (aster degree in :eorgetown 9niversity in )ashington. Two years later they decided to move to 7arcelona, in Spain, in order to study a %h1. I lived five years in this city, and during this time we travelled a lot. I got to $now +rance, Italy, &ustria, :reece, and

many other "uropean countries. (any people could say- .;ou were so young, you cant remember so much, but thats not true. <aving lived in Spain was an ama6ing e#perience, and I still have many Spanish friends =actually in the half term I went to 7arcelona to one of my best friends house>. )hen I was eight, we finally went bac$ to /hile. The first months werent easy. <owever Spain and /hile have the same language, there are many different words, and my Spanish accent was pretty funny for /hilean people. &s time passed I got used to it, and I started to en,oy living in my country. (y father got a part0time ,ob in /entral &merica, where he started up some companies, and we started to travel to these countries. I went to :uatemala, which today is one of my favourite countries. It has the mi# of culture, with all these (ayan ruins, nature, ama6ing local peopleyou can see colours in every corner, from the marvellous landscape, through peoples clothing. &nother country I have visited is <onduras, very close to :uatemala. :iven that my mother is a historian all our ,ourneys are half culture, half fun. Im not saying that culture cant be fun, but sometimes you need to escape to a beach or some rela#ing place. &nyway, in <onduras we went to another (ayan ruin named /op?n, and later, we moved to a hidden island, 'oatan. 'oatan was a 7ritish colony a few years ago, therefore even though <onduras is a Spanish spea$ing country, most people on the island spea$ "nglish. I said hidden, because its very difficult to reach 'oatan. ;ou have to ta$e turboprop from a little $nown city in <onduras, and not many people $now about it. That is due to

the fact that they want to conserve this ecological place, it isnt a massive resort, and local people ta$e care of their environment. 'oatan has the most ama6ing beaches that I have ever visited. ;ou can do scuba diving, swimming with dolphins &nd the last country Im going to tal$ about is %eru. There are many conflicts between /hilean and %eruvian people, because /hileans thin$ they are superior. In terms of economic power, :overnment policies and so on, /hile is hugely superior, but %eru is a very wealthy country. It was the cradle of the Inca civili6ation, and its old capital city, /usco, is wonderful. There you have several colonial churches and cathedrals, characteri6ed by their colonial paintings. & few hours away you reach (achu %icchu, the ancient Inca ceremony centre, now a very popular destination for young people. &nd on the %eruvian 2orth coast you have very nice beaches. @ne of the most popular is (?ncora, one of the best surfing beaches in the )orld. %eople who li$e seafood are going to love this place, because you have a large variety of fish and shellfish and this $ind of food is very common and cheap. In conclusion, living in "urope showed me the rich culture that the )estern )orld has. In 3ondon you have the best museums, in 'ome the mi# between the 'oman and the /atholic )orld. @n the other hand, South &merica doesnt have this classical culture, but it has another $ind of historical architecture and a uni4ue natural surroundings. 2either is better than the other, they are ,ust different. I li$e to compare different lifestyles, li$e the 7ritish one with the /hilean one, and you can learn a lot from each e#perience.

I thin$ that travel broadens the mind, it gives you a wide view of the )orld, and you can understand many contemporary issues, things that happen every day. I encourage all people here to travel a lot and discover other cultures, because

Travel broadens the

mind.