On getting lost

On Wednesday, March 2nd, I got lost in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay. This wouldn't have been much of a problem if I had a map, or if I could have worked up the courage to ask someone for directions, or if I took the bus. As it happened, I was maybe one street off from where I needed to be, but I walked a number of circles before I could figure that one out.

I wasn't the only one. A lady came up to me and asked for directions to somewhere else in the city. Either she was asking what direction another barrio (neighborhood or district) was or she was completely lost just like me. In that moment, I wanted to explain my predicament: how I had been at one beach, and then went running to find another beach, about the large group of people wearing red shirts and chanting something about what they were about to tell the police, about this one landmark I had marked my passage by (a tall blue building) - but then I would have had to explain that I'm not good with directions and I didn't know all the street names, that I was more of an audio-visual learner and that detailed pictures and translations in English might have been the only way in which I would understand. Nope. I told her "I don't know" in Spanish of course and coming as close as possible to the truth. And then it dawned on her - maybe a set expression in my face, the mismatched clothing, the backpack with an English title, the slight tinge of red around my face. She said thank you and left me to ask someone else. Strangely enough, I knew exactly how she felt.

Later, when I thought I had found the right road (which ended up being the right road but I was walking down the wrong direction), a group of men sitting on the corner of a street called out to me. In the cacophony of six or seven people speaking to me at once, the only thing I could understand was "pesos". They were begging and, in one of those moments that slip by faster than one could begin to consider the politics, the pros, and the cons, I had said "no" and walked on. Now this might be false retrospection, but I'm pretty sure one of the men said "Come on" in English as I walked down the road. At the time, I thought the entire exchange of words had been in Spanish but now I realize that I don't really know how exactly to say "come on" in Spanish while I'm fairly certain that was what he said. I walked away with ten or twelve pesos clinking in my pocket and fearing I had turned my back on the country. But hey, right afterward, I found a street I recognized.

Travel Tip 005: When in doubt, stay calm. "When in Rome ..." they say. Traveling websites and study abroad advice will suggest you "blend in to the culture." I don't always agree. In those moments when you feel like you're about to panic, ignore the common advice, calm down, stop thinking about what someone in that country might do, and consider what you would do. I found this helpful because I didn't know exactly what local citizens would do if they got lost. Keeping a level head, planning your next step, even writing down what you are certain of (and in a language you completely understand) can be the best steps in worrisome situations.