Even though Australia is a lucky country, travel has changed my perspective on life and I believe that there are many things to learn from other places.
In Peru I lived with people whose lives were simple - they had no money, little work and no concept of planning for the future. They would live on less than a few dollars a day - and Peru isn't even poor, as poverty stricken nations go.

Women are generally homemakers. They either don't have the money to shop ahead or don't think about it, so they go to the market three times a day. Their food is all fresh and prepared from scratch. Even though my family is relatively health conscious, I know that our cupboard is full with processed foods - and we wonder why we get sick!!!

I must admit I never really became comfortable with the Peruvian diet - especially favourites like chicken foot soup, tripe, heart and various other animal parts that never seem to be eaten here. The thing is - my grandmother, who grew up Perth during the depression, used to eat these things frequently. Why do we not eat these cheap cuts nowadays?

I'm more or less a feminist but I have begun to wonder at the value of two income families - perhaps it would be better if, like in Peru, one person stayed home and cared for the family?

As time went on, I learnt how to properly do my laundry by spending the whole morning in the sunshine scrubbing my clothes, while chatting with the other ladies.
I rented a room in a house where there were five generations - grandma (with serious Alzheimer's) and grandpa (who had a couple of strokes) right through to babies of just a few months old. There wasn't any money for an "old aged home" -someone just always had to be home with Grandma. In all, there were 45 people (13 children) sharing two toilets, two sinks and a cold shower! It makes you realise the difference between "needs" and "wants".

They think nothing of walking across town for an hour in order to save the bus fare - about 15 cents Australian and yet I know I am guilty of driving from Pioneer store to the Telecentre! Imagine if I were to walk - five minutes of fresh air, time out, fuel saved, and a bit of exercise!

Andean Indians steadfastly refuse to predict the weather-saying who can possibly know what the weather gods will do. They thought my interest in future weather possibilities crazy and quite futile-after all, what will be, will be.

In Peru I truly learnt to go without and now when I hear someone make a comment like, "I need a new top, my other one is so old," I feel like we have got all our priorities wrong. I want to say: "You don't need any of that stuff, least of all an investment house". You might want it, but you don't need it.

They seemed to have a lot of time - which we don't have. If we were to live a little slower, a little more simply, then so many of our problems (eg. speeding, debt, stress, obesity) would simply fly out the window.

Easier said than done - I may have lived and adapted to that world - but back here in Walpole where we live a relatively simple life, I feel myself saying, "sorry, I just don't have enough time."

Copyright Ariana Svenson, 2005 - Comments and enquiries, please email us.