Lifestyle
Boring Montana
ago. 16 - 2024

Americans have dreamed of the exotic and adventurous for the last 100 plus years. When we took vacations or thought of a different life, it was often in an exotic locale. Could it be that with the grass always being greener on the other side of life, Americans sought out the instability via adventure that was lacking at home? Was the United States predictable and stable … boring?
I don’t blame you if you prefer to not look into our current state or have missed the signposts as this deterioration has developed. Honest people missed the truth as it developed precisely because they were trusting and thus misled by the minds and voices they counted on to inform them of the realities outside their daily lives. It wasn’t like the nightly news ever cautioned the American people against anything that was actually against their long-term self interests. I’m not arguing for a nanny state, but merely a responsible and free press with the interests of it’s citizens at heart. Call me old fashioned or idealistic, but I believe people should say what they mean and mean what they say and when someone purports to look out for the interests of others, then they should.
If what you miss is the calm, stability, and togetherness of a Norman Rockwell painting as I did and are willing to make the change necessary for your reality to look more like that and less like the kaleidoscope of crazy you see around you, then you may just be on a search for “boring”. Imagine that. Now some Americans look on into the world and look not for adventure, spice, and exoticism but the familiar, similar, and calm.
Our most recent guests here at Pinos de la Quebrada were a fantastically affable older couple from Eastern Washington. They described their small mountain town at the foothills of the Cascades as idyllic. I am confident it is for the time being. One of them described leaving Punta del Diablo on the Atlantic Coast and traveling into the Interior and said “This is Montana … except for the palm trees and green birds”. The reality runs even deeper than her initial impression. This is Montana, what I imagine it was like 50 years ago. That level of calm is divisive and the Interior is not for most who seek refuge in Uruguay, but for those who desire it, there is no replacement.
I should add that some in the United States have experienced the flight of those from the most collapsed areas to the lesser but still falling states and I’m reminded of a quote I read online from a California to Tennessee transplant. Their first words to their new neighbor were “We come as refugees, not missionaries”. Let that thought simmer. The deeper truth of those words.
For those concerned that others will come and ruin the wonderful place that is Uruguay, rest easy. This part of the Pampa, the Eastern Shore (Banda Oriental), has a way of repelling all but the hardy and those of integrity and grit. You will be right at home reconnected with your people for the first time.
Marco