When you travel there are two types of big things. A big thing is something that you mention and people exclaim. Big things are what influence you or others and get a reaction. An example of a big thing would be Venice. Just tell someone you've been to Venice and they'll be all ears. Another would be the coliseum in Rome or the Sistine Chapel. Sometimes big things don't exist before you find them. Dubrovnik is a big thing to me because it's such a magical city but I didn't think it was a big thing until I went there. It's also one of those big things that doesn't get a reaction because nobody knows about it. So there are two types of big things, those that exist before you travel and those you discover on the way. Some of them will only be big things to you. You can talk about them until you're blue in the face all you get back are yawns. This is unfortunate but a fact of traveling. Let me tell you about the Amazon. Before I came here I thought it was important because ever since I was a kid people have been preaching the “We can't chop down the rain forest” religion.
Yes, I thought it was important but it didn't really have to do with me. After a while we just become callused and don't hear the message anymore. In a way the Amazon is sort of a medium thing. Yes, it gets reactions but most people don't know what to think. Out of the two big thing categories the Amazon fits in the second because to me it was just a check box on a list of things I wanted to see before I die. Now things have changed. The Amazon is a big thing, maybe a really big thing. I'm sure when I get back home and tell people they will yawn and wonder when I'll talk about something interesting and you may already be doing that now.
If you know me you will know that I don't get too excited about much but I'm excited about the Amazon. I've just spent the last three days in the Amazon without Internet, heat or electricity and I can tell you that more people need to experience this. It's about the size of the whole eastern half of the United States so it's very large. You can drive for days, maybe weeks and not get through it. Why is this important? The Amazon isn't just a forest, it's what's keeping this planet alive. The Amazon is the ying to our yang, the day to our night. Without it the balance of this planet will spin and we will never recover. Not once did anyone down here try to convince me of this or do the “Let's save our planet
“ speech. They didn't have to. Coming here changes