This post is part 14 of a series of stories recounting all the ups and downs of my ~6 year journey around the world to all seven continents and seven seas.
February 2016
If it wasn’t evident already, one of my favorite parts of traveling is the different people you meet, especially the ones met unintentionally.
This was the case in Montevideo.
After wandering around, my friends and I stopped to consult our map to figure where we wanted to go next when a guy asked us in English if we needed any help.
We mentioned we were just looking for stuff to do and he offered to show us around if we wanted.
Sure, why not.
Turns out at 10 in the morning, he was just leaving an EDM party.
We thought he was joking at first as he didn’t look drunk, high, hungover, or even tired, but as he began pointing to where the party was and describing his night, we realized he was serious.
We ended up spending the rest of the morning together in a cafe and later walking around town before having lunch as well.
We explained why we were in Montevideo for the day and he told us about his work as a psychologist and youth basketball coach.
The more we talked, the smaller the world got.
We found out he had family in Portland and had even visited the coastal tourist town in Oregon that my brother lived in.
He was also familiar with Japan as he used to have a girlfriend there.
When we met up with a friend of a friend for lunch, the mutual friend and our new Uruguayan friend realized they were going to be neighbors soon and they also had friends in common.
Call it whatever you want: coincidence, six degrees of separation, or fate.
Like most of my travel experiences, I’m constantly reminded that when you get to know people past the surface, more often than not you’ll have more in common than you think, even with strangers on the other side of the world.
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