CYCLING: FRIENDS IN PARAGUAY
IMAGES OF (EX) STRANGERS
Sissi Mattos
Exploring, interpreting and understanding cultures through local languages and people. An advocate for intercultural communication as a basis for diversity acceptance and human equality.
UNDERSTANDING MY CULTURE: WHAT IS FINNISHNESS?
When speaking about intercultural communication, it’s often repeated by scholars in the field that it’s impossible to examine other cultures and their relations, without first taking a closer look at your own inherited culture and its influence on how we perceive…
HELINÄ RAUTAVAARA: MOTHER OF HITCHHIKING AND LONG-DISTANCE CYCLING
Believe it or not, I’m not the first Finnish female to cycle alone through Latin America in the discovery of local cultures. It has been done before me, but the crazy thing is that the last and only time a…
STAR WARS GO LATIN: “USE THE ONDA!”
If there’s one word that can really confuse you in Latin America, it’s la onda. Just try to look for a direct equivalent for it in any other language or ask locals to translate it for you and you’ll just…
THE FUNDAMENTAL ART OF LEAVING
A fundamental skill on a journey like the one I’m on here in South America, is masteringthe art of leaving (which is very similar to the Buddhist art of letting go). When on the road, you continuously have to say…
HOW I DID NOT QUIT MY JOB TO TRAVEL
In probably about 80% of travel blogs in this world there’s that article called “How I quit my job to travel” or “How to travel for the rest of your life”. And even though they’re usually more or less repetitive…
ASUNCIÓN: EAT AND DRINK WITH THREE (WISE) LOCAL MEN
Asunción is a cradle of great people. So what else could I do before leaving this city than introduce three great places I’ve been to with three great locals (yes, I know it looks funny, but the fact that they’re…
OZ MONTANÍA: RISE AND IDENTITY OF PARAGUAYAN STREET ART
Oz Montanía, an internationally acclaimed illustrator and street artist from Asunción, is one of the first people to ever have painted on the walls of his home country back in the late 1990s. After that a lot has happened, but only…
