Located in south-central Missouri in the beginning of the Ozarks is the small town of West Plains. After driving for 3 hours from St. Louis I stopped in a local McDonald’s to get some lunch. As I approached the counter my jaw dropped in amazement. There on the menu board, in bold lettering was the title “McCafe.” Underneath the title was a listing of the variety of coffee drinks – cappuccinos, lattes, espressos, etc. – available for purchase. Was I back in Buenos Aires, Argentina?! As I shared with the young woman working the counter, I had never seen a McCafe until I saw them in the McDonald’s in Argentina. She related that they were proud to be the first rural community to have a McCafe. As far as I know, they are the first McDonald’s in the United States to have one. (Although my brother who lives in St. Louis tells me they have been appearing in the St. Louis McDonald's restaurants for the last six months or so.) And just a few months ago, I thought I had discovered something unique which McDonald’s had added just for the South American culture!
That was not the only echo of South America I experienced on that drive, though. As I drove through the Ozarks in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas their appearance reminded me of the drive through the Sacred Valley from Cusco to Ollantaytambo in Peru. That landscape was intriguing because it was clearly an agricultural area, yet the colors were all various shades of yellow, brown and tan. Driving through the Ozarks I was greeted by a palette of various shades of yellow, brown and tan! The trees were bereft of leaves, except for the stands of pines. Mindful that it was winter time and the fields were fallow and dry here, it dawned on me that the fields in Peru were evidently dry and showing the colors of late winter, early springs, before the rains. More than that, though, the topography was also similar, for this was the foothills of the Ozarks with the road running along the tops of a ridge and gentle rolling hills spreading out all around. The Sacred Valley in Peru is a high plain located in the Peruvian Andes, providing a vista of rolling hills spreading out to the mountains that surround the valley.
When Dianne and I were experiencing the Sacred Valley I remember commenting to her how much the views reminded me of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Now I have been reminded of those views in another part of my homeland and it reinforces for me the truth of how much more similar our experiences are throughout the world than different; how similar are our lands; how similar are our dreams; how similar is our world. When we see wonderful sights in our homeland we often yawn at them. When we see similar wonderful sights in another land we label them exotic. Of course they are similar, for the same God created all the world, all people and nations, all the universe. Our similarities as well as our differences should be celebrated. Our common experiences should bind us closer together in common understanding. And we can learn to celebrate the exotic all around us and treasure the beauty we have right outside our doors.
That was not the only echo of South America I experienced on that drive, though. As I drove through the Ozarks in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas their appearance reminded me of the drive through the Sacred Valley from Cusco to Ollantaytambo in Peru. That landscape was intriguing because it was clearly an agricultural area, yet the colors were all various shades of yellow, brown and tan. Driving through the Ozarks I was greeted by a palette of various shades of yellow, brown and tan! The trees were bereft of leaves, except for the stands of pines. Mindful that it was winter time and the fields were fallow and dry here, it dawned on me that the fields in Peru were evidently dry and showing the colors of late winter, early springs, before the rains. More than that, though, the topography was also similar, for this was the foothills of the Ozarks with the road running along the tops of a ridge and gentle rolling hills spreading out all around. The Sacred Valley in Peru is a high plain located in the Peruvian Andes, providing a vista of rolling hills spreading out to the mountains that surround the valley.
When Dianne and I were experiencing the Sacred Valley I remember commenting to her how much the views reminded me of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Now I have been reminded of those views in another part of my homeland and it reinforces for me the truth of how much more similar our experiences are throughout the world than different; how similar are our lands; how similar are our dreams; how similar is our world. When we see wonderful sights in our homeland we often yawn at them. When we see similar wonderful sights in another land we label them exotic. Of course they are similar, for the same God created all the world, all people and nations, all the universe. Our similarities as well as our differences should be celebrated. Our common experiences should bind us closer together in common understanding. And we can learn to celebrate the exotic all around us and treasure the beauty we have right outside our doors.
The pictures above illustrate the similarity between the Ozarks region of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas and the Sacred Valley of Peru. The first picture is a lake in the Sacred Valley and the second picture is Lake Norfork in northern Arkansas. The third picture is the rolling hills of the Ozarks in southern Missouri and the last picture is the rolling hills of the Sacred Valley. As you can tell, my time in South America is still very alive for me.
