Issue: 12/2010: Tresure Islands
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The Island as Metaphor

MARÍA SOLEDAD RAMÍREZ

I’ve just returned from Rhodes and Crete, two beautiful Mediterranean islands long inhabited by humanity. You can tell by the ruins of their glorious past and by their landscapes, which have been cultivated for more than 25 centuries.

These islands come to mind as we get ready to welcome summer in South America and as I re-read this issue’s cover story, “Treasure Islands.” The six representatives that we have selected give testament to our vast continent’s diversity. Tiny islands and large islands. Isolated islands and groups of islands. Islands with white sands and plenty of sunshine on the Colombian Caribbean. Islands with mysterious forests and evergreen hills in the south of Chile. Islands that preserve ancestral customs in Peru. Islands boasting chic hotels and shops just outside of Buenos Aires. And the Galápagos Archipelago, Ecuador’s crown jewel of conservation.

What a lovely metaphor for individuality: each island is unique. The idea of an island invokes sun and sand, but also solitude and a specific character. We saw this metaphor in situ on our trip to Ushuaia, an Argentinean city on the huge island of Tierra del Fuego. We saw it in Puerto Natales, a city planted firmly on Chile’s southern edge, so remote it might as well be an island. Here, and on the island of Manhattan, we sampled fine cuisine. And in Paris… Okay, the City of Light is no island, but folks there sure know how to celebrate the holidays!

Enjoy your flight – an island of peace and relaxation as you approach your next destination – and, as always, your issue of in.

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