86 | We Did It!
Hey Friends,
It's been a while from the last email you got from me. I've been travelling almost non-stop for the past few months and decided to focus on content so I could make more videos for you.
Having said that, the most important update is that I've been to the World Cup in Qatar and managed to be in the stadium in the first (vs Saudi) and final match (vs France) of Argentina.
As soon as you step off the plane, the heat of Qatar hits you. Thanks God they made this in November and not in July… but still the first week was quite hot. My experience in Qatar has been very good with everyone polite, hospitable and really many of them supporting Argentina.
Ever since Qatar was given the privilege in 2010 to organise the 2022 World Cup, plenty of journalists wrote and spoke about it because it was going to be the first one to be held in the Middle East (actually Gulf is a better term, what locals use).
Qatar is a small country with less than 3 million people living there. But ever since gaining independence from the UAE in the 70s, they invested a lot to make this country much more modern.
During my time in Qatar, I've never seen anything dirty. You know in England or in France (just to give a few examples of places I know well since I lived in these 2 countries for years) you see cigarette butts on the floor and rubbish on the streets? This doesn't exist in Qatar, particularly in Doha. Everything is clean and pristine.
The stadiums were world class, truly looked like 5-star hotels. The whole organisation of the event was remarkable, particularly transportation (free metro/bus) and internet (free SIM cards).
No alcohol in the stadiums (except for some Lounges) has been a great decision from my perspective. Everything was peaceful, respectful and we could watch some great football with any major conflict. Truly a family event like in the old times.
I know that a lot of Western Media criticised many things about this event. I don't want to talk about politics but I'll just say only 2 things:
We, in Latin America, have been colonised by centuries by many of these countries in Western Europe. They stole resources (such as gold) from us and many of other countries, they enslaved people in Africa and took advantage for long time. Suddenly, some of those countries in Western Europe lost their memories and "Middle East” are the bad boys for whatever argument they're trying to make? I'm not defending anyone here but in my opinion this is hypocrisy.
Why making football a political debate? Differences should be solved between politicians and football should remain sport. On the other hand, when we visit another house, I believe we should respect the local culture/norms. We can't impose our "values” as if we were the owners of the universe. We should have a constructive dialogue and remain respectful.
Having said that, I'd love you to watch the 2 long videos I made and published on the channel. So you can make your own conclusion as I literally took the time to speak to people from all over the world in that event, including people from the Gulf.
Have a great week!
Alejandro
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🗺️ Road To 197
Recent countries I visited:
#81 Ivory Coast 🇨🇮 in October
#82 Oman 🇴🇲 in November
#83 Qatar 🇶🇦 in November
#84 Kuwait 🇰🇼 in November
#85 Bahrain 🇧🇭 in November
#86 Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 in November
#87 Egypt 🇪🇬 in December
So officially I'm finishing 2022 with 87 countries.
I have a lot of ideas for next year in terms of the places I want to visit but the goal is for sure to reach 100 countries!
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