It’s a shame to travel to places new to you, and all you see are things listed on the tourism site. For me, it’s extremely important to connect with someone local to the area, be taken to the man or woman who cooks food for those local to the area, not for tourists, and to sit in a living room and have a conversation about politics, music, life, love, and whatever we can come up with to build whatever we’re building.

My new friend, Sigal, who I met on couchsurfing, made this all possible. We sat in his father’s house, listening to his brother and friends make music on instruments I’d never seen or heard. We had the liver and heart for lunch, and I never asked what animal they belonged to.