A friend, upon learning I was abroad recently, asked if I've been somewhere exotic. I replied: - Yes, Switzerland. It was my first time there and yes, it was one of the most exotic places I've been to.
Switzerland is an old city on a lake surrounded by mountains. It's the perfect fairy tale,
postcard destination. How's that for exotic?
And it's very rich, but not in an overly conspicuous way. Buildings are not grand and there are no gleaming skyscrapers. Wait a minute, if you are in a small city, waiting for the green light and see yourself surrounded by Ferraris and Bentleys, are you in a filthy rich place or what? Oops, filth is heresy in Switzerland.
Then there are the cows. Cows are a symbol of Switzerland. I saw many in souvenir shops, the small ones. No, one doesn't see live cows, the real deal, in the city. Switzerland is definitely not India. I saw a couple of them on a mountain, but I've heard there are many more. And they too are very rich. If what I've heard is correct, the government pays each cow the equivalent of what 40 Burundians or Liberians earn a year.
Sometimes, there are surprises in Switzerland. For instance, Geneva has its Brasília side. After seeing the communist architecture of some former Soviet capitals, I was not expecting to see myself in the middle of a typical "superquadra", with low and long buildings surrounding a huge green lawn, in Switzerland. But hey, Le Coubusier was Swiss, right? And Geneva has its Jeddah side, with so many veiled women and the jeddau, I mean, jet d'eau.
Back to filth. Or no filth. Although I've previously heard about it, I was impressed by how tidy everything is in anti-filth Switzerland (and as my Swiss experience was limited to the French part and Lucerne, I can only imagine how is the rest of the country). So different from the mess we find in New York or São Paulo. Even construction sites are organized and clean. Now tell me: how much more boring can it get? But if we get bored, there's something really cool to do: eat Swiss chocolates, they are indeed delicious. Or find a job at the United Nations or the Red Cross and help under-salaried Liberians or Burundians (just don't touch our cows!)
