ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author talks about his trip to Russia stimulated new reflections and various questions about the gratifications and frustrations travel yields. A research grant by the Earhart Foundation made it easier to undertake the trip. Similarity between Mexico and Russia is the profusion of statues in streets and parks, symbols of national pride and reminders of the great figures of the past, usually staring ahead into a better future. A small supermarket near the author's hotel was not only well stocked with an impressive selection of imported and Russian goods, it accepted Visa card and had a scanner for entering the price of each item like in American supermarkets. The existence of a Russian mafia was only vaguely suggested by occasional glimpses of bulky young men riding in or standing by expensive foreign cars and groups of them hanging around an expensive restauraunt in which customers had to go through metal detectors before being seated.
