I think we do need to be careful about stretching how happy people who have nothing are, as it may cause some people to think there’s nothing for us to contribute and work toward. It is not the tone or intention I read in your post, and it was still important for me to emphasize. I think, like you said, people who have so little have so much to teach us, as we rely too much on “stuff” and many times don’t stop to appreciate the incredible basic gifts we have, because we were born to them for some reason – not to mention extra privileges like travel.

Granada is teeny tiny and doesn’t really have the official ‘Colonial city’ it once was. A lot of it was redone. THe same with Uruguay. It’s mostly redone. Antigua, still keeps it’s buildings from when it was built back in the day, even the ruins. And it’s probably one of the larger ones.

What do you mean by the “last true colonial city remaining in Latin America?” I would categorize Granada, Nicaragua and Colonia, Uruguay as colonial cities. Is there some official designation now?