Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Tying The Last Loose End...
...For Now
I thought my last entry, knowing that I wasn't planning to stuff every last square inch of time (unlike my baggage) of my last days here, would be a list of impressions and memories of my trip, of the places I've been and the people that I shared my journey with. But today is my last day in South America, for now, and I've been too busy to collate all those thoughts in my head let alone actually write them down. I will always hope I remember the sound of howler monkeys in the morning and the rumble of avalanches in Torres del Paine; the smell of the freshest roasted coffee and 
woodsmoke infused locals on crammed buses; the sense of utter privilege of walking into the Lost City, and of hugging a puma, or baby anteater for that matter; and the humbling and numbing sensation of talking with a man about the "disappearance" of his mother, and of watching mud caked children happily playing marbles in the slum back streets of a Bolivian village; and all the wonderful people I've met, Norwegian Chris foremost of them all. But these are just a few of the instant memories I have as I sit here now - there are so many more, but I have no idea where or how to start cataloguing them.
Despite saying I would be doing "nothing", my last couple of weeks have been pretty busy running back
and forth over the Andes. But it meant I could catch up with three great friends I have made, amongst many, in the last year. Kathrin, one of the Swiss trio from my Salar trip and occasional host in Santiago, and I shared a chilled weekend in Valparaiso and also my very last night here, in a great Peruvian restaurant, (so lots of good Pisco, great Ceviche, and my favourite veg, Yucca!!).
I also managed to meet up with Mike (my T del P and Navimag companion) back in Mendoza. Mike (actually two Mike's: Mike T del P
and Mike from Hostel Lao, the best in Mendoza) persuaded me I should do something more active than gently meandering between wineries on a bike, so we went white water rafting... silly pastime really but a lot of fun. However the sense of danger was not actually as acute as when we first arrived at the starting point for our winery bike tour: there are now two rival businesses hiring bikes within about 500 meters of each other. The original lot, Bikes&Wine, are losing business to Bike Rentals, run by Hugo and his family, who is a nice guy with plenty of bikes, a mission to undercut the opposition, and a tactic of bribing the bus drivers to drop off any potential customers outside his shop. So the Bikes and Wine crew stand on the side of the road screaming at the buses "It's here! Get off now!! Get your bikes here!" in an excitably aggressive way that convinces you to stay on the bus and avoid them at all costs... 
One other danger while making your rounds of the bodegas are the dogs - they don't attack the cyclists, but they'll do anything to get your picnic off you... I was cutting up a sausage when I found one burrowing his head under my arm: I managed to hold his head to the floor, without loosing the sausage, but even with is head fixed and unmovable he still managed to give the cheese we'd brought with us a good lick.
Mike and I travelled to Santiago to meet up with my mud hut Colca Canyon drinking buddy, Laura, in time for her birthday... pisco, wine, beer, rum...hangovers, the usual. Unfortunately the very unusual happened to me in that I managed to be relieved of both a jacket and a
fabulously warm hoody I was looking forward to having in wintry London. Ah well, if that's all I get nicked (touch wood, still a few more hours here), in the whole time I've been in south America, I think I've done OK, and thankfully (or possibly sadly) I don't have to report having woken up naked by the side of the street...well there was that time...no...
In reality, despite travelling through countries of poverty, social unrest and civil war, I have found have found it all very safe. The countries I have visited and the people I have met have, on the whole, been incredibly friendly and welcoming. Even the poorest of these countries are swollen with potential for fantastic futures. Let's hope with Bush thinking about upping his armed forces to make a further mess of the Middle East, the US will keep its meddling hands out of Latin America for a while, and allow it to run and rule itself..JPG)
I would love to be able to spend more time here now, but it will be good to see everyone at home again too. If I have one real regret it would be that I really should have better Spanish by now! But I can work on that next time... I'll be back soon I hope!!!
I thought my last entry, knowing that I wasn't planning to stuff every last square inch of time (unlike my baggage) of my last days here, would be a list of impressions and memories of my trip, of the places I've been and the people that I shared my journey with. But today is my last day in South America, for now, and I've been too busy to collate all those thoughts in my head let alone actually write them down. I will always hope I remember the sound of howler monkeys in the morning and the rumble of avalanches in Torres del Paine; the smell of the freshest roasted coffee and 
woodsmoke infused locals on crammed buses; the sense of utter privilege of walking into the Lost City, and of hugging a puma, or baby anteater for that matter; and the humbling and numbing sensation of talking with a man about the "disappearance" of his mother, and of watching mud caked children happily playing marbles in the slum back streets of a Bolivian village; and all the wonderful people I've met, Norwegian Chris foremost of them all. But these are just a few of the instant memories I have as I sit here now - there are so many more, but I have no idea where or how to start cataloguing them. Despite saying I would be doing "nothing", my last couple of weeks have been pretty busy running back
and forth over the Andes. But it meant I could catch up with three great friends I have made, amongst many, in the last year. Kathrin, one of the Swiss trio from my Salar trip and occasional host in Santiago, and I shared a chilled weekend in Valparaiso and also my very last night here, in a great Peruvian restaurant, (so lots of good Pisco, great Ceviche, and my favourite veg, Yucca!!). I also managed to meet up with Mike (my T del P and Navimag companion) back in Mendoza. Mike (actually two Mike's: Mike T del P
and Mike from Hostel Lao, the best in Mendoza) persuaded me I should do something more active than gently meandering between wineries on a bike, so we went white water rafting... silly pastime really but a lot of fun. However the sense of danger was not actually as acute as when we first arrived at the starting point for our winery bike tour: there are now two rival businesses hiring bikes within about 500 meters of each other. The original lot, Bikes&Wine, are losing business to Bike Rentals, run by Hugo and his family, who is a nice guy with plenty of bikes, a mission to undercut the opposition, and a tactic of bribing the bus drivers to drop off any potential customers outside his shop. So the Bikes and Wine crew stand on the side of the road screaming at the buses "It's here! Get off now!! Get your bikes here!" in an excitably aggressive way that convinces you to stay on the bus and avoid them at all costs... 
One other danger while making your rounds of the bodegas are the dogs - they don't attack the cyclists, but they'll do anything to get your picnic off you... I was cutting up a sausage when I found one burrowing his head under my arm: I managed to hold his head to the floor, without loosing the sausage, but even with is head fixed and unmovable he still managed to give the cheese we'd brought with us a good lick.
Mike and I travelled to Santiago to meet up with my mud hut Colca Canyon drinking buddy, Laura, in time for her birthday... pisco, wine, beer, rum...hangovers, the usual. Unfortunately the very unusual happened to me in that I managed to be relieved of both a jacket and a
fabulously warm hoody I was looking forward to having in wintry London. Ah well, if that's all I get nicked (touch wood, still a few more hours here), in the whole time I've been in south America, I think I've done OK, and thankfully (or possibly sadly) I don't have to report having woken up naked by the side of the street...well there was that time...no... In reality, despite travelling through countries of poverty, social unrest and civil war, I have found have found it all very safe. The countries I have visited and the people I have met have, on the whole, been incredibly friendly and welcoming. Even the poorest of these countries are swollen with potential for fantastic futures. Let's hope with Bush thinking about upping his armed forces to make a further mess of the Middle East, the US will keep its meddling hands out of Latin America for a while, and allow it to run and rule itself.
.JPG)
I would love to be able to spend more time here now, but it will be good to see everyone at home again too. If I have one real regret it would be that I really should have better Spanish by now! But I can work on that next time... I'll be back soon I hope!!!
# posted by Barney @ 11:51 am 
