I am saying chau to south america in cartagena. Tomorrow i will take a yacht to panama. The biggest chapter in my adventure is about over. It has been the most intense, challenging, and satisfying adventure of my life. There were leaps more high than lows. Just reflecting a bit it is quite sombering to think that it is all but over. That this adventure is over, i will never forget south america. It is a part of me. And reflecting on all the amazing experience i have had here.
Starting from buenos aires where i had to relearn how to get back on the ¨backpacking horse¨. I had to relearn how to be many things, how to be comfortable in foreign places, how to communicate in different languages, how to pick up on accents, how to push yourself to always see and experience the most you can, how to manage difficult and potentially dangerous situations of places, navigate through massive foreign cities, how to navigate to distant places and countries, how to be thrifty, how to restrain oneself, how to force yourself to be sociable(for being on the road is hard if your without travel mates), being a backpacker doesn´t come with a how-to book. All of these things you learn along the way, because you have to if you want an enjoyable experience.
It didnt take me long to get back on the backpacker horse, probably about 10 days. I was blown away by the beauty of buenos aires, then took a 3 day bus ride that really broke me into long south american bus rides. Went to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuiaua. Did stunning treks in spectacular patagonia, saw massive fast moving glaciers, and also had my first hiccup, a stolen credit card.
But nothing would stop me as i went on a 5 day ferry ride thru chilean fjords and onto the most incredible new year´s eve party of my life in Valparaiso, chile. Went to the driest place on earth, and felt a little bit what it might be like on mars. But all of these countries were a nice precursor to more difficult places to travel in south america, as argentina and chile are very western and relatively easy to travel thru. Now onto bolivia... Went on a 4 day rough, intense, and incredible jeep ride where i had immigration problems, saw one of the jeeps in our jeep caravan roll over and see a few brazillians get badly hurt, went on a alpaca (kindof llamas) drive, and saw the most amazing natural sight i have ever seen, the salt flats of uyuni!! Then onto potosi where i would hold dynamite and coca leaves at the same time, enter a primive mine, light dynamite and run away from the real blast. Then to the pleasant city of sucre where i partied on my birthday with a good travel friend martin. Then onto crazy la paz for the real live prison tour without guards, offered cocaine inside the prison, and ate lunch inside the prison chattin it up with friendly, but probably dangerous (if they were outside) prisoners. Went to see the island of the sun in lake titicaka, the world´s highest navigatable lake, severely sprained my ankle. And now it was time for peru..
Arrived in breathtaking city of cusco, healed my ankle for a bit, and then headed on a 4 day trek to macchu picchu. Upon completion of the trek and seeing the sunrise on macchu picchu is a memory i will never forget. Then to nazca where i had my bag stolen (camcorder, camera, lonely planet (travel guide)) and arriving in lima, peru without one shred of useful infromation on where to go or how to get there. Spent hours in a lima police department filling out reports all at the same time relaxing in the upscale part of lima, miraflores. But can´t relax too much as it was time to go to equador, all 36 hour bus trip to get there, and the most dangerous border crossing in all of SA.
I arrived in equador unscathed and unharmed, although the armed guard in the bus now was a bit of a shock. Fell in love with quito´s natural beauty, its old town, and with the people. Met an amazing girl mallidy, and improved my spanish by leaps and bounds. Had amazing experiences through equador. Highland travel routes where i saw volcanic crater lakes, crazy bus rides with live shop on top of my bus, men with massive pickaxes in front of my face, and all sorts of animals as passengers in various buses. Also i went to the amazonian rainforest where i saw anacondas, caimans, monkeys, tartantulas, poisonous creatures of all sorts, pink river dolphins, toucans, and all sorts of exotic birds and creatures, quite the unique place the jungle is...i had fallen in love with equador despite its raw and somewhat dangerous appearance...but i had to keep moving, and colombia was next....
A 24 hour bus ride to bogota and i was now in colombia. Bogota is very western, with clean streets, policemen everywhere, mcdonolds, starbucks, hard rock cafe, beautiful parks, incredible museums, modern transportion terminals, crazy good food, and amazing nightlife, ohh ya THANKS TO ALL THE AMAZING COUCHSURFERS. Colombia was turning into something better than i expected. I then went to manizales in the coffee region of colombia, visited a coffee hacienda, soaked in the scenery and the fresh coffee. And then i went to medellin, the city of women. The women there are really undescribeable but i will try. 9 out of 10 women are attractive, 5 or 6 out of 10 are really very attractive and 3 or 4 out of 10 are borderline models. But that´s not all that´s good about medellin. It felt like the safest big city i have visited yet. It had super modern uber nice subway system, beautiful and green parks, one hell of a nightlife scene, and ya the women didnt hurt. then to the north caribbean coast to santa marta. a 6 day trek to ciudad perdida, the lost city, would be the most intense, hot, sweaty, grueling trek i had ever done. But the challenge and the scenery of the trek made it the best trek i had ever done. Crossing river, dancing over rock trails, scaling past high rock cliffs, and then climbing over 1300 slippery and small rock steps to reach the top of the misty lost city made it the best trek i have done to date. Then to cartagena, the last stop for me in this south american adventure. And what a place, a super old spanish colonial superhold where all around you see remanants of the past. The 500 year old walls that made this city an impregnable fortress for the spanish against the pirates that wanted all the gold and treasures that the spanish aquired from south america. The modern city with lively beaches and a very unique caribbean and south american vibe all make cartagena one of the most beautiful cities in all of south america, if not the best.
So tomorrow i will go and i will no longer be making memories in south america. The places i have been and the experiences that i had in south america are only have of the story, for the people i have met along the way are equally important. We shared stories, traveled in foreign lands together, laughed, partied, got drunk, and had fun together, we had incredible amazing experiences together, overcame challenges together, and at the end said good together. It wasn´t always easy traveling thru the entire breadth of south america, but the hardest part was definitely saying goodbyes to people you know for certain would have been lifelong friends if not for the oceans seperating us. That´s the most difficult part of traveling, and yet ironically the best. Even though its difficult to say goodbye meeting people from across the globe while experiencing unbelievable adventures is soo amazing that it outweighs the difficulties of saying goodbye. So for everyone that i traveled with, partied with, sat next to a bus with...Thank you and chau..
I hope i will never forget even the smallest of details..but someday whether it´s a year from now or when i´m an old man i can look back at this adventure and when i can´t totally remember all the crazy, fun, unbelievable adventures i did in south america..yes lance `yes you did it` and to everybody who read my blog i hope you enjoyed it a mere 1% as i did living it...
So i´m finishing my blog in south america by saying chau...from cartagena....
next panama :)
