there´s a scene in ´Owning Mahowny´, a more or less biopic movie released in 2003 about a gambling addict, which i´m constantly reminded of whenever i´m exceedingly happy. a psychologist is asking the title character about how he rates the thrill he got from gambling, on a scale of 1 to 100. ´100,´ says Mahowny.
´and what about the biggest thrill you´ve ever had outside of gambling?´
after a reluctant pause: ´20´.
it´s really hard to describe how high i get when i´m on the move, because it makes it sound like i´m unhappy when i´m in the one place, when this is not necessarily the case. but my level of contentment is usually on a comfortable 20, whereas when i´m drunk on sheer life (usually on the move), i´m hitting 100, and hitting it quite frequently!
upon arriving on south american turf after what seemed like ages, i bought myself a bicycle pronto, and set off cycling around uruguay. after more than 3 months with friends and family, i´m really enjoying having a bit of time to myself. (and again, i must stress that i really enjoyed time back ´home´ - but as i´m sure you´ll all agree, there´s nothing quite like having the freedom to do whatever you want, go wherever you want, whenever you want..) with nothing but the feeling of slicing through the air, cows mooing in the distance, and the occasional roadkill artwork, it´s absolute bliss to be in the roads for most of the day. i was mildly disappointed at the start to find that i was only averaging about 50km a day, but then i realised that initially, i´d been going through hilly terrain, with constant headwinds, and - more importantly, - suffering 42+degree days. when the minor heatwave passed, i settled into a more comfortable routine of pedalling 50km in the morning, having lunch and a siesta in the afternoon, and riding another 2 or 3 hours in the evening before setting up camp. i´m like those girls you see in tampon ads all over the world - so carefree and happy that you´re sure they´re on some sort of chemical mix!
i´m about to leave the town of Minas (population 35,000) a fairly large town by uruguayan standards (country population: 3.5million). locally, uruguay is best known for its golden beaches but even these don´t really put the country on the tourist map, what with brasil beckoning just next door. the tourism that does exist is generated by people from buenos aires hopping over the river Plata to the more accessible beaches over here. (from buenos aires, the closest argentine beach town is a few hundred kms away - or several hours in a bus, - whereas you could be on a beach in uruguay in less than an hour.) it´s considered pretty special to have visitors from montevideo, or from argentina, but people from overseas? forget about it! there aren´t even any youth hostels here, since most of the outsiders would either only come to Minas to visit family, or would only spend the day in town. when i first arrived, i asked a lady manning an ´alfajor´ stall (local delicacies filled with sugary goodness) if there was an area where i could set up my tent for the night, but after chatting for a bit, Ruth insisted that i come and stay at her place with her family.
even though the house is ´in town´ (as opposed to out in the country), there´s a small lot across the road where Horacio (Ruth´s partner) keeps his sheep, and a watching sheepdog. next door, the neighbour keeps his 4 racehorses, and from ´my´ room in the loft, i can hear them snorting and stamping as they settle down for the night, or in the morning when the chooks start their daily activity of clucking, pecking at the ground, and annoying the dogs. the other day, i spent the whole afternoon with Horacio´s 19-year-old twin girls, Leticia and Dahiana, and a couple of their friends: 21yo Paola, and 18yo Jimena and her 2yo daughter Sofía. by the standards that i´ve grown up with, here, the girls have their kids young. 16yo mothers are quite common, and if you´re pregnant for the first time at 25, you´re old. but make no mistake: this is not a picture of provincial ignorance. unlike some communities, where this could be seen as a sign of poverty, or a lack of education, having kids young is the preferred path for most of these independent women. marriage is also less and less common, since they´re more likely to have a job to look after themselves, and don´t need to depend financially on a guy.
having spent a few days being poked and prodded by the twins and their friends, and satisfying their curiosity about what exactly i´m doing, i quickly realised that my lifestyle is as strange for them as theirs is for me. i thought they were kidding when they asked me, ´but aren´t you scared of getting lost?´ because that´s exactly what makes this so addictive for me: getting to know the unknown. all those ´first times´ that i treasure and have yet to live! even though i can´t wait for the day when i reach my 10,000th kilometre and can feel more in control of my bike and how i´m going, i´m relishing the novelty of it for now. even when an experience is no longer new, it´s great to be able to share first times with others. for example, shortly before leaving new zealand last month, we all set off for a day trek to mt arthur (near nelson, south island), but the car broke down halfway up the mountain. despite the resultant hassle of having to get the car towed, etc, alex and hamish, 9 and 11yo respectively, were able to reflect on the day with youthful good humour, ticking off their fingers ´today, we rode in the back of a ute for the first time, we hitchhiked for the first time...!´ obviously, the older you get, the first times are less frequent, and further between , but that´s not to say that they don´t exist. last week, a random stranger saw me resting in a plaza with my bike, and started talking animatedly about a new inflatable camping mattress he´d just bought only minutes before. he´d never set off on a random trip, and was excited about the prospect of being able to do so with the new mattress. within the hour, we´d decided to meet up again in a couple of weeks for an impromptu weekend trip to Gualeguaychú (carnaval capital of argentina)! when i realised that the twins were asking me seriously if i wasn´t scared of losing my way, i had to reassure them that that´s exactly what i loved. ´that´s the whole point!´ i said with a huge grin. ´finding out what surprises lie around the corner! what new friends you´ll make, what new things you´ll discover!´
for more photos, see ´first times´ gallery (i´ll be adding more soon)
