37 - Goodbye South America

I started my South American Adventure way back in the beginning of October. I really had no plan for the trip other than I would start out volunteering in Ecuador and I would see what opportunities came my way after that. The only other things I knew I wanted to do were walk the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, hike the glaciers in Patagonia, and see Iguazu falls in Argentina... none of which I did. And that's okay. Because this 8 month journey was the most incredible experience of my life. It's true that I didn't get to all the places I originally planned to see, but my ever-evolving itinerary brought me to more beautiful sights, more delicious food, and more amazing people than I could have ever planned for.




Here's a quick photo recap of some of my favorite memories in South America:

Ecuador







Colombia






Peru








Bolivia







Chile





Argentina







And here are some quick stats/favorites/opinions about the trip -

Number of days in South America: 238
Number of countries visited: 6
Number of cities/towns visited: 52
Number of hours on a plane: 4
Number of hours on a bus: 296
Number of times I had altitude sickness: 3
Number of times I stepped in dog poo: 4
Number of empanadas consumed: 78 (estimate)
Favorite tour: Salt Flats of Uyuni in Bolivia
Favorite activity: Hiking up and sliding down Volcan Villarica in Chile
Favorite beach: Montanita, Ecuador
Favorite sunset: Taganga, Colombia
Favorite sunrise: Lake Titicaca, Peru
Favorite city in each country: Ecuador - Montanita, Colombia - Taganga, Peru-Cusco, Bolivia - La Paz, Chile - Pucon, Argentina - Bariloche
Country with the cutest children: Peru
Country with the best empanadas: Argentina
Country with the kindest people: Colombia
Country with the best parties: Ecuador
Country most different from USA: Bolivia
Country with the best wine: Chile

I have to say that I was really worried about coming back to the United States. How could I go from doing something new and exciting every day back to the same old normal America? No one would understand the experiences I had gone through. This is a quick exert from my journal. I wrote this a few days before returning home:
"They won't understand what I've seen or who I met, the songs I heard, the dances I danced, the street food I ate, the kids I saw begging at 1:30 am, the men I saw passed out on the street at 1:30 pm, the stray dogs, the artesanos, the egg and avocado sandwiches, the hostel life, living out of a backpack, learning about the world, making new friends every single day, the markets, the fountains, the statues, the plazas, the parades, the protests, the meatsticks, the holes in the sidewalks, the beaches, the bikes, the hikes, the mountains, the volcanoes, 20 hour bus rides, speaking Spanish, discovering new cities, the search for the best empanada, bargaining with vendors, drinking with locals, futbol games, cat calls, being told I'm beautiful by all the men I meet, kissing on the cheek instead of shaking hands, pigs, llamas, sheep, alpaca, a constant fear of having my stuff stolen, converting prices, choclo con queso, ceviche, planning travels, blogging, skyping, sleeping in different places all the time, packing and unpacking and repacking, doing what I want when I want, being a foreigner, getting stared at, being outgoing, being brave, being independent, missing home."
And now that I'm home I realize that my fears were true. I'm not doing new and exciting things every day, and people don't know what I've been through. But that's okay because the life I have in this same old normal America is pretty great, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm surrounded by my family and friends that take the time to listen to my stories and try to understand my experience. So yes... it has been a tough transition coming back home. But being with my family and friends provides me with more happiness than backpacking the entire world ever could.

Thanks to everyone for reading this blog. It's good to be home.
Love,
Amanda

36 - Argentina - Bariloche, Mendoza, Salta, Buenos Aires

From Pucón, Chile I took a bus across the border into Argentina. Argentina is huge, and I only had a little bit of time left in my trip, so my last couple weeks traveling in South America involved some serious bus riding.

My first stop in Argentina was Bariloche, which is in the northern part of Patagonia. Bariloche isn't in the glacial part of Patagonia, but the area is beautiful because it's surrounded by lakes and mountains and lots of trails to hike and enjoy the view. One day I hiked around a lake and up a small mountain. Here are a few photos from the hike.




Another day I went on a really fun bike ride around a bunch of different lakes. It was such a nice ride.


After Bariloche I headed north on an 18 hour bus ride to wine country, Mendoza. On the bus we watched 3 movies, ate two meals, and played a great game of bus BINGO. Yup...that's BINGO on a bus. The bus attendant gave out little cards, and then called out numbers on his microphone. The prize was a bottle of chardonnay, and guess who won. Yours truly. Sweet! Best game of BINGO ever. If only we had T BINGO while riding the T in Boston.

I only spent a couple of days in Mendoza, but man was it fun. A very popular tourist attraction in Mendoza is renting bicycles and biking down one main road from vineyard to vineyard trying all the different wines. We (two Kiwis, a Brit, a Canadian and I - we all stayed in the same hostel) rented our bikes from Señor Hugo who kindly started our trip off by giving us several glasses of cheap red wine. We left Señor Hugo's very happy and ready for our biking wine tour.
At our first vineyard we found a nice sunny spot in the middle of all the grapes to enjoy our vino.
We did a tour and tasting at our second vineyard.
Here I am doing some fun bike tricks while biking to our next vineyard.
In total we visited four vineyards, and we ended our day back at Señor Hugo's where he again topped us off with some more red wine. What a great day, but boy did I fall asleep fast when we got back to the hostel.

From Mendoza I took my longest bus ride yet. 20 HOURS north up to Salta. Now all these bus rides might sound horrible to you, but I actually looked forward to them. Bus rides were a great excuse to finally get some rest in between all the adventures, and they're the best way to get lost in thought and reflect on everything I had been doing.

In Salta I met up with my friend Mari Folco. Mari and I have known each other since 8th grade when Mari moved from Argentina to Brookline, MA. We went to high school and BU together. Mari had been volunteering in Chile for about 5 months, and now she's working a few months in Buenos Aires. We kept in touch the whole time I was traveling, and we finally worked it out to meet up in Salta, Argentina. I was with Mari for the last 10 days of my trip, and we had a great time together.

Mari and I took a bus to the northern part of Argentina just near the Bolivian border. One of the highlights of our time up north was going to Cerro de los Siete Colores, which is a mountain range with rocks of all different colors.


Look at all the colors in these mountains.


We also went to Las Salenas, which is a different salt flat from the one I went to in Bolivia, but just as much fun to take pictures.










One day we hiked to La Garganta del Diablo (the Devil's Throat) where we saw this beautiful waterfall. We packed a picnic lunch and ate it at this spot.
The Devil's Throat
Here I am taking a picture of the beautiful clear blue sky.
And this is the photo I took of the sky.
This is a picture of me with all my backpacking gear. This is all I had with me for my 8 months of travel.

From Salta Mari and I took a 2 hour plane to Buenos Aires. I stayed in Buenos Aires for about 4 days going to museums, famous cemeteries, amazing restaurants, and basically just enjoying my last few days in South America.

This was the most ornate cemetery I've ever been to. The tombs were nicer than most of the houses I've seen.

One night Mari and I went out for a romantic dinner to a restaurant with asado, which is basically like barbecue. I learned that America does not know how to do barbecue. We have a lot of learning to do from the Argentines. Mari and I shared two types of sausage, steak, wine, and flan for dessert. That night I ate the best steak that has ever past my lips. I still dream about that steak.

May 31st was my last day in South America. Stay tuned for my final blog entry where I'll give a wrap up of my incredible 8 month adventure.