Day 108: Culmination
Having a hard time figuring out what to write. I know that I should write something since one day I will look back on this blog and want to know what my mindset was upon going back home. This blog has been as much a place to store memories as it was entertainment to both myself and friends back at home. So I will say it: regret and sadness. Regret that the realities of life pull me back home, sadness that this trip cannot continue for the forseeable future. This trip would be the first where upon going home I do not feel any sort of relief or gladness to be returning. Every previous time I had that semi-excited feeling to be returning, sort of like when you are a kid and the end of August is near and you for some reason are actually looking forward to be going back to school. My attitude towards returning is one of simple ambivalence: I know it won't be as bad as I am imagining now, but then again it won't be all that great either.
This trip has firmly convinced me that travel is the meaning of my short term future, and that my life must be structured to allow me the freedom of leaving home on a yearly basis. So many places out there demand me to visit, Southeast Asia, Japan, Turkey and Syria and Jordan, Brasil and Colombia. Hell I haven't even satisfied my desires to see the countries that I have already visited on this trip. Patagonia in Argentina and Chile, the Amazon in Bolivia, and the high Andes in Peru are places I was unable to visit on this go-round, leaving me the strong desire to return in short order. The dream of flying to Buenos Aires, bussing to Patagonia and then travelling overland all the way back to California is an especially strong temptation at the moment.
I have seen and done amazing things. Mountainous sand dunes to play in on Peru's coast. Nearly untouristed center of the Andes between Lima and Cusco. 1000 feet above Machu Picchu on the tip of a jagged mountain. Descending the deepest canyon in the world. The crystalline waters of Lake Titicaca, and the moonscape of Isla del Sol. The breathtaking beauty of the yungas. The inequalities of La Paz. The Mine of Moria that is Potosí. The otherwordly place that is the Salar de Uyuni, where ground is pure white and sky the darkest blue. Roadtripping around Salta and debauchery in Buenos Aires. Snowboarding in Bariloche, starting at the rooftop of the Andes and cruising down to apres ski at the lodge bar. Seeing the Volcano Villarrica glow red at night from my hostel window in Pucon.
And other things: shaving my beard into a handlebar mustache on a lark, pretending I was mute in Arequipa so a drug dealer would leave me alone, playing countless games of poker and pool, walked through terraced coca plantations, turning a simple song by the Pixies into the themesong of my trip, actually getting to read for pleasure, drinking the incredibly awful mixture that is Bailey's and lemon juice, nearly breaking my ankle outside a pub, a robbery in a Lima taxicab, learning how annoying eating out for 3 straight months gets, realizing that paved roads make the world go-round, and never once again taking for granted a good hot shower.
I should probably also mention the names of the people that I have shared my trip with: Yanet, Mark and Celine, Eliza, Sam and Adrian, Matt and Emma, Kelly and Tanya, Rachel, Silje and Mara, Jeff and Tom and Sabrina, Star, Nir and Andy, and last but not least, Tullia and Mary and Katie.
It's been a blast. It's also been mentally stimulating in a different manner. At home I study the Third World, and here I got to witness it first hand. One cannot completely grasp the situation in the developing world simply from articles or essays or a professor's lecture. There is a missing piece there, and that is first-hand visual experience. La Paz and Lima really opened up my eyes (pardon the cliche) in this regards. Argentina did as well, but in a different way. The problems of Lima and La Paz hit you square in the face, you've but to look around to figure out the state of the people in these nations. Argentina has been a different beast entirely. On the surface it looks as regal and as well-monied as many European countries. Buenos Aires could pass for Lisbon or Budapest. But since the economic crisis and the devaluation of the local currency, the country has been one with a first world facade and a third world infrastructure. That such a rich nation could meet such a disastrous end is an eye opener, indicative of the inequities of the global economic order and the difficulties which face the countries in the southern hemisphere.
Wish me luck if you are reading this: I have a 10 hour bus ride tonight to Santiago, followed by flights to Buenos Aires and Lima tomorrow, then flights to San Jose, San Salvador and San Francisco on Saturday, and then a 2 hour car ride back home to Sacramento in the wee hours of Sunday. In short I leave tonight at 9 pm for my return home, and will not arrive at home until about 2:30 am on the 4th. Not the quickest way to get home, but definitely the cheapest.
This trip has firmly convinced me that travel is the meaning of my short term future, and that my life must be structured to allow me the freedom of leaving home on a yearly basis. So many places out there demand me to visit, Southeast Asia, Japan, Turkey and Syria and Jordan, Brasil and Colombia. Hell I haven't even satisfied my desires to see the countries that I have already visited on this trip. Patagonia in Argentina and Chile, the Amazon in Bolivia, and the high Andes in Peru are places I was unable to visit on this go-round, leaving me the strong desire to return in short order. The dream of flying to Buenos Aires, bussing to Patagonia and then travelling overland all the way back to California is an especially strong temptation at the moment.
I have seen and done amazing things. Mountainous sand dunes to play in on Peru's coast. Nearly untouristed center of the Andes between Lima and Cusco. 1000 feet above Machu Picchu on the tip of a jagged mountain. Descending the deepest canyon in the world. The crystalline waters of Lake Titicaca, and the moonscape of Isla del Sol. The breathtaking beauty of the yungas. The inequalities of La Paz. The Mine of Moria that is Potosí. The otherwordly place that is the Salar de Uyuni, where ground is pure white and sky the darkest blue. Roadtripping around Salta and debauchery in Buenos Aires. Snowboarding in Bariloche, starting at the rooftop of the Andes and cruising down to apres ski at the lodge bar. Seeing the Volcano Villarrica glow red at night from my hostel window in Pucon.
And other things: shaving my beard into a handlebar mustache on a lark, pretending I was mute in Arequipa so a drug dealer would leave me alone, playing countless games of poker and pool, walked through terraced coca plantations, turning a simple song by the Pixies into the themesong of my trip, actually getting to read for pleasure, drinking the incredibly awful mixture that is Bailey's and lemon juice, nearly breaking my ankle outside a pub, a robbery in a Lima taxicab, learning how annoying eating out for 3 straight months gets, realizing that paved roads make the world go-round, and never once again taking for granted a good hot shower.
I should probably also mention the names of the people that I have shared my trip with: Yanet, Mark and Celine, Eliza, Sam and Adrian, Matt and Emma, Kelly and Tanya, Rachel, Silje and Mara, Jeff and Tom and Sabrina, Star, Nir and Andy, and last but not least, Tullia and Mary and Katie.
It's been a blast. It's also been mentally stimulating in a different manner. At home I study the Third World, and here I got to witness it first hand. One cannot completely grasp the situation in the developing world simply from articles or essays or a professor's lecture. There is a missing piece there, and that is first-hand visual experience. La Paz and Lima really opened up my eyes (pardon the cliche) in this regards. Argentina did as well, but in a different way. The problems of Lima and La Paz hit you square in the face, you've but to look around to figure out the state of the people in these nations. Argentina has been a different beast entirely. On the surface it looks as regal and as well-monied as many European countries. Buenos Aires could pass for Lisbon or Budapest. But since the economic crisis and the devaluation of the local currency, the country has been one with a first world facade and a third world infrastructure. That such a rich nation could meet such a disastrous end is an eye opener, indicative of the inequities of the global economic order and the difficulties which face the countries in the southern hemisphere.
Wish me luck if you are reading this: I have a 10 hour bus ride tonight to Santiago, followed by flights to Buenos Aires and Lima tomorrow, then flights to San Jose, San Salvador and San Francisco on Saturday, and then a 2 hour car ride back home to Sacramento in the wee hours of Sunday. In short I leave tonight at 9 pm for my return home, and will not arrive at home until about 2:30 am on the 4th. Not the quickest way to get home, but definitely the cheapest.
Hope you'll come to the dinner on the 17th, and in the meantime, what Pixies song? (Comment this)