Journal Entry 67

August 24th, 2006

"The End, Part I (this is it!)"

 

I don't really know where to begin. I think it'll just be a general overview, a bit half-assed. I left cold Turkey (ha) and landed in hot Santiago, Chile...after 3 days of flights. Summer!

I spent the first week with my friend Kris, who came down to visit me. The next few weeks were spent with Josefina, a Basque girl living in Chile who I met my second day in South America. We explored beaches and the altiplano (high-altitude desert) of middle and northern Chile, camping and hitching around. When we parted I headed to Bolivia, a magical but very poor country in the Andean highlands. Then it was Peru. Machu Picchu. Lima. Some little-visited destinations in the north (after some hellish bus rides and a night spent sleeping in the back of a potato truck). To Yurimaguas, then Iquitos.

I met the Amazon before it's even the Amazon, and spent a couple weeks taking a series of boats down all the way from Peru through Brazil and on to the Atlantic. Sleeping in a hammock hung from the boat rafters became a way of life. I skirted down the Brazilian Atlantic coast...Sao Luis, Salvador, then hit Rio de Janeiro.

From here it was inland again, Iguazu Falls, then crossing into Argentina, down to Uruguay. I spent a few days in Montevideo, the namesake of my hometown in Minnesota, before splitting for Buenos Aires, one of the world's greatest cities. Jetted across to Santiago, Chile again, completing my circuit of the continent, 5 months after my initial arrival. Actually moved into an apartment there, had some great roommates and spent more time with Josefina.

But by this time, I knew the end was drawing near. Within two weeks, I'd changed all my ideas and booked a flight to Costa Rica. I spent only 2 days in this gringo-filled country that's a bit like a 51st state, then up to Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador, doing my best to explore some places off the beaten track. It worked. Josefina flew up to Guatemala to visit me, and we spent 2 weeks together in this cool little country, visiting Mayan ruins, a volcano with flowing lava (I poked it with a stick...it's hot), seeing a bit of jungle, and relaxing on Atitlan, the world's most beautiful lake.

Home was near. She left. I crossed into Mexico. San Cristobal (Chiapas), Oaxaca, Mexico City, and Zacatecas, getting four distinct flavors of this fascinating country as I meandered northwards. And the rest, you know.

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I did have a plan for South and Central America. If I could pinpoint what that entailed it would have included the following:

1) My first destination was to be the magical land of Patagonia.
2) I was skipping Brazil. Too big, and I wanted to learn Spanish, not Portuguese. I even ripped out the Brazil section of my guidebook before arriving in South America.
3) Visit Venezuela, where I studied in 1997, and Colombia, where I have some friends that I met in Tibet back in 2003.
4) Lots of time in Mexico.

I guess it should be no surprise that I did NONE of the four. As much as I like making plans, we (me and plans) don't actually get along too well. Particularly when a girl's involved.

In the end, a fairly complete picture: deserts, coast. Old cities, new ones. Hot, cold. Rich, poor. Easy, difficult. Alone, companionship. Mountains, jungles. Boats, buses, feet, planes.

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Of course, I've glazed over this rather quickly. There are a lot of stories buried in the time between January and today. But I think they won't be told here.

So much has changed. When I left I was 25. Only 20% of the people I met had digital cameras. There was no i-pod, no wireless internet. Few people had 'blogs'. I've returned to a world filled with even more artificial 'necessities'. Americans love things that are done with the push of a button. A gadget for everything. Kinda makes me smile. Or shake my head.

Oh, mom says I forgot one item from my backpack from my last update: a bottle of tequila, purchased in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. My family will be together for the first (and last?) time in ages this weekend (before my little brother moves to South Korea). So the tequila won't last long.

In the meantime, I hang out. Contemplate 30. Mom will have to forgive my if I accidentally throw toilet paper in the trash. I try to regain my temporal frame of reference. Digest. Revive motorcycle, perhaps next week. Enjoy the eve of a beautiful MN summer.

If you're looking for me, try my parents' house. I might be inside, reading a book or listening to music. Or out for a run. Or at the public library. Or at the neighbor's house for lemonade. Maybe out doing yardwork. Perhaps watching Letterman or the Minnesota Twins. Or shirtless and barefoot on the front porch, relaxing over a beer, watching the world roll by.

Life is good.

P.S. I'll email again when something exciting happens. If all goes as planned, it'll be quite a while.

"You'd be surprised how little I knew even up to yesterday." (Jack Kerouac)

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