A Recap of the rest of South America
I know, I know. It’s been a while. Well, more than a while. It’s been a substantial amount of time that I’ve been silent, and I’m sorry. My Facebook newsfeed is filled with pictures and blogs that my fellow travelers have been posting. And for that matter, my Facebook newsfeed has slowly become a language lesson every time I see it. I think the last time I looked, there were at least five posts in different languages. Ah, the life of a traveler.
All the nostalgia aside, let me try to explain why I’ve been an absentee poster for this time (other than an overwhelming number of pictures, and pure laziness). I’m fairly sure the last time I posted any photos or gave any travel updates I hadn’t yet reached Patagonia. For those of you who don’t know, hiking the Patagonia region was the whole reason I went to South America in the first place. Well, let me just say I made it there, and spent over a month traveling through the region and hiking. For me, it was important that I get to do this alone. I’m one of those crazy people who love to spend time by myself, just my thoughts and me. And after departing from some most excellent travel buddies at the end of Bolivia, I knew no one else but myself would be acceptable for a little while. I very quickly learnt that actually traveling alone is almost more difficult than finding travel buddies. But with some clever dodging and last minute plan changes (does this surprise anyone at this point), I managed to get the me time I wanted. All I can say about Patagonia is that it was breathtaking at all times, and my time there was incredibly important to me, though I can’t put into words why that is.
After Patagonia, I popped back and forth a little through Chile and Argentina, heading north again (it’s hard to keep going south once you’ve hit the southernmost city in the world). Along the way I saw some amazing street art, went on yet another wine tour, found some new travel buddies, stargazed, saw a red moon in the driest place on Earth, met another Tali, did some crazy bus travel (think 80 hours through three countries), hiked the one thing I had regretted skipping, and found myself in Colombia, then in an area so remote, I went for days without seeing people… or running water… or food. Maybe that wasn’t the best place. Let’s just say that the next few months were not without adventure!
An extremely important thing that I learnt while I was traveling (other than the art of sleeping anywhere and always having a roll of toilet paper) was to acknowledge what your body and soul are telling you. I learnt to listen to my needs, and myself even if they don’t match my original plan. So this stubborn chica gave in and realized that even though South America had been an amazing adventure, and even though I wasn’t finished exploring the entire continent, it was time for me to leave and find a newfound sense of wonder somewhere else. Besides, I’ve got to leave something for next time, right?
