The End is Nigh!
Trip Start
Mar 05, 2011
1
13
Trip End
Sep 01, 2011
Where I stayed
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Monday, August 8, 2011
Ugh! Three days before I'm back in Canada! Anybody got a couch I can borrow?! I'm hoping to 'visit' people in Calgary in this way ...no more than a week at a time. Promise! So far I have three offers in Calgary (Thanks Rick! Thanks Ivy! Thanks Jocelyn!). I arrive on the 2nd in Calgary. Does that work for anybody? :)
Anyways ...on to the blog post!!
It's All About The Friendships
"A single day during travelling is like life in miniature: encounters, losses, good byes. In real life you need years to be friends with someone; while travelling a conversation of some minutes is enough" -Pablo de Santis
This encapsulates my last month and a half: Friendships. Lots of them. Some light and fluffy, some deep. And it's where I realized that I need people like I need air!
All in all these last two months have been phenomenal! And so free of angst that I really haven't been inclined to write! It would seem that when things are going well ...I'm not so bothered about writing about it!! Also the last two posts I wrote kinda kicked the crap out of me emotionally and I think I needed a break. And on that note here is an uncharacteristic 'surfacy' account of what I've been up to for the last two months!! Keepin' it light for a change ...enjoy!
Sucre
Mi Amiga Favorita
Well Sucre was a lot to do with Stephie. For the longest time, Stephie was the only other English speaking person at the homestay where I stayed for several weeks and we just totally hit it off. We became very good friends ...sharing a love of food, movies and adventure. And lots and lots of laughter. I have to admit that I stayed so long in Sucre largely because I so enjoyed the friendship I had developed with this woman whose heart so closely resembled my own brand new open one. So open and adventurous and full of laughter.
If I was keeping track ...I would have to rate my last day in Sucre, spent with Stephie, as one of my favorite of all time! Not to mention the night before where we watched a sparsely attended futbol game and then to a restaurant where we had the most amazing steak dinner ever! It is a rarity for me to let someone in so deep. And even rarer to have them so respect and walk so gently in that vulnerable place. Still kinda in awe of that. And in gratitude.
I made amazing lasting friendships at 'La Casa', it was very difficult to tear myself away from this refuge of fun and laughter and feeling good...though my window for adventure was rapidly closing and I felt the strong pull to experience more of Bolivia and onward to Peru, and weyhey ...Machu Picchu!!!
La Paz
Highest Curry House in the World
It was a treat to roll into La Paz and meet up once again with good friends. Friends I had made at 'La Casa' - Esther, Lourdes and Heather, and eat some kick butt Indian Curry!!! Another travel friend mentioned this was the highest Curry House in the world. Who am I to dispute this? I totally enjoyed my first Indian Curry dish in many moons ...there was an Isreali couple at the table beside us who were choking down the Vindaloo ...which, if they finished, they would each receive a free t-shirt that said "I survived the world's most dangerous vindaloo". They didn't even come close!! And it was painful watching them!! I tried a wee, wee bit of it and it was freaking horrible and spicy beyond anything I had tasted!
Death Road
I came to La Paz not for the curry, but to bike the "Death Road". It has been dubbed the world's most dangerous road ...claiming 200 - 300 deaths per year. Yup ...why not bike it?!! It turned out to be a huge thrill ride ...a 61 Km stretch of downhill that didn't actually feel all that dangerous, though 18 bikers have been killed since 1998. I was to bike this with my three amigas from Sucre, but Esther and Lourdes begged off to do it on a later date, so it was just Heather and I. Heather is a totally fun, adventurous Lass from Scotland currently living in London who I shared great conversation with in Sucre. We both ended up surviving the death road very much intact and have the t-shirts to prove it!! The Death Road is something I recommend to anyone who makes it to La Paz!! Though get a bike with full suspension!!
Cholita Wrestling
Okay this is probably the most politically incorrect and socially unacceptable thing I've done since going on the mine tour in Potosi. Going to La Paz and not going to see the Cholita's wrestle would be more difficult than passing a bad accident and not rubber necking. It would take extraordinary will. So ...putting my conscience and my will aside, I attended the 'Titans of the Ring' event to see the spectacle. What is Cholita wrestling? It is a group of indiginous female wrestlers who wear their tradition clothing ...bowler hat and multi-layered skirt, as they wrestle away in the ring. They fight each other and they fight the guy wrestlers too. It was absurd and totally funny! Showing a completely different side of the usually low key indigenous women that I've seen as I wandered the streets and markets of La Paz and Sucre. I must say though that I was highly uncomfortable when a Cholita was matched up against a male wrestler and when the male wrestler and the male referee teamed up against the Cholita. I went with my two friends from Spain ...Esther and Lourdes who enjoyed the spectacle. We didn't talk about the social inappropriateness of the event. I didn't know how to say 'socially inappropriate' in Spanish, so I didn't even go there!
Say Cheese!
I also replaced the camera that I lost in Potosi. Ended up getting the exact same camera ...'cause I liked it and I still had a second battery that I could reuse!! In the proceeds of choosing I guess I bargained too low with a shopkeeper and he ended up kicking me out of his shop!! Bolivians are friendly people unless, I guess, you bargain too low for their liking?
Lake Titicaca
Isle Del Sol
Heather headed off to Lima to fly home and Lourdes headed back to Sucre to finish her work at a kindergarten. This left Esther and I to explore Lake Titicaca and Isle Del Sol ...an island on Lake Titicaca that is said to be the birthplace of the Incan empire. We grabbed a bus in which we were oddly the only two on it! Weird. Isle Del Sol for me was perhaps the most chilled out place I've ever been! I only spent one night here but I could have spent a week. Restaurants with amazing views and a most beautiful sunset. Esther ...whose name sounds far better in Spanish than it does in English(Estair!), spoke very little English and I of course spoke very little Spanish and it was during this time with Esther that my Spanish flourished!! After spending a couple of days travelling with her, I found myself having complete conversations in Spanish with Bolivians and then later with Peruvians!! My Spanish just started clicking ...very cool!! I Really enjoyed spending time with Esther ...she was by far the most upbeat and positive person I had met travelling ...always smiling!! We returned to Copacabana by boat and said goodbye after a flurry of negations with the bus lady to get Esther on a bus to La Paz and me on a bus to Cusco. A quick though emotional goodbye!
Cusco
Machu Picchu
Probably the pinnacle of my trip! On the bus to Cusco I met up with two American College students who had just spent a semester learning Spanish in Buenos Aires. Greg had only two days in which to visit Machu Picchu and it took us the whole day after the night bus from Copacabana(the town on Lake Titicaca where we returned to from Isle Del Sol) to do the booking for Machu Picchu and the train up there the next day. It was a crap load of running around but well worth it!! The rules for Machu Picchu had just changed and we luckily got in on a trek that previously was only available with a guide. It turned out to be a stunning half day walk where we got to visit a significant ruin all on our own. Machu Picchu itself was spectacular. And poetic. I fully grasped the significance of being there. There was a time not too long ago when I thought I would never make it, and to be standing there overlooking this spectacular, mystical ruin was a testament to my resolve to dream big ...and have it manifest!
Sick in Cusco
Coming back from Machu Picchu, I got really sick in a town called Agua Caliente. After travelling back to Cusco ...Matt and Greg, my American friends, carried on to Lima and then the beaches in Northern Peru while I remained in Cusco sick as a dog for three days!! It sucked! I was all on my own for the first time in several weeks and sick and hating it. Didn't get a good feel for Cusco at all because of this. I did though inquire into some shamanic stuff that I had been wanting to find out about, and in the midst of me planning my escape from Cusco, I received an invitation to come out and do a one day 'San Pedro' ceremony. I changed my plans for leaving and headed to the retreat centre.
San Pedro
Whoa! I had no idea that Shamanism had anything to do with 'San Pedro'. I had heard about San Pedro back in Calgary and had an interest in trying it if I ever got the chance. Well, surprisingly here I was with the chance ...and the resolve. Simply put it was a profound experience. I have written about it in my other blog. Here is a link. After this experience I returned to Cusco and caught the next night bus to La Paz. I was just shy of two weeks before I returned home to Canada and it was time to start my long journey back to Buenos Aires to fly home. I was feeling adventured out at this point ...mostly because of being sick, and glad now to be returning back the way I had come. My travels had reached their limit for the time being. Cusco would be the extent of my travels in South America. Sooooo much left to see though!!
La Paz
Road Block!
Ugh. Another night bus! Though I had a good seat mate. A young guy from Spain who was training to be an architect. Samuel. We had good conversation and as we hit the city limit of La Paz, we were instructed to get out and walk! There was a road block and nothing was getting through. And this happened to be in the roughest suburb in La Paz. And so we walked. We met up with a Canadian from Toronto and a woman from Germany and together we all eventually made it into the centre of town but not before skirting the road blocks using taxis, collectivos(minibus taxis) and walking around the road blockers, who were actually quite pleasant folk ...as they sat there blocking the road knitting or playing soccer. We greeted them and they greeted us back. Their beef wasn't with us.
Wild Rover
Samuel left us to catch a flight and I decided to tag along with 'Canada' and 'Germany' and stay at a party hostel ...the Wild Rover. Totally not my scene ...heck not remotely my scene!! Though after Cusco, and not making any friends there, I wanted to be somewhere where I knew people. And I could always take this as an anthropological experience ...observing the lifestyle of the party travellers!!! It was something else!!
Canada ditched Germany and I to hang with four cute Irish girls, and Germany and I ended up spending quite a bit of time together. She was a lot younger than me. I don't even have to say that anymore, because everyone I meet is a lot younger than me! Anyway we got along really good. We just kinda hung out ...I really enjoyed her company as she assisted me in my one day of shopping for family and I introduced her to all my favorite food hangouts! Yeah it was fun! I was a good sounding board for her as she related her hostel romance experience with an American she had met who was now back in the US. After five days in La Paz, and after I sent my parcel of goodies back to Canada, it was time to hit the road again ...but not before agonizing over the purchase of a kick ass down jacket which was a long time in coming as I had just spent the last several months freezing my ass off. I bought it ...but it hurt because it was expensive and I couldn't afford it but I got it anyways 'cause I hate being cold!!! Took me two hours to decide. It was a very timely purchase because the night bus to Sucre was freezing!!
Need to also say a word about my travel friend Lucy here! We met up in Salta and again in Sucre and again in La Paz ...I'm not sure who was stalking who! Though it was cool to have the connection with her in three different places. To meet up again and again and catch up on each other's journeys! She was a fountain of great travel information and an extremely brave and adventurous soul ...doing her trip solo and on an incredible shoestring budget. The next phase of my journey will resemble more how she is going about it.
Sucre
Back to Sucre
Ah! Back to 'La Casa' ...I love Sucre! And I love staying at La Casa de Mama Vicki's!! It wasn't quite the same without Stephie ...though very enjoyable non-the-less! Enjoyed reacquainting with every one and ...feeling the love!! The only 'traveller' there from when I was there before was Lourdes and it was so nice to have this connection from my previous visit! Along with Maya ...a more recent occupant from Spain, we convinced the three university students/grandchildren - Carolina, Monze and Daniel, to come out to the discotheque with us! Yeah I know. Me at a disco eh? It was a great night!! A nice cap to my time in Bolivia. Though toward the end of the night I did hit a wave of longing that drained the dance out of me. Feeling oddly alone amongst all these good friends. Longing for what? I guess for the closeness I gave up when I decided to do this journey alone. The closeness I realized I probably wouldn't find as long as I engaged in this life of travel. That's how it felt anyways and it was deflating. The feeling lasted a good (bad) day though it faded as I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the friendships I had made travellling and in particular the people that were now around me in Sucre! Lourdes left a day before me and we had a tearful goodbye. Over the course of our acquaintance at La Casa, we didn't talk too much or too deeply because of the language barrier(she spoke Spanish), though we had spent some time and a few adventures together. Clearly there was a bond and it was sad to say goodbye.
In my wanderings I had also made friends with a few people around town... Marcia, the server at Locot's Restaurant, where I would go to do my interneting. She always welcomed me with a warm smile. Jose ...the 'Juice guy' who I would see almost daily walking into town and usually stop and get a big $ .50 glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. He always had a big smile and a kind greeting for me as I passed him on the street ...though I rarely passed without buying a juice! Patricia, who worked at a travel agency who I would meet up with and chatted with about nothing in particular ...but we just really enjoyed each others company!!
Then it was my turn to leave Sucre. I shared a big hug with Monze, Maya, Carolina and Mama Vicki. So nice feeling the love from this amazing family who had welcomed me into their home so completely. I know I will remain in touch!
Santa Cruz
After the absolute worst bus ride in the history of human transportation ...from Sucre to Santa Cruz (a word of advice ...NEVER bus from Sucre to Santa Cruz!!) I stayed in the home of Vicki Junior, who is Mama Vicki's daughter and a wonderful person. I had one night in Santa Cruz and I ended up going to an 'Asado' ...a Argentine Barbeque at a friend of hers and her husband Jaimie. It was succulent! And cool to hang out with Argentinians, eat Argentian beef and drink Argentinian Malbec!! Yummy!! Santa Cruz is the 'natural gas' capital of Bolivia and is fairly modern and has some parallels with Calgary ...so it was cool to feel a bit like I was home!!
Buenos Aires
After a very pleasant flight from Santa Cruz, I walked into the Sandanzas hostal in San Telmo ...the place I stayed for almost two months, unannounced and was greated by Vera ...the night receptionist. I received the biggest hug and the biggest smile! And a nice warm cup of Yerba Mate!! So nice to have these places in South America where I am loved!!! I will be here for one more week to finish off this blog entry and to make some purchases to begin building a Yerba Mate empire with my cousin Allison. We are determined to spread Yerba Mate culture in Calgary!! It is such a cool social thing that goes beyond sharing a cup of tea with someone!! Just gotta get Calgarians past the hurdle of sharing a bombilla! (The 'straw' used to drink yerba mate) Might be a hard sell!
See what I'm saying? Not much juicy stuff when everything goes well!!! I may have to create some drama to give me something to write about!
So here I sit. Sooo contented. So bursting at the seams ...alive from this amazing adventure. No wait ...that was last minute. Now I'm feeling scared and apprehensive!! Never a dull moment! Either way ...I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family back home! It has been a wild ride, time for home for a short pause ...and then off for more!!
Phew! several paragraphs without dipping below the surface. That was difficult! So here we go for a bit of a plunge!
Youth
So it has been a pleasant surprise for me to experience such affinity with the much younger people I have met in my travels. To the point where I hesitate to suggest there is a difference between us. We are all travellers and the beauty of this community is that there really is no hierarchy. Everyone is taken at face value and as an equal. I just spent two days hanging out with a 23-year-old medical student and conversation and time together just flowed with ease!
Though I'm not trying to kid myself here and repeat my own youth. Well maybe a little!! I am though embracing this opportunity to learn from all these energetic, spirited, confident, enthusiastic, alive, curious, naive(in a good way!), loving, accepting people. And I know that they are learning something from me. I get the sense from chatting with many of them, that there are not too many people in their life like me. In the way that I've chosen to set my freedom free at my stage in life. And I certainly have not met many others my age doing this my way! I appreciate very much the respect I receive and more ...the equality! I am accepted as a peer.
And perhaps the resonance I feel with my younger travel friends has more to do with where our hearts are, making the whole age thing largely irrelevant. Somehow I've recaptured what they have yet to lose(and hopefully will not lose!!). Admittedly I had lost this for a while ...a heart that is energetic, spirited, confident, enthusiastic, alive, curious, naive(in a good way!), loving, accepting. Who knew the fountain of youth lay not in some New World jungle but in the opening of my own heart?!?!
Precarious!!
If there was one word that would describe how I'm doing all this ...it would be precarious!
A friend wrote me and stated that, to him, what I'm doing "all sounds very precarious". Not exactly sure what he meant ...I will have to ask him. After a little paranoia, and after weathering a cold wind of doubt that swept through me, I considered what this meant to me. I looked up 'precarious' and liked this definition: 'Dangerously lacking in security or stability'. And yeah I will have to admit ...what I'm doing is extremely precarious!!! In the way that I have given up everything and I am doing this on a wing and a prayer. Simply following my intuition, with not a hint of precedence, as to what I do next. Precarious indeed!! Yet I feel more fully alive than I've ever felt in my life. Something I wasn't able to achieve in my days of making a conventional living. For me it wasn't enough to "try" and feel alive while making a living ... to fit feeling alive into my workaday life. I did actually do my best to achieve this, though I fell drastically short!! For me it feels like the wisest decision I've ever made. To experience feeling fully alive is worth whatever security or stability I have sacrificed to get here.
Brings to mind the lines in the song "Ten Mile Stilts" by the Wailin' Jenny's.
Imagine your a boy* on ten mile stilts
Travel round the world, taking it all in
And you never touch the ground
Is it a blessing or a curse?
And if you are too high to be found
Are you lost or just rehearsed
I'd going to go out on a limb here to say that ....I'm just rehearsed! I take that to mean just figuring it out my own way and reclaiming and expanding my joy for living while I'm doing that. I'm feeling anything but lost. At this juncture it's not a question of whether or not I'm doing the right thing. The question is what took me so long?
Freedom!
Oh... there is another word that I can use to describe what else this journey has given me other than precariousness! That word would be ...yup... freedom! Not with a question mark this time ...but an exclamation mark. I have unshackled myself from the burden of what I perceive others (society) want me to be, what others expect of me and now feel free to do things my way. To go after what I want in the way that I want. AND I guarantee that this will look different than the way anyone else is doing it!! A blessing and a curse. There is absolutely no precedence. Just gonna follow what my heart says is the way to go.
One last quote that kinda brings it home for me(Thanks Terri!)...
You've been walking the ocean's edge,
holding up your robes to keep them dry.
You must dive naked under,
and deeper under, a thousand times deeper.
- Rumi
That one gives me goosebumps!! I'm excited to see where this all leads me.
Stay tuned... I will continue to write about my experience returning 'home' and about plans to take off again to parts ...currently unknown. To dive naked under...!
Thanks for sharing in this adventure of South America with me!!!!!
Comments
Love your stories, Darren. I am back from my horse show on Sept. 5. Come on by anytime you need a place to crash. I wanna practice my Spanish, and Alejandro is here Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for you to practice more!!
Glad you're coming back for a bit. We've missed you!
Hey Darren,
Thx for blogging. Especially loved Machu Picchu. ;0)
Continue dreaming big & having them manifest in your life.
I'm happy you are uniquely equal & fully alive. ;0)
Happy about your soul orgasm. ;0)
Can't wait to see you. ;0)
Hugs
Thanks for sharing your travel story and awakening within your soul. Such a great outward and inward journey you have had and oh to get to that place of absolute freedom such a blessing looking forward to seeing you when you journey to Winnipeg.
Hugs Elizabeth
hi Darren,
You can stay here the 9 to about the 20th sep if you like. xo Kirei
Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh what an adventure both the outside one and the goings on within your heart, mind, emotions, soul! Thanks for sharing your experiences! I look forward to the ongoing saga!
Thank god that's over for now -- You live far too dangerously, but it does make exciting reading!
I'll keep up with you and your few belongings via Doug, and hope to see you as you pass through Victoria -- and many times after that!
Wow,
What an adventure...hope you found the freedom and wisdom that you were serching for...
You can come coaching at my place anytime...It won't be for free though as I might use your apparently abundant energy to help build my new basement suite....
Hey Darren, I am patiently waiting for your next post. Reflections on life in Canada post-adventure?