Month 9 - Argentina & Chile
Hola!
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I have seriously neglected this blog for the past couple months. I didn't even think about it once. I'll start from the beginning to explain what's been going on.
ARGENTINA:
After spending some time at home back in the Pacific Northwest for the holidays, I spent the end of December and into the New Year through near the end of January in Argentina. I first flew into Buenos Aires and spent the first two weeks of my South America trip traveling around Argentina and a small part of Chile with my mom. I actually fell quite in love with the city of Buenos Aires, even more so looking back on it. It had a Europe meets Latin America feel, such magic in the air like I bet many of you imagine when you think of Paris, or Rome. There's music, and so much Tango culture everywhere. Since we were there in the summer, there were markets literally everywhere, and live music, and random tango dancers out on the streets. We enjoyed every bit of the city. We spent a lot of time walking around (this city is huge), eating our way through the markets (the food here is incredible! Thinking of even Argentinian empanadas makes me drool. I have decided they are my favorite kind of empanadas), and enjoying the music and architecture. What a city full of art and history!
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| Beautiful old theater turned bookstore in Buenos Aires |
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| Heading into the storm |
At least we had time for two other great short hikes in the area!
Following El Chalten we headed for El Calafate (also Argentinian side). We spent half a day getting there and that afternoon resting and walking around the town, checking out the shops and restaurants. We were mostly there to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier. Perito is one of the few growing glaciers in the world, I think that is why it is such a unique attraction. While it is one of the few growing ones it isn't the largest. There are couple other larger ones in the area but much more isolated and difficult to get to, whereas with Perito even the laziest of people can get to. You can get dropped off in front and have a boat ride right up close (safety distance of course) and watch pieces just fall off into the water. What an experience it is, hearing the roar within the glacier and the ripple effect that follows. It's crazy how powerful these structures are, forming mountain peaks, crevices and canyons, and in the case of Perito, causing occasional floods since it grows and occasionally blocks the flow of the water of Argentina lake. Around the edge of Argentina lake you'll find many dead tress. A local told us that about every four years the glacier grows closing the single opening where the water flows through, causing a flood. So about every four years after the brief flood, there is a big event, the breaking of the "bridge", which is the area where the water normally flows. Crazy stuff..
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| A river feeding into Lake Argentina. Yes, it is that blue. |
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| At Perito Morento Glacier |
After El Calafate we headed for Puerto Natales (Chilean side). Even though the two towns are quite close (about 3 hours) the border took awhiiilllleeeeeee. We spent most of the day on the bus or just trying to cross the border. While we wanted to do the 4/5 day W trek, We didn't have the time for it. So we just did two day trips into the Torres Del Paine National Park. The first day we made short stops to various parts of the park, and the second we did "THE" hike of Torres del Paine, the Base Torres hike. It was also about 20km round trip (like the Fitz Roy hike in El Chalten) and was a pretty long day. I think I about killed my moms legs for dragging her up that with me... but we both survived it and wow what a view it was! The magnitude of the torres is unbelievable. The tallest of the three is apparently taller than the Eiffel Tower of Paris.
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| Made it to the Torres!! |
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| Some wild Orchids in Torres del Paine. I don't know I guess I was just surprised to learn orchids grew in such a cold area (most orchids are in hot near equator areas of the world). |
Wrapping up our time in Patagonia, we headed back to El Calafate and stayed another night before flying back out to Buenos Aires. My mom had about two days left before heading back to the States, and we spent most of our time eating our way through the city, and visiting some museums. Check out the food
My mom and I parted ways after two weeks together, and I spent a few days on my own still in Buenos Aires. I went to visit the Museum of Memory with a friend from Buenos Aires, actually I met him in my hostel in Tangier the night before I left Morocco and we kept in touch this whole time. If you are in Buenos Aires, I highly recommend this museum. It's informative and incredibly moving. I learned a lot about the military dictatorship there from the 1970's to 1980's.
Anyways, for those 2-3 days I got myself a nice Airbnb in the bohemian district, and mostly locked myself up working on my resume and job applications, and planning more of where I would go next (at this point I had no plans really except to go back to Patagonia and visit a friend, and head north afterwards).
Beginning of the year blues. Why I was more disconnected (Sorry if I didn't/haven't responded to any of your messages):
At the beginning of this trip in May I had no idea how long I might travel for. I really am flexible with time and I think I have been able to manage my finances quite well. In addition to that, my goal in traveling is not/has never been to try see and do as many things as possible. I will not push my limits, my mood, my finances, or whatever, just because I'm "near" whatever the iconic site might be, unless I actually feel like going. A lot of times I skip out on the major attraction and have instead occupied my time by being caught up in being with new friends I made, or a family I met along the way. They welcome me into their homes, feed me, and treat me like a member of the family. And most of the time this is in places no one, not even many locals, have heard of. In this way, I kind of just end of going where people, and life takes me. I much prefer these experiences than waking up at some absurdly early hour, spending a lot of money, to go see some major attraction. Anyways, this also happened in Argentina.
Originally, I had thought to head south to Ushuaia (end of the world) after visiting my friend in Patagonia, then up north from there and through Bolivia instead of Chile (for some reason Chile has never appealed to me not sure why). Instead, I fell into a brief period of difficulty in January. Traveling around with my mom was awesome and a great distraction, but I think it came from a combination of coming back home (re-entering and reverse culture shock), the New Year, and my upcoming birthday at the end of the month. These series of events carried me into a phase of reflection and isolation. I think this is normal, especially since I have been traveling for a decent amount of time.
Coming home was overwhelming not just because of the reverse culture shock (which is always the hardest part about travel for me) and re-entering time with my friends and family, but it was stressful 1) to see how much my city changed. Seattle is growing overwhelmingly fast. It saddened me when I hardly recognized my own city after only 7 months away. Seattle is becoming an unsentimental city, and I no longer recognize it as "home". This development pushed my feelings of "rootlessness", perpetuating my lingering feelings of isolation and self doubt. 2) Spending time with friends and family is always great, but being hit with question after question about what I am doing, what are my plans, what's next? Sometimes not every part of life for everyone has to be planned out. When I get hit with these questions it feels almost like I'm viewed as "unsuccessful", or just looked at differently because I didn't follow what "society tells us to do". Going into the New Year (my least favorite day of the year as is. too much hype... you know what I mean), was daunting for me also because it felt like I had to have all these goals, and achieve all these new things that "society" deemed successful. I mean, I am "getting older" and people "expect us" to have cars, and homes, and "successful" careers. Whatever that means. But I also know people with "successful" jobs that pay well, but they never sound ultimately fulfilled. I have witnessed the corruption of money, and know that money and material goods don't bring happiness.
At the end of January I turned 25. Turning 25 itself didn't make me feel old in the slightest, but society and everyone else did. It's like I was hitting that age where I'm no longer allowed to be given time to "figure things out". Where, I can't just be "playing" (even though that's not what I'm doing). While I already know what I'm doing, I'm actually working, studying, and volunteering a lot while traveling, most people back home don't know this and somehow think I'm on an indefinite vacation escaping and fleeing the responsibilities of life. Ha, I wish things were that easy. Turning 25 was like suddenly I was looked down upon more, and no longer was it acceptable for me to be living the way I choose to life my life. I do it anyways, but it doesn't mean that society and everything else hasn't taken a toll on me.
Visiting an old friend & Change of plans
So like I said before, my goal isn't to see and do everything. Throughout my travels I am trying to put myself in new environments (no luxury resorts that keep me isolated from meeting new people or locals. Also avoiding hostels as much as possible, though this allows me to meet many people from around the world they are usually people from wealthy countries and similar backgrounds and outlook on life. At least more similar to my American one than someone from a very different country might have), new experiences and situations, and meeting as many new and different people as I can. I want these different experiences to challenge my own physical and emotional limits, I want people and new ideas to challenge the way I see and think about things. I want new perspectives. Meanwhile, along the way I'm working & volunteering here and there, have taken Arabic classes, am currently taking Spanish classes, and working on some of my own personal projects (like picking up a new language, salsa dancing, online classes for career development, etc. I am currently taking several online classes, salsa dancing whenever I can, and and working on grad school applications) that I've always wanted to do but didn't have time when I was working in Seattle.
After my few days in Buenos Aires, I went to Comodoro Rivadavia in Patagonia to visit an old friend from AFS that I studied in Italy 8 years ago. Most people (even many Argentinians) have no idea where this is, but visiting my friend Melisa was one of the best parts of my whole time in Argentina. I spent just short of a week there with her and her family. During the days while they all went to work, I continued working on job applications and mapping out my next steps. (Me applying to jobs was in response to the mental state I fell into, and feeling like I wanted to discontinue traveling. I fell. I was in a slump. And it was bad enough that I considered quitting traveling. I was stressed about my upcoming birthday, I felt like people at home viewed me as a "failure", and I felt a societal pressure like at 25 I wasn't allowed to be doing what I was doing, or doing what I wanted simply because I wanted it. So at this point, I started crazy applying to jobs, and considered just taking an offer if it was something I was really interested in, and would just go when I got a call. But there was no reason to head back now if I didn't have a job or something already lined up for me, a reason to go back. Until then, I had been applying to jobs, and would continue my travels). Her family took me in like their own and showed me so much kindness!!! One of the first nights they had a big asado (a grill and Argentina's most famous food), which was AMAZING. I'm not a big meat eater but my gosh was the Asado here life changing. With her family, we went to the beach, we went to a reserve to see a penguin colony (so cool!), I got to meet some of her childhood friends, went out and watched people dancing tango in the plaza on a Friday evening, I went to an AFS (is the organization I studied abroad with in Italy 8 years ago, and an organization which I still volunteer for to this day. If you are interested in life changing cultural opportunities, I highly recommend checking AFS out) Argentina meeting and witnessed my friend be named president of her local chapter (so proud!), and then we made empanadas at home. These were the best empanadas I've ever had. Wow, what a week. How cool was it to be able to meet up with my friend, Melisa, after 8 years, get to meet her family, see her hometown, and also get to catch up in entirely in Italian. Grazie mille di nuovo per tutto Meli!!!!!!! Toca te prossima volta.
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| Making empanadas! |
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| AFS Argentina Comodoro Rivadavia Chapter |
CHILE
After my short time in Mendoza, I took an overnight bus to Valparaiso, Chile. I mostly was just going to Chile to get to Peru by land along the coast, making a few stops along the way. Valparaiso is a colorful city along the Pacific coast. It has a huge history and culture of street art (there is color EVERYWHERE), and is a city that was important during the Gold Rush times (many Europeans came to stop here on their way up to California, hence there is a lot of European immigrant influence in the culture and architecture), and it is a major port and navy city. This city used to be one of the wealthiest in South America because of the port and European immigrants. Because of the military dictatorship, a culture of street art secretly began as a way for the people to express themselves. While political art was banned, Valparaiso was great for this because of the small alleyways, hidden buildings and walls alongside the hills. From this, a street art culture grew, and so did many other forms of art like poetry. Valparaiso is also home to many renown poets like Pablo Nerudo for example.
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| A famous artist(s), "un color distincto" is a Chilean couple that met at street at show, they now do large murals always with a male and female face to express gender equality. They have many large murals throughout the city of Valparaiso and across South America. |
After Valparaiso I took a 24 hour (yes, yes I did. Because the flight would have been two connection flights and almost the same amount of time as the bus with layovers, and double the cost. But actually the bus ride was not THAT bad) bus up to San Pedro de Atacama, a small desert town in the middle of the Atacama desert. This place was on the way to Peru, and also where I wanted to spend my birthday, I had idealized this place to be secluded, remote, and where I could distance myself from technology and avoid social media. Wow was I wrong. I mean, San Pedro de Atacama is a small remote town in the middle of the desert, but it is quite touristy, there are a lot of people, and I did not end up getting disconnected from social media and technology like I had hoped. Despite this, I still enjoyed my time out there. I met up with a some English friends I had met before in Argentina. We went on excursions to salt lagunas (where you float like in the dead sea), visited some salt flats and flamingos, saw some amazing geology, went to a party and danced the night away in the desert (yes, they have a desert party called "lay playita" or little beach), and spent afternoons by the pool drinking amazing sangria. On one of our excursions we even met some local guys who later invited us to a barbecue which was really delicious and also pretty of fun. In a total of 6 days there, it was a much needed break from moving around, and much needed nature rehab considering being in the funk I was in. While my birthday and San Pedro were not what I expected, I still enjoyed it and I am thankful to all those who were there to celebrate in the desert with me. You know who you are!
While in Arica, I spent some of the morning walking along the coast. Originally I thought of going to the beach, but actually it was rainy season and people were saying not to go into the water at the beaches in town. Recently, there were a lot of floods bringing in pollution to certain beaches. Actually, when I arrived to Arica, after discovering I came from San Pedro, my host was surprised I even made it out of San Pedro. Evidently it started raining and flooding so badly that buses had stopped going altogether and people were stuck in the town. When I was there it had rained hard twice, for short periods both times. Apparently this is a very rare occurrence because the Atacama desert is famous for being the driest desert in the world. Anyways, I was lucky to make it out to Arica, and I didn't go to the beach. Instead I went to an archaeology museum where I saw some of the world oldest mummies! That was pretty dope.
Aside from that, there are some sites and petroglyphs to see just outside of the town. But it was hot, I had walked a lot already, and I was too tired physically and mentally to try make it out to this remote area. I didn't have enough mental energy to try do that in Spanish. So I turned in early to get ready to head out to Peru first thing in the morning.
I will write about month 10 (February) and my time in Peru in another post. This was a lot.
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Now I am in Colombia. Colombia has been the goal destination of this trip, working my way up north from Patagonia. It is famously known for having the most clear Spanish, and I have always wanted to improve my Spanish. While down south, many people in Chile and Argentina asked why I wouldn't stay there to take classes. I mean obviously it makes more sense take classes at the start of the South America journey. So to answer this, and to be frank, Argentina is known for having a unique accent, and Chile is just known for having the least clear Spanish, like I don't even know what that is that they speak it's so fast and different.... So why didn't I start my journey in Colombia first, take classes there, then head South? Well, originally and ideally that would have been the plan but seasons here are a thing, and especially in Patagonia it is practically innavigable in the winter time. So I had to start down South because of the seasons. It ended up working fine though because my Spanish already had a decent base and I only got to improve it traveling throughout South America on my own. Such that I tested into A2/B1 when I arrived at the school.
For my time in Colombia I had also tried to find some humanitarian work to get involved in here, but many told me it was dangerous. So instead, I settled down here in Medellin, and started taking intensive Spanish classes in the mornings and early afternoons, and have been working on some of my own small projects and online classes in the afternoons.
I've been feeling much better. Such that despite getting several calls back for jobs, I'm confident enough in where and what I am doing that I am continuing with my original plan. I am still pursuing improving my Spanish and French (will be heading to Europe later), I have working on my own career development with online classes (something I never had time for when working two jobs in Seattle), and am enjoying being in a new place and being settled in Medellin, Colombia for a bit. I have the comfort of my own space, and the freedom to explore new things when I feel. This is the kind of travel I had been missing (renting my own space and staying put for longer, like I did throughout most of my first 7 months traveling in the Middle East/Mediterranean). I'm feeling like myself again and finally somehow feeling a sense of being grounded, despite my nomad soul and technically being "homeless" :)
Well, that is all for now. I'm up and running again and feeling FABULOUS, So I'll try to be better about this blog and not completely neglect it haha.... Although I have been quite busy with classes and such. Anyways, I will do my best. Will write about Peru and Colombia soon.
Chaooooo for now!
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