Christmas, Crime, and Connections

Well my bus was an hour late in departing but arrived three hours early, so I suppose it evens out in the grander scheme of things. Now I’m in Bariloche, a small city in Argentina’s Lake District nestled not surprisingly, along a crystal clear blue lake and snow-capped Andean peaks. What I’m doing here is anybody’s guess. A lot has happened since the last time I bothered to document my comings, goings and the occasional thought and observation. Chris and I parted ways, what has it been now, two weeks ago; if memory serves. Before that, our frantic pace down and eventually over the Andes was driven by his need to catch a flight. With him gone, it was now up to me to make all the choices. My initial decision was to do nothing at all. I was tired of “hostel-jumping” and disillusioned with my true motives for this undertaking. I felt lost and rudderless. So I would stay in Mendoza till Christmas and hopefully figure some things out before continuing onward. I’m glad I did.

The people I met and our frequent group activities helped rejuvenate my spirits and reconnected me in a way I hadn’t felt since leaving Quito. There was Kelvin and Karen, from Wales, Louis and Ashley, also from Wales, Mike and Chris, the couple from Australia, Sjoerd, my Dutch dorm-mate, Siggi, the Icelandic guy who was the only one who had been there longer than I, Adi, the Israeli girl who was actually travelling alone, and Christophe, my French dorm-mate who as on the receiving end of the one bad experience to happen at the hostel during my stay there. Long story short, another dorm-mate, Fernando, stole 1000 pesos (approximately $333 US) from him and vanished. Besides that one anomaly, I loved my time at Hostel Alamo.

We all went out to a nice restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner (my first away from home) where there was unlimited alcohol. We took full advantage as we drank nine bottles of red wine and four bottles of demi-sec between the eight of us. The next night we had a huge BBQ at the hostel that slowly grew in size as more and more guests joined in the festivities. And the day after, Sjoerd, Adi and I decided to stay in and cook. Sjeord handled the veggies, I cooked the steaks, and Adi took care of dessert. I’m sure that those three days will be some of my fondest memories when my travels finally conclude. But, as it was in Quito, all good things must come to an end and it was sadly time for all of us to move on. I headed south in an attempt to find cooler temperatures and more scenic landscapes to ride out the South American summer. But now that I’m in Bariloche, where the air is clean and brisk and the cobblestones in the sidewalks are flaking, broken, or missing altogether, my immediate concern is what I will be doing tomorrow, New Years Eve. Luckily Sjoerd was able to recommend me a great hostel and it doesn’t appear as if finding people to hang out with will be an issue at all.

Oh btw, I finally took the time to upload some pictures. Sorry for being so lazy. Take a look if you got a chance. Unfortunately I've only put up from Ecuador, so it's what I was up to two months ago. I'll be playing catchup for quite some time unfortunately. As always, stay tuned for more updates.

Thanks Secret Garden...

Ada and Lucian rocking out to TATU on my iPod. Thanks for all the memories!

CONGRATS!

I just wanted to send out my congratulations to Polo and Janice, who I just found out today, thanks to Twee, are now officially engaged. It's about time! j/k hehe. I mean they were practically married already. *wink* Anyway, all my best and much happiness to the both of them! Just promise to wait till I get back before you kick off the wedding ok? Or else I'll have to hop on a plane and race back home heh.

Technical Difficulties...

Sorry about the long gap in updates but this time, it truly was not my fault. I had technical difficulties with my webhost, that's Vu by the way hehe, and was unable to update my site in any fashion. But I'm happy to report now that things are back on track. There's another difficulty I face now though. So much has happened since my last update I'm not sure where to start.

Chris and I finally finished our Galapagos tour and it was amazing. Truly a once in a life time experience. Chris compared it to going to an aquarium and being able to swim with the animals. I consider that a fair description of the time we had. I saw things I'm not like to see again in this life and probably the next. After that, we came back to Quito for a few days before I finally left Ecuador for good, not without a little regret I might add.

It's so easy, even when traveling, to get hooked into a place and the people you meet there. This is especially true if you stay in a special place like the hostal I stayed at, namely the Secret Garden. If any of you should fancy a trip to Quito, I would definitely recommend it. Though it's sadly true that by the time you get there, all the people who made it a special place for me will probably be gone save the owners. I'm not sure if it's because Quito was the first stop in what will be a string of amazing places on my travels, but it will always be more than just a city to me. It's a canadian girl with dreds. It's a trinadadian girl who might have been welsh. It's an english girl who called me trouble. It's a swiss guy who always wore the same shirts day in and day out. And many others. I was sad to leave all of them, but such is the transcient nature of path I've chosen for myself. At least for the next year or so.

Now Chris and I are in Arica, Chile, a little beach town on the north border between Chile, Peru and Boliva. It took us 4 days to get here by bus. A trip made considerably shorter by the valium we poped like candy along the way. What was initially suppose to be a just a side stop to give us adequate rest before we continued onward toward Santiago, then Mendoza, has turned out to be the first true surprise of my trip. This little town so far has been absolutely amazing. We went clubbing the first night we were here, and despite being a sleepy little town, these Chileans know how to party. Though more expensive, it was a better club than anything I experienced in Quito. It also helps that the girls down here are beautiful. We're probably going to stay here a few extra days and then fly to Santiago. Anyway, I'll probably start typing up some journal entries later, but I think I've given enough of an update to satiate those still curious enough to read this blog. Oh yeah, I have about 600 pictures to upload so I'll do some of that hopefully tomorrow. Out.