South American Thoughts

As I write this, we are in a curtesy hotel in Doha, Qatar. Major complications (flight cancellation’s) with our travel to Vietnam put us here, where we’ve just had a delightful complimentary Arabian buffet. This surprise pause in the trip gives us time to reflect on the five months we spent in South America.

It started off a bit crazy, with Cam’s luggage coming to Quito a few days after us. But we managed. Ecuador taught us a lot about self reliance and accountability. We never signed waivers for anything. The cars don’t stop for you to cross the road. You alone are responsible for your own day to day safety, and your own risk evaluation. People in Ecuador are much more aware of their surroundings than anyone back home.

With the personal accountability comes less of a societal focus on liability. If someone his you with your car, your still going to have broken bones, regardless who was at fault. It really became up to us to make sure that we had everything taken care of. Making sure nothing got stolen on the bus. Making sure we had enough clean water, and didn’t get hurt. Its a liberating feeling to be fully in control, but it also required a lot more mental energy to keep track of everything. A trade off.

We also learned about perseverance and accomplishment. Completing the Huayhuash circuit in Peru was at the time, the hardest physical thing we had done. With 8 days of hiking over 4000m above sea level. Massive inclines and passes to cross. It felt good, but doable. Then we summited Huyana Potosi, a 6088m tall mountain overlooking the city of La Paz. At no point until we got to the top did it ever feel doable. And getting down felt impossible after. But we accomplished both tasks, physically completely spent. The whole goal felt daunting and unachievable, but by focusing one small step at a time, we made it. Turns out we’re capable of a lot more than we thought.

Cultural unity became a theme in Argentina. We have never been somewhere where everyone had so many of the the same habits. Hands full of mate cups and thermos’s of extra hot water, passed around for friends and strangers alike. Regaling tales of the 2022 world cup victory, with every second little boy in an Inter Miami Messi kit. But while the community was strong, the country was suffering an currency crisis with having one of the highest inflations in the world. Child poverty has increased dramatically over the last couple years. The basic resource of paper money, cash, became scarce. Everyone on the outside is fine, but inside is struggling. It makes us appreciate ATM’s and a much more stable economy.

Travelling is a funny thing, and we’re learning how to do it better. There’s moments like Huayhuash and Huyana Potosi that feel like a novel’s climax, true powerful moments. After a climax comes a short epilogue, and then its over. The same way travelling. A couple days to celebrate the climax, and then that’s it. If you don’t move on to something different, your next book in the series, you will be left spinning your tires waiting for the world to come to you. Its up to you it find the next novel, the next goal, the next adventure in your personal book series of life.