Crossing the Continent

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Well, we crossed the continent.

Heading from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Valparaiso, Chile meant waving goodbye to the Atlantic Ocean and saluting the Pacific. It meant night bus adventures that included huddling in a field at 4 a.m. and a day bus through the Andes mountain range that featured amazement at the stunning natural beauty there. The stars of the journey were fantastic people that we met along the way, as is always the case, and the highlights were adventures that we happened upon. I can only scratch the surface here of course.

We ate delicious food from all over the world in Buenos Aires, took in some night life in the overcast student city, Cordoba, hiked in the village of Villavicencio in the Andes and bicycled through wine country in Mendoza. We made it through customs into Chile with our backpacks intact and stayed safe in Valparaiso although it is meant to be quite dangerous.

As a student of Spanish literature I enjoyed visiting La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso, and Isla Negra, a small town down the coast where Neruda's favourite of his houses is now open to the public. Understanding something of this amazing poet is easier when you can see where he wrote, look through the same windows he looked through at a similar vista, contemplate the green ink stains from his favourite pens and marvel at his simultaneous political affiliation with the Communist party and clear love for material posessions to the point that he purchased a life-sized figure of a horse, had a stable built for it and threw it a lavish stable-warming party that required the guests to bring the horse gifts. The man collected beautiful things and the houses today are easy to marvel at. In another contradiction there is an overt nautical theme to both homes yet Neruda's fascination with the sea did not help him overcome his fear of sailing such that there is a sailboat in his garden at Isla Negra that he never once took out. A fascinating character to be sure.

After getting to spend two weeks travelling together I said goodbye to Mary-Dan yesterday at the Santiago airport and she should be arriving home safely very soon. There are loads of benefits to having a travelling partner in crime and I feel so fortunate that she was able to come down, however briefly. Now I'm back on my own again being careful of course and keeping my eyes wide open as people here love to remind you to do.

Today I return to Argentina for the third time. I purchased my bus ticket last night to head to Salta, which is a jumping off point for hiking and excursions and natural beauty galore. I am very excited to get out of cities but have a 31 hour bus trip ahead of me, all going well. The long overland journeys are becoming a way of life and I have window seats (but second class - none of this ¨cama¨ or ¨suite¨ extravagence) so it should be another beautiful, if not so comfortable, trip as this entire adventure has been so far.

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Comments

[John Hays]

Our journey continues through you
Thank you, Emily, for taking us on your journey. It's one we will never take, but through you. More pics please, when you can.

[jazzemmy]

Thanks Uncle John! I will try to upload photos one of these days but it is such a frustrating endevour here even to download them to CD and have backups. Ick. I hope you are well and enjoying summer in the Pacific Northwest. Don`t say you never will take this trip! You could well and might just love it. Chao!

[marie]

awesome
Haven't heard from you for about 10 days...hope all is ok with you..enjoying your blogs and comments...surely an adventure of a lifetime...Peace, Marie

[jazzemmy]

Sorry if I worried you, Marie! I`ve just posted another blog and will write a new one now - it is tricky to get to good computers sometimes but I really need to make an effort to keep in touch well. All my best!