Adios Muchachos - a farewell to South America

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After six and a half months, and nine countries (sincere apologies to Paraguay and the Guyanas) we are at the end of the South American leg of our grand adventure. We have travelled thousands of kilometres on bus, boat, van, back of ute, on horse and foot through so many different landscapes and climates.

And so what we're the highlights?? We'll it really is hard to narrow down to just a few! At the country scale, we seemed to take turns at having a favourite country. First I liked Brazil, and then Jen really liked Venezuela, then Colombia for me, Ecuador for Jen...and so on. But if we had to make a list, it might include the following:

- Spotting countless varieties of birds and other wildlife in the Pantanal wetlands of inland Brazil
- Lazing away a couple of weeks on Venezuela's Caribbean coast 'learning' Spanish, and partying for the sake of the Virgen of the Valley
- Travelling between small and charming colonial towns in Colombia, greeted all the time by some of the most hospitable and friendly of locals
- The Galapagos! ridiculous wildlife watching, got engaged - enough said
- Imagining how things were in another time, wandering about ruins left from the Inca empire
- salt flats and whirling desert winds in the Bolivian altiplano
- Being rewarded for all the hard walking by astounding Patagonian peaks, glaciers and lakes

For all these highlights, however, so often it was the little, everyday interactions that made for such great travels. These showed South America to be a much more culturally diverse place than I had expected. Local lingo, traditional clothing, music (from buskers to ear-bleedingly loud bus stereos) and the way people interacted often changed from one region to the next, let alone from one end of the continent to the other.

But then there are some things that are clearly universal in South America. Namely, Soccer, religion, passion and politics! Our habit of arriving in a place on the eve of an election gave a real insight into politics on the continent. If we dared to raise the topic of politics with a local it was never answered with a 'who cares?' empathy that would often be the reply back home, but always with passion and conviction - no matter which party they supported.

But enough about politics, to the important matters:

Favourite Foods
encebollada (Ecuador)
llapingachos (Ecuador)
pique macho (Bolivia)
street meat (wherever we could get it)
Bife! (Argentina)

Delicious Drinks
Jugos! (juices) - full of all sorts of strange tropical fruits
Cervezas - Quilmes of Argentina, Aguila of Colombia and Polar Ice of Venezuela all get honourable mentions
Malbec - Argentina's most famous wine variety is a definite winner in our books

Our heartfelt thanks go out to our many teachers, from the formal (Rag and Geraldo) to the informal (e.g. the 80 year old Colombian man we sat next to on San Agustine bus), our many guides and fellow travellers who shared treks and mosquito-ridden nights with us, and to all the lovely folks who put roofs over our head and delicious food in our bellies!

Speaking of bellies, the scores in the gastro-intestinal championships at the end of the South American leg: 3-3!

On that note, see you in Central America!!

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Photos

Venezuela!
no, we hadn't changed our clothes since Brazil