One month of vacation?

With almost more than a month since my last post, it´s hard to think about where to begin. So much has happened, and having a co-traveler with me made me have second thoughts about sitting behind a hostel computer. I have to admit, I even forgot my password to get into my blogaccount... But fortunately, that´s fixed and all I need now is to figure out what things I will write down in what form and what not.

A quick summary of the last month for the fast readers among you, going for the facts:
Making huge lasagna´s for hostel families at Lautero – Taking the bus from there to Santiago, for a change – Meet again with Dave and his roommate Felix in Santiago, as well as with old IFMSA (int. student Association) friends – enjoy a Starbucks coffee in a posh part of Sanhattan – Seeing Laura running towards me at Santiago´s international Airport (:D) – Spending romantic days in Valparaiso – Staying over at hectic Santiago once more, and taking the bus to Mendoza – Excellent winetasting and olive-tasting on a biketour, enjoying Mendoza´s Mediterranean gastronomia – Showing Laura what it is to hitchhike on this continent, and finding out it goes WAY better with her on my side – Taking 2 days and 5 hitches to get to Salta (you don´t want to know how) – Enjoy horseback riding and Argentinean Asado in Salta surroundings, meanwhile forming a opinion about coca-consuming Argentineans – Meeting people who astound you with what they do as a job(positive), while behaving in a completely different way(negative) – Hitchhiking from Salta to Purmamarca and enjoying the 7 (or more?) colours in the ground at a beautiful sunset – Going on, over the Jama pass to Chili once more, visiting San Pedro de Atacama, a place way to overpriced – Having experienced 1,5 days of RAIN in one of the most driest places on earth, where it only rain 1-4 days per year and only in January-February – Actually biking in that rain, reminding us of Dutch customs – Happily leaving San Pedro by bus, on our way to Cusco – Stopping over a Arica and enjoy the beach and sun for a good part of the day – Finding out our direct bus to Cusco got cancelled, and in that way staying over in Tacna, where we got invited for a local dinner at a annual Oregano market – Get to Cusco overnight, arrive the next afternoon and get everything settled for the next days: Machu Picchu! – 4 days of Tour, doing downhill biking (feeling bad not having biked UP the hill), trekking trough jungle eating cacao plants at the side of the road, get to know a group of nice co-travelers and finally enter Machu Picchu at 5 o´clock in the morning – Do some fast last minute shopping in Cusco and then bring Laura to the airport – Feeling a knot in my stomach walking back to my hostel just having said goodbye – The next morning knock on a gym´s door and playing basketball with a local team, and being invited over 3 times more – Burning my lungs out of my chest, playing 2 hours at 3300mts. of altitude – Enjoying the religious festivities in Cusco, but also looking forward to Bolivia

So, Argentina and Chili lay behind me, at least for now, and the world of a more tropical South-America is opening up for me. Peru is a whole different thing from what I´ve seen so far, and the impressions make me recognize Central America more and more. Less organized, cheaper, more dark-skinned people, more partying at the streets, more mañana mañana, and finally: sweat. I´ve been fighting my dry skin until the tropic of Capricorn, but north from there it became more hydrated because of the sun and heat. Nevertheless, I´m writing this with my 4 layers of clothes on since it gets really chilly in nocturnal Cusco, situated at this altitude. Luckily the sun beams hard enough during the day to let me run around in my tee.

Travelling with Laura was a blast, and obviously we´ve been going very fast (3000 km in 3 weeks), doing quite some touristy things. It has made me understand better what the difference between vacation and travelling is, and how I think I want to be spending time. It is interesting to see that tourists (people going on a short vacation seeing a lot of things) meet different people than travellers (people who take a longer time to go from one place to another, not necessarily to see things, but sometimes just for the sake of being on the road), that tourists have less time to stand still at the things they´re soaking in, that travellers seem to be more aware of their surroundings and themselves and the effect it has on their behavior can be really big, and also that tourists can be travellers and the other way around. Obviously, it also helps if you have a novia/novio who can show you around in the continent (:P) I think this world needs more travellers, still even if there staying at their own town, than it needs tourists.

Although before I was somehow criticizing people who travelled as a pair, now I have experienced it I have to admit it has it´s beauty as well. Yes, you meet less people, but the moments you share together are of a gracious quality you couldn’t always have with recent acquaintances. Yes, your behaviour needs to be adapted in order to give space for the both of you, but the effort you make for that is a fortification of the fundament of your relationship. Yes, you say no to occasions you´d otherwise have said yes to, but the no to that opens up gates through which you experience things together – making it a huge YES. I don´t think happiness is only real when shared, as Alexander Supertramp said (Into the Wild), but I do think if you really share something, you could only be happy. I can truly say the time with Laura has made my journey a richer experience, and I am happy that she came along.
(it does hurt a little when you say goodbye again, though;))

That makes for the beginning of the last part of my journey! 7 weeks to go, a little less now, and once again all the freedom about where to go. What do I want to see still? What do I expect from the coming time? How much do I want to be thinking about home? Do I already want to prepare for my studies? What´s the new balance between seeing things, and taking rest to digest, after having had the experience of the last two months? These and a lot more questions are racing through my mind as a walk the curbs of Cusco, and I have to tell you I haven´t got the real answers yet. But that´s okay, and I let myself have the time to not know. My rough estimation is that I hit Bolivia soon and stay there for quite a while: It´s cheap and tips from others have all indicated it is a precious place. More will follow soon about my next encounters, not too soon, but at least sooner than it took the last time.
Adios Amigos!
J