AspiringNomad

OK, I’ve just boarded my flight from Sao Paulo to London following my first flight from Santiago to Sao Paulo.
I must admit, my heart feels like it has been left at the foothills of Patagonia or Machu Picchu, or at the depths of Kicker Rock or somewhere deep in the night life of Bolivia or in the Amazon Jungle. It feels like it has been tethered to all the experiences I have had with friends, all the outbursts of laughter and the love shared between us will keep it in SA until further notice!
As much as I am looking forward to seeing everyone at home, there is a bittersweet taste in my mouth and I would be lying if I said I was ready to come home.

The mix of emotions that I have experienced over the last week have been somewhat overwhelming but above all, I’ve come to the realisation that I am one hell of a lucky human to have experienced what I have done over the last 3 months. What a bloody journey it has been!

Following on from my last blog, you’ll be pleased to know that I do still have two ears… for now. I’ll deal with the eaten earring when I get home.
Since I posted last, I have basically now become a functioning alcoholic. I’ve taken 3 flights and one 8hr border cross bus. We have dealt with the Argentinian community police, I’ve been to the top of the tallest building in South America, I’ve eaten WAY too much food, I have seen two people fall off their chairs, seen 5 glasses been smashed, I’ve thrown up twice, I haven’t stopped laughing and I’ve had to say 6 very painful goodbyes.

Probably the less said about the fine that we have from the villa we booked and the fact I only slept for one night out of the 3 that I spent in Mendoza, the better!
The love that we had for one another whilst singing at the top of our lungs at 4am-6am on Tuesday morning was apparently not reciprocated by our fellow neighbours. Luckily, Chris worked his magic with the community police and they couldn’t do anything other than tell us to shut the hell up. The truth is, we actually had no idea what the time was but when we found out, half of us did a Mc Donald’s run and the other half went straight to sleep.

Aside from the more raucous parts of the night, some loving, kind words were shared between the group. As we cheered our champagne, a few of us took the opportunity to say a few things about our travels and how lucky we feel to be surrounded by such wholesome, kind, non judgemental weirdos that we all fit in so well to!
The majority of us came to SA on our own, with apprehension and nerves flowing through our veins. None of us had any idea how loved and accepted we would have felt by a group of 10 people all from different backgrounds and places and what things we would be lucky enough to experience some on our own and some shared with others.

Back to arriving to Mendoza. The flight from El Calafate through to Mendoza didn’t go quite as smoothly as planned. We didn’t have enough time to go to Kalib’s and instead headed straight to the airport in the early hours of the morning, which wasn’t ideal.
Chris and I were getting quite obviously moody due to the lack of sleep and we couldn’t wait to finish travelling for the day! As Chris tried to sleep on the floor, I went to get some coffee and Kalib joined us at the gate. He filled us in on what he had been doing over the past week as we waiting to board.

We all arrived in Mendoza at about 7am. Michael and Aoife had an apartment there already so we didn’t hesitate to turn up and bang the door down to wake them up.
Throughout the morning we had sausage rolls and Joe and Chris did a coffee run for us all. Three of Michael and Aoife’s friends had joined us and Callum arrived too. The ten of us treked a few blocks over to the villa we had collectively booked for two nights. It was lovely, nice and big, large garden area and BBQ. It was the perfect base for us and infact we actually ended up spending a lot of time here!

Due to the travelling that we had all done the night before, we took the Sunday fairly easy and decided to do a BBQ at the villa and stay in with some wine and beers.
The BBQ was a success, steaks and chicken legs with potato salad, onions, corn on the cob and baguette. It was perfect! As expected we all ended up drinking a bit too much that evening. Most of the group headed off to the Mendoza strip which I am ashamed to say I never made it out to as I was too busy hanging over the toilet. It seemed that everyone arrived home at about 5am (ish). Most people managed to crawl into bed as normal but as Callum opened his bedroom door, he was somewhat surprised to see Chris curled up under the covers, sound asleep. We’re not sure why Chris ended up in Callum’s bed, but after they had a quick cuddle, Callum soon kicked him out back to his own room!

The following day we were up and about by midday. We had all previously agreed to do a vineyard tour but we were struggling to find any that would take walk-ins and so late on in the day.
After wandering around the city in the afternoon sun for a while asking a few tour agencies and wineries if they could sort something out, we had to cut our loses. We had left it too late and should have prebooked.
We found a nice place to have a cocktail or two whilst we waited to head to Rooftop Restaurant in the city at 7pm. The meal was lovely and the views from the rooftop terrace over Mendoza were beautiful as we watched the sunset behind the mountains. We got a few group photos and headed back to the Villa for our own makeshift wine tasting session via a Carrefour to stock up on booze and snacks. As I said previously, the less said about ‘Mendoza on the 11th’ the better!

The next day, heads were sore and sleepy as we all walked around the house like zombies trying to gather our things and tried our best to tidy the house with what little time we had.
After a coffee and a bite to eat, Chris, Callum, Kalib and I departed from the rest of the group and headed off to the bus station to go to Santiago as we were all flying from their to our next destinations.

I didn’t have too much time to explore Santiago. I mostly enjoyed spending time with the Callum and Kalib before they had to catch their flight. Chris and I were then the last two standing for our final day. We had ice cream and wandered through the Main Square and market. We headed up the funicular to a view point of the city and had a bite to eat at the top of the tallest building in South America. In the evening we went for a delicious meal in a nearby restaurant.
I’ve been travelling with Chris for the last part of my trip, well actually, since La Paz, which was exactly 4 weeks ago and we have stuck together both in our group and individually. We have had the best time in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina which meant lots of tears were exchanged as we said goodbye at the airport earlier today. However, as Chris said, being sad about the journey coming to an end is just a reminder of how great the trip has been!

I’m now on the 12th flight of my trip thinking about all the incredible things I have experienced and the list is endless. I always new that people who had travelled spoke very highly of it, but I never anticipated quite how much I would love it and how much I would gain from it!
The girl who left Stansted for SA (via Madrid) a few weeks ago had absolutely no idea what a damn good treat she was in for!
I’ve just taken off from the tarmac in Sao Paulo. That’s goodbye to South America for now. What an adventure, what a time of my life. My heart is left here but the memories are coming home with me!