Category "Traveling"
It's difficult to make an assessment of 6 months' travelling! I have done so many things and discovered a lot, I will just be, as usual, expeditive and evasive.
When I look at the pictures we took when we arrived in Latin America, I have the feeling that it is so far and yet, so close. If some moments in my trip have been downers, I didn't expect jumping from a bridge, being stunned by the beauty of the Salar de Uyuni or hanging around the amazonian jungle for a week... I'm not gonna mention everything, that would be way too long!
I knew I wouldn't get any existential revelation like in the movies, however, I changed. But not because of the destinations I have been to, but because of the conditions of the trip: when you happen to walk for six hours in the Colca Canyon, far away from daily concerns and Internet, you have a lot of time to think. I had some ideas, set some priorities, started some projects... Just for that, I would recommend everybody to go travelling for at least 6 months!
I also want to travel more. There's still SO MUCH to see! So, this wasn't "The Trip", but it was a training for the next trips!
Last step in the trip, Rio...
I was hosted by Ada's family, that had just moved into Copacabana, for two weeks. waking up in the morning, making a smoothie and then dipping into the transparent water of the Atlantic Ocean, ah, that was the best!
Tourism wise, I visited the town centre and its numerous churches,
the Republic Square where the Independence was declared,
you can find there many cats and funny rodents
the very original Metropolitan Cathedral,
Niteroi's Museum of Contemporary Arts,
the tramway to Lapa and Santa Teresa,
the stairs of... err... I forgot! Bad tourist!!
Ipanema beach,
the botanic garden,
and a lot more.
I also got pierced!
But the best was the party! despite an unexisting budget, we had a ball! First, I learnt how to make caipirinha.
Then we went to Casuarina's free gig,
And the feira of something else whose I forgot the name as well. It's a fair celebrating the Nordeste culture.
I thanked Ada's family with, as usual, a TARTIFLETTE! Everybody liked it.
Then it was time to go. Peter and I went back to Europe. Ada and I shared a small tear then we said goodbye...
Once in Paris, I said goodbye to Peter who was heading to London.
Then I took the RER, then the train to Orléans and I realised I loved France!!
One hour on the bus and I walked home.
The Trip is definitely over.
After 18 hours on the bus, I arrived at the crossing between Argentina, Paraguay and Brasil, in Puerto Iguazu, to visit the famous waterfalls.
The Devil's Throat was impressive but I made the mistake of arriving at peak hour, and it was full of tourists.
The best moment was when I went to see Salto Arechea, where few visitors go. I walked alone, in the tropical jungle to go there and it was great, I could hear the animals, and stuff.
Once there, I met, I think, a french gay couple. Some nice argentines took that picture of me:
That night, I went to the three broders. On the following picture, you can on the upper left corner, Paraguay, on the right hand side, Brasil, and on the bottom, Argentina. And in the middle, ME!!!
The day after I went for a bit to Paraguay, in Ciudad del Este. This is where all counterfeit in Latin America goes through, and it attracts many economic tourists from Brasil.
But there's also a very nice cathedral!
And then I left to meet up with Ada, Peter and Ada's family in Rio de Janeiro.
I was hosted in Buenos Aires by a charming gay couple (Fernando and Rodrigo), their friend Federico and their kitten Maquiavel (who played with my beard a lot). They have been very nice :)
The first thing that struck me in BA, was how it looks so much like Europe's big towns, especially London. I nearly felt at home.
I could visit the tomb of General Saint Martin, Argentina's liberator, inside the Cathedral...
enter a presidential palace for the first time, in that case, the "Pink House", where Cristina Kirchner governs...
wow, I'm posing with a member of the presidential guard...
as well as the Obelisk.
When the country was under a military rule in crisis, the Head of State tried to rally the whole population behind him by invading the Falklands Islands, who were british. Unfortunately for him, Margaret Thatcher had just come into power and she was definitely not going to let it go. With help from France, the chilean dictatorship and others, she took back the islands with the iron hand we know. Argentine people are still bitter about it. Many monuments are dedicated to it.
There's an ecological reserve downtown, I mean, by the coast.
I also saw Evita's tomb.
I went to super touristy Caminito, a place where you can find lots of expensive restaurants where professionals dance tango. I tried the legendary argentine meat and I was drunk very quickly. there was a very very sexy gaucho.
When a pair of dancers asked who wanted to pose for a picture, I said yes.
Then I went to Fundacion PROA where, slightly drunk, I couldn't really enjoy, but I bought Copi's La Guerre des Pédés (Fags War).
I also did the Museum of Latinoamerican Art of Buenos Aires (Malba) but I wasn't amazed either.
Still drunk, I even did some bollocks in the toilets.
I saw a protest to support the gouvernment's Medias Law. Seeing people mobilising made me glad.
With my hosts, I went to the festival of independent cinema where we saw Camila desde el alma, a documentary about an argentine transvestite who also happens to be a comedian. Thanks to her intelligence, her culture and her thetrical performances, Camila could deliver a very interesting and very strong testimony on her condition.
On Saturday night, I wanted to explore the argentine gay scene but I got some bad news from France and my hosts were not in a party mood. I considered going alone but I thought that, Buenos Aires being just like Europe, that wouldn't be very interesting.
I played Monsieur Tartflette again and I prepared this delicious dish to my hosts (after spending fuckloads of money on cheese). Rodrigo's mum happened to be here and she was highly interesting. We could then talk about loads of things for hours and I noticed I improved in Spanish a lot.
Last Saturday, I got pierced.
I went with Ada and Peter to the piercing shop, I chose the ring, then I met the piercer.
He checked my ear...
Then he inserted me...
...a big needle. Actually it doesn't hurt.
...there you go! This way I perpetuate the tradition of the gay guy with an earing on the right-hand ear. (Hee hee!)
I just need an anchor tattoo and I'll look like a true old sailor.
After Valparaíso, I came back to Mendoza. From there, I wanted to hitchhike, Thus I went to San Martin, a small town nearby, where I raised my thumb, as you could see, for 3 hours, unsuccessfully.
At sunset, I looked for a hostel, but I only found some kind of brothel, so I took a night bus to San Luis. There were a few hostels around the bus terminal but they were expensive, but I didn't have a choice. The day after, I visited the city quickly. there wasn't much to see, except that child labour exhibition...
So I went to Potrero de los Funes, a close city where I could find a very cheap camping (actually, it was a restaurant trying to get some money). Unfortunately, it was low season, even VERY low season, and there absolutely nobody. It was the saddest city of the whole trip.
There was no Internet café and the few possible hikes required a guide. So I dedicated myself to writing, and I've been very productive.
Then, I could leave for Buenos Aires!
Something that I did not mention in my stories, is the misery.
We can see people living in terrible conditions all the time: villages without access to water, families vulnerable to malaria, victims of natural disasters, children shining shoes or selling small things. The worst is that you get used to it. You end up not seeing it anymore. I saw a photo exhibition in San Luis, Argentina, showing children doing hard jobs, and I remembered I had seen these kids, I had seen these hard jobs, but I just had stopped realising.
A minute ago, I was eating a pizza when a 6-year-old kid came to me, bare feet and without a shirt, and asked me for "a little coin". Automatically, I said no. Then he asked me for a piece of pizza. I thought that was cunning, I smiled and I said no again. This is pretty much when I realised how cynical I had become: a kid was asking me for food and I managed to say no with a smile.
Since I arrived in Latin America, I have been asked money an impossible number of times. Being a gringo, a foreigner, someone considered as richer, cause me to be asked more than others. If I gave at the beginning, I quickly stopped because I thought I wouldn't be able to fund my trip anymore. And it's true, I've just reached my budget limit.
Being a gringo gives a feeling of guilt and unfairness. I was lucky to be born in the right place, where I could receive a good education and find a job that would enable me to do this trip. Likewise I couldn't come here if it wasn't for the (generally) Latin American countries' less strong economy than the one of Europe: so it's like I took advantage of their misery in the end. And if I go even further, I have to say this: I can take advantage of their misery, which has been caused by my ancestors. I'm reading The Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galleano, which explains, among other things, how the Europeans enslaved the indigenous people.
Yes, I have only been lucky that I was born in the right place.
Question 1. On that picture, I look like:
a. a nice guy anybody would pick up
b. an idiot
c. a sexual pervert
Question 2. On that picture, I look like:
a. a nice guy anybody would pick up
b. an idiot
c. a sexual pervert
Question 3. On that picture, I look like:
a. a nice guy anybody would pick up
b. an idiot
c. a sexual pervert
My experience of Chile in San Pedro de Atacama wasn't enough, so I improvised a day at Valparaíso... and I haven't been disappointed! The guy who was in charge of organising the city did a real mess... and it's a good thing!
I travelled all night long from Mendoza where I had left my big packpack, and I arrived at 5am. I hung around, looking for a coffee and toilets, between drunk guys and very sociable prostitutes. I wasn't very happily stunned at that moment.
When the sun rose, I walked along the coast. The city is made of diverse buildings, stuck around some big half-circle-shaped port. And you can find anything! Spanish era monuments
council estates,
churches,
colourful houses,
tags of all kind and all size,
ascensores (hundred-year-old booths used to climb the steep hills)
but also the National Parliament. It's a nice mess (in a good way).
There is a very boho atmosphere, very Montmartre-like. I entered randomly a shop where they sold postcards of the town. The landlady told me the artist drawing them was french. Then she told me that she herself lived in France because she had to exile from the Pinochet dictatorship. I had read Isabel Allende's House of the Spirits, and it talked about how the dictatorship settled and how the opponents were treated, but meeting someone who actually went through it was a shocker. Even though we didn't speak much (it felt like she didn't want to say more, which I understand), I was impressed.
The most important museums were all closed for a reason or another, one because of the recent earthquake that shook Chile, some retired people told me: "The earthquake? Oh, we're used to it here!"
My only regret is not to have been able to stay here one night to enjoy the teasing valparaisian nightlife...
After a nearly 20 hours bus ride (thankfully they played Sherlock Holmes, I could deely appreciate Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law's acting), I arrived in Mendoza right in the middle of the Holy Week, which means that all hostels were fully-booked or expensive. Oh well...
I checked out what was Easter like here and after a bus ride (I had the money but not the change and some young mendociños gave me coins, turning down any refund, that was so nice), I arrived by a massive queue of people wanting to touch the statue of the Virgin and Jesus. The statues didn't look extraordinary at all, but the queue size was!
On the way back, I could buy lots of souvenirs at the big crafts fair on Independance Square.
The day after, I visited the San Francisco Church and I was pissed off because they were openly campaigning for the right at the next presidential election, because of the abortion right.
Then I went on top of Glory Mount, a tribute to the independance, to its heroes, but also to Chile and Peru.
Just besides, there was a zoo with an impressive number of different species. This way, I could see lions...
...but also condors!
Poor guys, they looked so bored, and they didn't fly :(
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