South America redux, Day 178

Christi and I leave Bogota in the middle of the night, having completed a phenomenal 6-month loop through South America. And for those readers who have been with us from the beginning, I think you’ll agree we maintained an incredible pace. We certainly could not have done more. If I had to pick a highlight from each country, I think I’d start with our visit to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. For wildlife and photography enthusiasts it doesn’t get much better than this. In Peru, it has to be the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, although I have no desire to clamber over Dead Woman’s Pass again. For a small country Bolivia has an incredible variety of people and eco-systems. Lake Titicaca was great as was Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, but the desert south of Uyuni probably wins by a short head for me. Chile is much easier: the cruise through Tierra del Fuego, culminating in a visit to Cape Horn. Truly memorable. Argentina, on the other hand, is just amazing from the deserts to the glaciers to the jungle and the mountains, not to mention the waterfalls, people, and wildlife. There is reason we spent so long in Argentina. This country is unmissable and choosing just one thing is virtually impossible. Whatever I chose today, I’m sure I’ll change my mind tomorrow, but…I think… Iguazu Falls (I feel bad already). Despite the mixed weather we had in Brazil I’m still going to go with the beaches of Rio. I mean, come on, those images are burned in my mind forever. The trek to Roraima wins hands down as my highlight from Venezuela, while in Colombia I’d have to say the friendliness of the people and beyond that the languid vibe of Cartagena.

All these thoughts rumble and tumble through my mind as we rumble and tumble over a stormy Caribbean sea. Fortunately, the Gods are with us (as they have been the whole trip) and we land safely in Houston. Passport control is a breeze this time (not always the case for a Green Card holder like myself who enjoys foreign travel) and then we have to collect our bags and re-check them in again for our domestic connection to Los Angeles. Then it’s a 4-hour wait, which is enough time to hear the same Fox News broadcast three times over. For the first time in 6 months we actually understand everything that is going on around us, including the background chatter, yet we feel so out-of-place. No one knows that we have just completed a 6-month adventure in South America and neither do they realize that we are only passing through America on our way to another 6-month adventure in Africa. We are surrounded by familiar things that seem so mundane and unimportant. I’m glad we will not stay in America long because I already feel the societal pressure to conform. And that is what Christi and I wanted to escape from in the first place. We wanted to be free, but now the chains tieing American society and culture together are beginning to rattle.