I say goodbye to Argentina
Trip Start
Oct 19, 2007
1
109
126
Trip End
Ongoing
El Calafate,
Patagonia,
Argentina
Monday, February 25, 2008
We make 3 scheduled stops before landing in Calafate and I pray I only have to stay here 1 day. I run to the bus station and I buy a ticket to Puerto Natales, Chile and I get the very last seat. Whoa, close one. The bus leaves at 8:30am and I will have to get up early once again. I still have to find a hostel and thankfully the first one I go to has a bed. I sit out on the wrap around deck and I say goodbye to Argentina as I think back of all the good times spent in this wonderful country. Brazil was simply fun but Argentina was simply amazing. I saw a lot of cool shit and experienced a great many new things. I am not much of an outdoors person but Argentina made me realize how beautiful and spiritual the outdoors can be. Give me Brazil when it comes to partying and girls and hanging out with people but give me Argentina when it comes to mountains and lakes and outdoor activities. I wish I hadn't spent so much time in BA (I love BA don't get me wrong but 3 weeks there was probably a bit much since I have so much of this continent yet to see) but what are you going to do. Lesson learned, don't send shit from the states, bring what you need or buy it there. I should have tried to get ingrained into the culture here more like I did in Brazil but the countries are completely different. The people and their way of life is almost a complete 180 from Brazil. Brazilians are extreme extroverts and Argentinians are more introverted (compared to Brazilians at least). Brazilians live in the moment and are more spontaneous and don't think of future consequences where Argentinians are more prudent and not so myopic. I spent most of my time here in touristy places and most people I ran into spoke English but if you want to see the best of Argentina (the Iguacu Falls, Puerto Madryn's wildlife, Bariloche's lakes and beautiful scenery, Chalten's amazing mountains, Calafate's glaciers and Ushuaia's end of the world uniqueness) then you have no choice but to be surrounded by tourism. Backpackers hate touristy places for the most part. But like I told my English buddy once, it's touristy for a reason, if it wasn't awesome in the first place then it wouldn't be touristy. I had so many 'firsts" in this country; My first time trekking through the wilderness for hours, first time trekking up a mountain, first time spending a night up in a mountain, first time whitewater rafting, first time seeing the Milky Way and a shooting star, first time walking among tens of thousands of penguins, my first time realizing firsthand just how wondrous this earth of ours can be. I saw so many awesome things while trekking around this country and trekking in and of itself isn't necessarily fun per se, but the end result is well worth the effort. It's sort of like lifting weights. Lifting weights isn't really fun but being able to hit softballs really far and being able to beat up all of my friends is.
I walk around for a bit and I notice a golf course here. Man do I want to play so badly but I doubt if a round of golf is in my budget. If there is one thing I miss it's playing sports and competition. My entire life has been heavily influenced by sports and games and competition. I would even kill to play a board game right now like Taboo or Scattegories, sumin. Probably why I try to trek so fast because I want to pass as many people as possible and I make a game out of it. I remember this job I had one summer that entailed standing around on concrete for 10 hours a day putting screws in 25lb boxes. The job sucked ass but I made it into a competition as it was the only thing I could do to avoid going crazy. I tried to beat my record of boxes each and every day which ultimately resulted in me getting a raise and the boss telling me not to tell anyone else. Apparently I was the best box filler upper of screws in the entire plant. The thing was I could have given a fuck less about that job or the stupid screws or doing well but I did care about playing a game each and every day even if it was just with myself. Hah, I remember some of the other employees actually getting on my case about working so hard because it made them look bad. I wasn't working hard, I was simply playing a game. Anyway, I think my entire life has been driven by the concept of winning as opposed to the concept of doing something well because there is virtue in it or caring about the thing you are actually doing. Like in high school, I could have cared less about learning, but I did care about getting good grades.
Fin
