Three Months in South America

The story of a 24 year old female alone in South America.

What I've learnt

1. Some Spanish - this is very impressive for someone who is monolingual!
2. Patience - Do not leave home without it.  South America operates with complete disregard to time.
3. To sleep anywhere - That includes the floor of the jungle and a tent in the freezing Andes
4. When on a budget: Food is not necessary. wine is - Eating's cheating
5. South America was actually conquered by Spanish speaking Italians - the number of pizza and pasta restaurants around is truly baffling
6. Bolivians are dumb:   They cant count and I was often given more change than I paid yet the number of times I was asked if I was related to Dr. Chris Barnard was astonishing!
7. Always carry your own toilet paper .  Most places don't have, including hostels!!!!
8. Change currency before crossing borders .  I had the occasion to borrow money from a cab driver and also to beg the cassa de cambio to open after they had closed!!!
9. Do not travel anywhere without knowing about your own country.  This is to prevent looking like a total idiot in front of people asking how big your country is and how many people live there!
10. When there is a toilet use it .  A 20-hour bus ride with no toilet can be a painful experience!
11. Bolivia may not have roads but has the cheapest fastest internet in all of south America.... go figure

Highlights:

1. Riding the roof of a train in Ecuador - I successfully conquered my fear of heights... and managed a great control of my bladder
2. Sandboarding and the dune buggy ride in Peru - okay it was worth picking sand out of various body parts for 2 weeks afterwards
3. The Nazca lines (Peru) - the bumpy 4 person aircraft temporarily cured my fear of flying too
4. Hiking the Inca trail and Muccho Picchu was a must - even if it did rain and I was so tired by time I reached Machu Picchu I was struggling to walk... Of the 500 people who hike the trail a day - I was (literally) the last to arrive.
5. The jungle (Bolivia) - the 55 mozzie bites I had on my legs, alone, were actually worth it (I'm not joking about the number of bites by the way)
6. Cycling to Bolivia in Chile - so there we were in the middle of the desert cycling to no where in particular with the border of Bolivia in front of us changed our minds and tried to cycle home, by which time a sandstorm had hit us and we had to cycle back with our eyes closed and deal with sand stinging our bare legs.
7. Horse-riding in the Panama-Paraguay basin (Argentina)... need I say more?
8. Argentina Argentina Argentina !!!!!!!!!  What a fantastic place!  So unexpectedly beautiful, cheap and diverse!  Mendoza and the Iguasu falls being particularly amazing
9. Lopez Mendes on Ihla Grande... Brazil´s most beautiful beach

What I'm not going to miss:

1. The South American promise of ' manyana ´ (tomorrow).  It generally means "buzz off you fool, it's never going to happen".
2. 'Aqua caliente' (hot water when referring to hot water showers).  Clearly their interpretation is actually luke warm or the infamous suicide showers.  (These for those of you who don't know, they are showers that have the electricity fed directly into the nozzle in order to heat it... This often results in shocking yourself whilst turning the water on and off... In addition you have to turn the water on very slowly so in order to wash yourself under a hot drip and you have to wedge your back between the taps so that the trickle drops on you.)
3. Tight fisted hostel owners who don't replace mattresses .  Many mornings I awoke with a sore back from sleeping in hammock type mattresses.
4. Pollo con arroz - The staple diet of South Americans: greasy chicken with under-cooked rice is sold on every corner (and in-between corners) in every city, in every country of the continent.
5. Israelis - okay okay they're not that bad... just most menus and signs in Bolivia and Peru are in Hebrew! Even some local people offer you marijuana in Hebrew.
6. Not being able to throw toilet paper in the toilet bowl... South America's plumbing system leaves a lot to be desired!
7. Living out of a bag !... fortunately my bag was big and on days when I didn't feel like packing it I just shove everything into it and jump on top of it a few times.. Works every time!
8. Brazil

What I am going to miss:

1. The complete freedom and spontaneity of life!  The number of times my 3 week plan changed in a SECOND... and often a result of the word.... "manyana"
2. Not having to work - no explanation necessary
3. Trying new food, experiencing different cultures
4. The people - inevitably you meet amazing people and I'm going to miss all of them... the ones you stay friends with and the ones you cant get rid of fast enough

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