Argentina X Chile

El Bolson, 1 Febrero de 2010.

Its beautiful to think that Im living the first two months of the year travelling around South America. I did not expect to go to Chile but as it happens, my life is unpredictable and I like it this way.

Im back in Argentina now, right in time. I was running out of money in Chile. Travelling with somebody is a good way to destroy a friendship.
I missed listenning to the birds, listenning to the river or just listenning to the silence sometimes! And yes, now Im on my own again and can have it as much as I want.

The problem of being very independent and doing everything on your own is that you discover how good it is ! Im afraid that I will get old and become like some human beings who live with 30 dogs and 7 cats at home. LOL

Now talking about Chile, after all, it was a nice experience. Me and James started the journey in Santiago then when down to Concepcion ( nice museum) Pucon ( beautiful and touristic) Valdivia ( loved it ) Chiloé ( island, we camped in a national park) and to finish the journey, Puerto Montt where I had the funniest night with James, we met some teenagers who were singing rap and improvised some songs to me, they were from the poorest area of the city and invited me to go see their slum but I unfortunatly was living early morning on the day next.

Chile is a very different country, it really does not feel like Latin America. There is strong German influence in arquitecture and I was missing the Argentian food ( in all ways- lol) People are not as warm, they are kind of shy and they seem to be all the same size ( I think men are 1.70cm and women 1.60cm) I did not see many beautiful people there. I dont know where they hide... But I had some very nice time visiting a Mapuche village ( Local Indians) and talking to some people from there. I met some Chileans who were kind but they are much more quiet and reserved than the Argentians or Brazilians. Their accent is also kind of funny. I have the feeling that all the women speak on the same way, I think if I speak on the phone with a woman I wont know if she is 10 years old or 60.

Chile was worth it to visit because of its beautiful landscapes, nice arquitecture and almost all the houses have beautiful gardens. The lakes are amazing but in Argentina too. Also, its not a place to travel cheap. There were things that I wanted to do but just couldnt afford it. For example, to visit a volcano is 100 dollars.

I visited two beaches.One was beautiful but the water was really freezing. And the other was just horrible. Well, Im suspicious to give an opinion about beaches. Im Brazilian.

The most impressive thing that I have done on this trip was crossing the Andes two times. I just could not close my eyes on this long journy from Argentina to Chile and Chile to Argentina. I made it in two different ways and it was both times really special. I still cannot believe that I was in the middle of those stunning mountains that I saw on the map in the Geography classes when I was a child. As the Kiwi guy that I met said to me the night we met in a fire on the camping in Chile: "The Andes will always be with me". When you are travelling you can meet some really special people. Or maybe they become special when travelling. Who knows?