I’ve been back in the U.S. for about a week, meaning I’ve had a decent amount of time to reflect on my experiences in LatinAmerica. I’ve compiled these reflections into 5 different sketchy, surprising, and significant stories/lessons. Friends, this blog is going to be fun.
The Top 5 Sketchy Moments
An important disclaimer: moments is a word picked very deliberately. Most of these only seemed really bad for a split second or two, and everything turned out alright (just as it does almost 100% of the time in Central and South America).
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| A similarly situation happening in India. |
- Woah there, maybe not throw giant rocks and broken glass in the road? We needed to take a day bus from Lake Titicaca to Arequipa, but one bus company had cancelled their route, citing “protests.” Not knowing exactly what that meant, we booked an alternative ticket and headed out. Well, “protests” basically meant that underpaid and disgruntled teachers had been hurling stones and broken glass in the main road all morning to make their voices heard. At one point, the crowd reached within a few feet of our bus, throwing stones and breaking glass as they advanced. Honestly, they seemed like mostly nice people, but I was still relieved when we escaped down some dirt back roads.
- Oh hey Mr. Policeman, why are you driving away with our passports? While taking a taxi across the border from Peru into Ecuador, we were stopped by a couple of policemen who wanted to check the validity of our passports. Umm… ok. Next thing we knew, they want to “bring them back to the station” for further review. Umm, definitely not cool. Luckily our taxi driver worked some magic, and a $4 payment later we had then back in hand. Crisis avoided.
- A day of stings, electrocution, and hospital visits: Worst attempt to relax at the beach of all time. 11:00am I get spiked by a small sting ray and have two hours of the worst pain of my life. By the evening things are much better, just in time for a friend of mine to get electrocuted in the shower and an hour later go to the hospital with excruciating kidney stones. To make a long story short, we were all ok.
- That was a fun fall down a vertical ice face: Trying to climb a 21,000 foot mountain without safety ice axe training? In hindsight, it’s probably not the best idea. This was especially clear at 19,000 feet, where a completely exhausted and slightly delirious version of myself fell 20 feet down an ice face at 4:30 in the morning. I was roped in and probably quite safe, but those thoughts don’t cross your mind on the way down.
- Next time, let’s not breakdown at 2:00am: We loved this bus company. A cheap ticket, a stewardess who loved to help us practice speaking Spanish, and awful American 80’s movies. What’s not to love? And then we broke down on a random Peruvian coastal road at 2:00am. Right away, about 75% of the passengers bailed out and hopped on other passing busses. Luckily, we found the last three open spots on the company’s next bus an hour later. No worries, right?
Top 5 Surprising Lessons
Every now and then things jump up and really shock you. Now most of these are basic facts for the people of Central and South America, but came as a surprises to me in my formerly more naïve state.
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| So it wasn't quite the Mayo Clinic, but it was close. |
- Three nights in a hospital, professional care, xrays, all for $25: Need I say more? Ecuadorian health care freaking rocks. We were all surprised at the quality and value of the system, and it pains me ever more to think how far in the opposite direction our own domestic system has become.
- Where are my corn tortillas? Yeah, I’m talking to you South America: Central and South America actually have almost completely separate food traditions. Honduras was full of enchiladas, empanadas, and more corn tortilla than I could eat (ok, that last part is a lie). But Peru and Ecuador are all about soup, rice, fruit drinks, salads, and meat dishes. A welcome change, but far from Mexican/Central America food, and far from what I expected.
- Cell reception at 17,000 feet, really? There is cell service everywhere in Peru and Ecuador. Amazon jungle? Ya, of course. Near the top of a 21,000 foot volcano? Well, duh. At the bottom of the world 2nd deepest canyon? No doubt! We were consistently surprised and impressed by the service, which at least matches the strength of the US cellular network, and is far less expensive.
- I can understand everything that you’re saying! Honestly, it came as a huge surprise to me that a month of intensive Spanish lessons actually worked, and worked extremely well. I had conversations with people in Spanish where I didn’t miss a beat, and I was blown away.
- We’ve spent a month together non-stop, and I don’t need a break… Living together is really the ultimate test of a relationship. My girlfriend of two and a half years and I lived with the same host family in Honduras for a month while we attended intensive Spanish lessons. So we ate together, studied together, walked to school together, basically did everything jointly for a month. And I never really wanted my distance. Humph. Definitely a good sign for the future.
Top 5 Significant Events
And then there are the moments with true meaning, true significance, the ones that make everything worthwhile and then some.
- Can’t quite tell if this is a dream: People are the highlight of this trip, but places are a close 2nd. Machu Picchu, the Amazon Jungle, Colca Canyon, I still can’t think of these places without a shiver of wonder and a vivid mental image of what they were like. Such beauty, such power, such raw mystique.
- How about you can all teach me Spanish for free? Some of the most meaningful times of the trip for me were having conversations in Spanish with locals that I met along the way. Whether it a week in one place making friends with a hostel owner, or a ten minute taxi ride asking the driver about his life and profession, these encounters were absolutely precious. Diamond-like. Insanely valuable. I got to mix learning about local resident and cultures with meeting people with practicing and learning Spanish. Life rocks.
- Ya, let’s hang out in The Netherlands sometime: And if it wasn’t the locals, it was great people that we met in our 3-4 day tour groups in Peru. Experiencing the wonder of a foreign country as a group really ties people together. I met Londoners I’m going to try to connect with in the UK, people in the Netherlands I want to visit, and many more fascinating individuals. And we exchanged contact info, so communicating in the future is more than just a dream. People are fantastic.
- Well, that 2,000 miles wasn’t too bad: I’m still astounded that we were able to cover so much ground in a month. I would say that the scope of the trip was bold, and I’m so grateful that we were able to see everything that we wanted while keeping our sanity and staying on a budget. Just that sense of accomplishment is surely significant in my book.
- Puede ayudar (Can you help?): It was so simple. A nearby tour group can’t understand their Spanish-speaking guide, but he knows from an earlier I can speak Spanish. Logically, he asks me to translate as he explains the basic outline of the day. And I’ve never enjoyed a 30 second job so much. As I looked back and forth from the guide to the group, I realized, I’ve made it. I can do this Spanish thing. I need to keep working at it, keep practicing, and keep speaking, but I’m not like those people I’m translating for anymore. I’ve seldom felt so accomplished, and could hardly hold back my emotions.
So that’s Honduras, Peru, and Ecuador. I’m officially closing this chapter of my blog. So far I’ve recorded my experiences in Australia, Kenya, and South and Central America. It’s been a wonderful three years of writing and sharing my experiences, and I thank you for coming along on all or parts of the journey.
Next Up: Expect semi-regular posts from Grad School in England, starting in about a month.
Much Love from the States,
Kurt Berning