Fun and philosophy

"Awe my throats hurts, and I'm sitting on a bus for the next 15 hours."

Alright that's all the whinging and b****ing allowed. Life is good, life is slow, no point focusing on those things that bring us down huh, another drink?! Like the islands of the pacific, this was the theme of our time on the Uruguayan coast.

Dreadlocks and surfboards flock to the coast to enjoy the tranquil bliss of Uruguay. What seems like the little brother of Brazil, Uruguay extends and shares the amazing Atlantic coastline to the south. A small population and amounts of tourism permits deserted beaches to explore, and coastal towns free of visually polluting high rises, like that of the Argentine and Brazilian neighbours.
Marine wildlife frollock in the shallows year round, flirting with man's intrigue.

Enough trying to be some sort of proper writer... Focus, focus, now catching up on what's been going on in ours.

Well although the above paragraphs utilised some euphemism, it is not far from the truth. We had no plans to go to Uruguay, but ended up enjoying pretty much the whole time. It is now the low season so everywhere was pretty dead, well at least the local tourists had disappeared. This created a really chilled atmosphere. We explored villages, two national conservation areas , we partied, smelled dead seals, and swam with whales amongst doing nothing at all. All in a temperate climate about 27 degs each day! The fact that the Uruguay chapter of the lonely planet was almost untouched before arriving provokes some thoughts in me.

It is amazing to think how a trail is blazed. There is a invisible combination of decisions, discussions, occurrences and moments that lead the journey onward. This could be said about a journey like ours, how we ended up in in Uruguay of all places in the world. The decision was made 2 days prior after some fellow travellers encouragement and vouch, plus some further research. The chances of meeting and talking to one single person is mind blowing.

A travelled journey can also be a metaphor or a simile for life(never know which one it is). We try so hard to plan out our lives finding security in knowing what comes of tomorrow, but never can have any true certainty. That's what makes life and travel so exciting for me. Travelling enables us to explore the unknown, and ourselves. It has helped me open my mind to possibility and tested me in different ways.

I am pondering now, as I sit on the bus in a philosophical mood, about back stories. Every person that has a working memory has one, the story of their life, the journey they took. There is about 6 billion odd out there. I have observed many people recently and thought, how the hell did you end up there, or he looks like he would have a story to tell! I first heard of this concept in Malaysia when another traveller asked me what my 'backstory' was in 1 minute... I don't remember the person from a bar of soap. I hadn't thought too much of it until a couple of days ago when we met a Colombian man working in a tiny food outlet. I asked him how he new English and he explained that he had travelled around South America as a musician. He was fluent in Spanish,english, French and Portuguese. Interesting man indeed.

Another relative subject I have exercised In my mind is how two different people from different backstories can come together to share the same journey forward, well to some extent anyway. I am so lucky to be sharing my life with an amazing and genuine women. a significant part of our backstories are now the same and I look forward to continue to explore, grow and create an interesting greater backstory with her!

That's enough blabbing on. Point is life is short so enjoy it and find some adventure.

Fun fact: Like New Zealand, Uruguay has approximatelje y 13million cows and a population of only 3 millions! Woah, that's a lot of Milanesa!