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Anna´s blog: It has been 73 days since we first arrived in Rio de Janeiro as a newly married couple eager to exploit our honeymoon to the full and see this vast continent. Here are a few statistics to put this in perspective:
- Total time travelled by bus: 272 hours
- Total distance travelled by bus: 12,685 miles or 20,296 km
- Total time travelled by air: 32 hours
- Total distance travelled by air: 13,754 miles or 22,226km
- 6 countries
- 2 languages
- 6 currencies
- 12 border crossings
No. times entry:
- Brazil = 2
- Argentina = 3
- Uruguay = 1
- Chile = 2
- Peru = 2
- Bolivia = 1
No. different beds slept in: 25
Amount consumed between two (okay maybe these are slightly wildly exaggerated, but you get the idea of proportions!):
- Rice: 204kg
- Pototoes: 74kg
- Bread: 70kg
- Ham: 21.6kg
- Cheese: 25kg
- Beef (steak): 5kg
- Chicken (Roast): 5kg
- Beans: 4.8kg
- Chicken (other) 2.4kg
- Beef (other): 1kg
- Fish: 789g
- Vegetables: 374g
- Water: 200 lt
- Beer: 106 lt
- Wine: 55 lt
Battlescars:
- Number of injuries sustained through handling overweight backpack: 7
- Number of instances of food poisoning: 21
- Number of hangovers: 12
Best of:
- Best country for food: Argentina (need I say more?)
- Best country for landscape: Peru (The Incas knew it and I know it)
- Safest country: Chile (we had to give them something, they are also definitely the cleanest)
- Best country for drinks: Brazil (fresh fruit and vodka cannot be surpassed)
- Friendliest people met: Argentinians
- Moodiest people encountered: Bolivians
Summary:
We have eaten our way through a good portion of South America. As you can see it is a high carbohydrate diet that I wouldn´t recommend for those trying to cut down. Or for those with a sensitive stomach. We have eaten our lifetimes share of chicken with rice and potatoes (Peru), ham and cheese rolls (Chile) and given Argentina a shock about just how much steak and red wine a gringo can go through in a week. We have also driven our way through some stunning country and seen rough roads, smooth roads, high roads, low roads, busy roads and slow roads. We have seen people fish from motorway bridges, juggle for money at busy intersections and bribe coach drivers enroute for cut priced fares (not to mention the live chickens on a bus incident) . This is a continent made up of a huge variety of cultures. It may be that the predominent background to these people is shared but they have taken that heritage in very different directions.
The Brazilians are confident and vivacious, unafraid of who they are and relishing in their high profile image as the world´s best flirts. Argentinians are more down to earth but no less loud. Experts at disciplined dance moves and restrained sexuality they will flirt with you, cut your steak with a spoon and ask to practise their English all at the same time. Uruguay likes to sit between Brazil and Argentina as they do geographically, dabbling in fresh fruit, parilla and tango simultaneously. The only people who can outdo Brazil and Argentina in terms of volume is Peru. These people do not have an off switch, they are on all the time, tourist experts who go out of their way to show you their country of which they are fiercely proud. Natural resources, a vast variety of landscapes coupled with some natural wonders of the world and you can see why, beware their predilection for eating cute furry animals like guinea pigs though, for this they are unapologetic! Bolivians sit atop some of the worlds most beautiful landscapes, volcanoes, lagoons, salt flats and mountains at a high altitude. The general consensus here is what is the hurry? Certainly not to deliver your breakfast order within an hour of your arrival. They have other things on their minds. Which leaves me with Chile, a courteous and hospitable people who are used to being much more self-sufficient. What they have to offer from the continent the Bolivians would argue they had taken from them, but then so would the Argentinians and Peruvians. To my mind it is no coincidence that these conquests come from the most organised and efficient of the South Americans...but then even these things are all relative!
And so we find ourselves exhausted and not a little bit jaded at the end of our 10 week adventure in South America. What a wonderful diverse and rich continent this is and yet there is still so much more to it than even we were able to see in the time. Maybe one day we will come back and tackle the jungle and tropical north of this varied continent, but until then we have another adventure to see through. It is time to finally arrive in Australia, and that, as they say, is another story...
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