I have really been avoiding writing this post, as I feel it officially marks the end of my trip. I had the time of my life when I was abroad and am pretty bummed that it’s over. I was never really fond of that old adage, but I guess all good things really do come to an end at some point. At long last, I present to you my “last” post.

At the end of my most recent post I left off right before I left Peru. They told me I was there during the rainy season, but for some reason I lucked out the entire time I was there. It was cloudy at times, but overall the weather usually warranted wearing sunscreen. That was of course until the last day when I had to walk over to the post office and ship some souvenirs back to the states (no way was I carrying all of that dead weight for the rest of my trip). I had gone my entire trip in Cusco sans poncho, and there was no way I was going to buy one now. It’s pretty incredible how many people come out of the shadows to sell ponchos and paraguas (umbrellas) when it’s raining there, but I was stubborn enough to say “no, gracias” to every single one of them during my little journey down Avenida del Sol. I shipped everything just fine, and I was drenched just in time for my cab ride to the airport. I’m an excellent planner.

Really, I am. I planned this sweet trip to Iguazú that involved layovers in Lima, Santiago, and Buenos Aires and a total travel time of roughly 48 hours. Sure, it was a bit cheaper than flying directly to Iguazú, but sleeping in the airport got old pretty quick. However, I DID get really good at saying “¿Tienen ustedes wifi?” and “¿Cuál es la clave?”, so that’s a plus. I’ll spare you the rest of the details, I’m pretty sure you can imagine what it’s like to go a couple days without a shower and quality sleep.

So now I’m finally in Iguazú. I met Ben and Sam pretty quick upon arriving at the Garden House Hostel (from the UK and Australia, respectively) and we decided to go to the falls together the following day. That night Ben and I went to dinner with an Israeli he met earlier in the day, Tommy, who like all other Israeli tourists in South America (and there are a ton) had recently finished his mandatory military service. At dinner I ate a fish called Pacu, which was probably the best tasting creepy fish I have ever eaten. Seriously, look up a picture of one. They have human teeth.

Immediately after dinner we walked over to Tommy’s hostel. The atmosphere at this place was great. A Chilean, Ignacio (“nacho”), was playing a ukelele most of the night and telling us about his travels in Europe and South America. Marcin (pronounced “Martin”), a professional BMX rider from Poland who looks almost exactly like a young, long-haired Anthony Kiedis, was telling us about how he’s hoofed it all over the world via hitchhiking. Surprisingly enough, he knew about the BMX park in downtown Austin. It was like every time I spoke with someone new the world just got a tiny bit smaller. That night we all swam, ate, drank, and listened to music under an incredible star-studded sky. It was hands down one of the best nights of my trip.

When the sun came up, and it did so a little too early if you ask me, we made our way to the bus station and set a course for the falls. Iguazú is located right on the border of Brazil and Argentina and each side takes about a day to check out. Ben visited Brazil the day before and said the Argentine side was better, but I can’t really say from firsthand experience. At any rate, there are walkways all over the place that basically go out onto the falls, and there are enough places to check out to keep you occupied for an entire day. We went out in a boat that takes you under the falls too. Ben had a GoPro with him, so there’s actually video from most of the day (http://vimeo.com/85790588). In the video Ben is holding the camera, Sam has the green tank top and shoulder bag, Tommy has a green shirt and backpack, and Martin, well, Martin is the one that looks like a Polish Anthony Kiedis.

I can sit here all day and tell you about how incredible Iguazú was, but I think Eleanor Roosevelt did it much more succinctly and accurately than I ever could. Apparently, upon arriving at the falls back in the day, Eleanor Roosevelt said “poor Niagara!” Now I’ve never been to Niagara falls, but I wouldn’t for a second doubt the accuracy of that statement. Iguazú is awesome.

When we got back we headed straight to the grocery store to grab some steaks and afterwards headed back to the hostel to cook and eat them. Of course the steaks were great (it’s hard to find a bad steak in Argentina), and while we were eating, yep, you guessed it, we met some more Israelis. They were some pretty cool guys too, we all ended up passing around a guitar for most of the night. It was a good way to end my trip to Iguazú. I had originally planned to stay a bit longer, but I decided it would be a little better to spend my birthday in Buenos Aires.

The next day Ben, Marcin, and I went over to the Bus station to start our 17 hour bus ride over to B.A. It was unexpectedly awesome. They showed Wolf on Wall Street in English and served us a halfway decent meal. If you ever decide to go travel to South America, I’d absolutely recommend traveling on the buses over taking flights (yes, even for some of the longer distances). It gives you some good down time to break up all the running around and if you pay a tiny bit extra they are actually comfortable. I usually can’t sleep on any sort of moving vehicle, but there was a storm that night and I slept like a baby all through the night.

In the morning we were woken up about 30 minutes outside if B.A. for a very tiny and typical South American breakfast (bread), after which we started getting all of our stuff together. We finally made it to Retiro station, and after some coffee and goodbyes (Marcin and Ben were just passing through), I made my way to the Millhouse hostel on Avenida de Mayo. I guess I was taking a risk going to a completely new place on my birthday, but within minutes of getting to the hostel I met a group of people that I ended up hanging out with the whole time I was in B.A. During the day I was just kind of getting my bearings straight, but at night I went out to dinner with something like 11 girls (from the Netherlands, England, Sweden, and Norway). A couple of guys were supposedly coming, but ultimately didn’t. These girls kept saying “people are going to think you’re such a ladies man, come out with us!” but honestly, if you’re with that many girls I’m pretty sure everyone thinks you’re gay. There’s got to be a threshold somewhere, and I don’t know what that is exactly, but it’s surely below 11. I had originally planned to come back to the states before my birthday, but I’m glad I stayed abroad.

The next day we watched the Super Bowl at the hostel. Unfortunately they didn’t show the commercials from the states, so I was stuck watching advertisements for Movistar during all the breaks. During this time I came to realize that I’m a really bad American. There was a Canadian at the hostel, John, who honestly knew more about American football than I did. All the people around me (from Brazil, Canada, Israel, etc.) obviously knew more about the players, so I instantly got the “worst American ever” award. I also got the “worst Texan” award. “Do you even own Cowboy boots?” “You don’t even ride a horse, do you?” “You don’t say y’all?” Nope, nope, nope. Sorry, dudes. The game itself, as I’m sure most of you are aware, was pretty boring, so most of the people there used it as a prime example of why American football is a dumb sport. All I could do is laugh.

Since I had already been to B.A. 4 years prior, I didn’t feel obligated to check out all the sights and touristy stuff. I ate a lot of steak, went to my fair share of boliches, went running a couple of times in Puerto Madero, and really just enjoyed the culture. Gonza (yep, the guy from Santiago) invited me over to his friend’s place for some asado one night, so after a quick shower (to cool off, not to clean myself), I headed out. He gave me an address and some directions to get there via the metro, but I was kind of pooped already and decided to just take a cab. This was a HUGE mistake.

I looked this place up on Google Maps and took a screenshot of the location. I hopped in the cab, showed the cab driver, and we started to make our way out there. This place was something like 35 minutes away, so the cab ride was not cheap. We got to the street and the driver started looking for the street number. After a few laps around the block, we realized that the address Gonza gave me wasn’t there. I was already kind of pissed at the cab driver for driving around and racking up the fare after I told him not to, so I told him to just drop me off and leave. The neighborhood probably wasn’t the safest, but I went to this ice cream shop and spoke with the owner, who was extremely helpful. I put my phone on the charger and whipped out my favorite question “¿Tienen ustedes wifi?”, the answer to which was thankfully “sí”.

It turns out that there were two streets with the same name in Buenos Aires, and unfortunately the street that Gonza was currently on was on the other side of the city. Argentines eat pretty late, but it was starting to get late even by Argentine standards. After speaking to Gonza on the phone, the owner of the shop set me up with another taxi and sent me out to the right address. I think I finally got there at about midnight, but luckily I got there right when they started eating. I was really doubting that it was worth the crazy effort and money spent to get out there, but that night turned out to be the best one I spent in B.A. Gonza and his friends were great and hospitable, I got to practice my Spanish, and we all sat around and played music until about 5am. I didn’t get back to the hostel until about 6, so when I finally got back I slept like a rock.

The rest of my trip mostly just involved hanging out with awesome people. John from Canada, Emma, Bianca, Nienke, and Liesbeth from the Netherlands, Nick from Denmark, and several others really helped make my trip go out with a bang. On the last day I took a cab to the Ezeiza airport and started waiting for my plane back to the states. I bought a couple bottles of wine for my mams at the duty free shop, headed to the terminal, and luckily found a good wifi connection. I downloaded Skype so I could talk to one of the Brazilians I met in Santiago, Victoria, and instantly started missing South America before I even left. She might be coming to Texas in March, so I’m absolutely looking forward to that. She’s probably one of the sweetest people on the planet.

I’m going to switch gears a bit now though. I’m looking at my diploma in the corner of my room, and right now I feel like my youth is officially over. It’s incredibly bittersweet. I mentioned in a previous post that I am still essentially the same person after this trip, but that I just know more about myself now. I still maintain that statement, but who am I?

Well, I’m someone who above all else really loves music. The saddest part of my trip was probably when my iPod died on the bus ride to Buenos Aires. I also really like being alone sometimes. I like really old movies. I like rockets and space. Sometimes I try to act how I think I should feel, not necessarily how I truly feel, and it’s something I want to work on. I can be awkward at times. I love running, my family, and seeing the fruits of my labor. I like learning from people, especially when they have a lot to teach. I’m pretty erratic and unpredictable sometimes, and at times I even surprise myself. I love being outside in the sun. I really like learning new languages (Portuguese is next. Eu falo um pouco de Português agora, mas não muito). There have been so many times in my life where I felt like I didn’t have much of an identity, but there you have it. In a nutshell, that’s who I am.

I’m not sure if you noticed at the top when I began this post, but I put the word “last” in quotes. That’s because throughout this trip I have really enjoyed writing about my travels, and I don’t see any reason not to keep writing about my life. I’ve tried to start a journal several times, but always failed to keep up with it. However, it seems a lot easier to write when there’s a good chance people will read what you’ve written. So stay on the lookout for more posts! I certainly won’t be writing as frequently, but it’s something I don’t want to stop doing. I’m not usually good at ending things anyways, so I’ll let Pablo Neruda do it for me:

“Someday, somewhere – anywhere, unfailingly, you’ll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life.”

Listening to: Joe Cocker – Feeling Alright