This colourfulness can be very well perceived from such a perspective now. A dream came true with this South American journey. And now here I am, soaking up all that this continent is about. Five and a half months. A long time to travel eight countries to gain impression of the people, to see how they live and what they bring from their past. Travelling and living in a foreign country and among its people, we can learn not only about the country’s nation, its culture, but primarily we learn the most about ourselves.
South America is colorful!
During the trip I liked very much the architecture of some cities, however, I was even more impressed by the South American landscape, the fauna and flora. Here everything can be found: deserts, mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and not only within one continent, but within a single country as well. All located at heights from zero up to 7,000 meters.
More than 400 million people live in South America, in a territory of 17,8 million km². Europe’s - 10,4 km² - area is only 60% of the territory of South America. However, the number of inhabitants of South America is just over half of the total population in Europe (690 million people). There are incredible distances. As a European, in South America the concept of distance gets transformed. I visited Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and the island of Aruba. I travelled a total of 46,975 km by plane, of which I flew 20,700 km just within South America. I took 14,415 km on buses, of which 13,930 km were taken in South America. The sightseeing tours on feet, the 3-5 day - hiking trips and so on even add to the total number of km.
My journey started on 31st October 2014 and arrived home on 11th April 2015. Total: 163 days; 5 months, 12 days; 23 weeks and 2 days
South America, a mystical-sounding and thousand faceted continent blending ancient cultures. Here I am, and what seemed to be far away, is now here, within arm's reach. It feels so natural to be here. It is a mighty experience looking at a continent is no longer just a colored map to us, but during the trip it comes to life, makes sense. It is rather an expedition than a single trip to plan such a journey for ourselves and to go through it alone. It's a way of life.
South America, a mystical-sounding and thousand faceted continent blending ancient cultures. Here I am, and what seemed to be far away, is now here, within arm's reach. It feels so natural to be here. It is a mighty experience looking at a continent is no longer just a colored map to us, but during the trip it comes to life, makes sense. It is rather an expedition than a single trip to plan such a journey for ourselves and to go through it alone. It's a way of life. I started off with writing a list about the places I wanted to see. Apart from this, I organized everything and made decisions on the spot while I was traveling. I am still amazed how many things can be done and seen on one single day. I could count only on myself, and though, it was not always easy to navigate in a strange place, it was also an exciting experience; and this filled me with good feelings that I could frame everything freely. I allowed myself to dissolve in the ambience I actually was, I followed my instincts, trusting in fate and the signs I went along the road. If we have a goal and we are on our way, everything helps us to get along.
I like to look out the window gliding along the landscapes in the warm wind and fill up with their scenery. Sometimes, I like to just sit and watch life, observe the locals, see with whom they are spending their time, in what mood they are in, what they drink, how their aura or charisma is, or simply just listen to them as they talk. I traveled several times amongst much poorer people in the world, who lived under worse conditions than I do and I learned a lot from them. How grateful they are for the little they have, how completely happy they are with less. How much their human relationships count, and how they rather accept the difficulties of life and solve it if possible. I also experienced every day that how little is enough for every day. And I really did not miss anything. Everything becomes easier. So little is enough to be happy if we love and appreciate life. This case, a sense of gratitude becomes part of our everyday. On such a trip nothing is natural. There are no fix things like home, food, family, friends around us, we must create everything for ourselves, every day, furthermore, in a foreign environment.
I really liked everywhere in South America that families keep together notably, and they spend a lot more time together, they get no isolated behind a computer.
It seems to me that South American people accept things as things are, they have less desire and appreciate what they have. They can immerse easier into what they do, with joy without taking it as a duty, a punishment. They want to enjoy themselves "here and now", not another time, not elsewhere. Many times we easily take this wonderful world we live in for granted. And we complain about things that every people need to do every day, what is part of life. It is a very good and exciting feeling to travel, learn new things, to see the world, and also if I'm away for months, it feels pretty good sometimes to stop for a longer period of time, to relax and to live with the locals, eat their food, to take part in their daily lives, learn about their problems, to share in their joy; to „belong to” them a bit.
The nature is impressive. Here, you can find everything in nature that is available only on some spots of the world. South America has an incredible flora and fauna, I always heard birds singing or insect chirping or some kind of music. Everything is alive. Here in the Southern hemisphere, seasons are in reverse, the Sun and the Moon and even the clouds look different. The world's largest rainforest (the Amazon Rain forest); the world's driest area (the Atacama Desert); the world's longest river (the Amazon); the highest waterfall (Venezuela's Angel Falls); the world's highest capital (La Paz -Bolivia); the highest lying navigable lake (Lake Titicaca); the world's southernmost inhabited place (Puerto Toro, Chile) is in South America. A mountain range of the Andes, stretching along the continent, also hides many impressive natural wonders.
There are many rainforests and "cloud forests" in South America. The difference is that the "cloud forest" is in constant cloud of fog due to the slow evaporation process. Furthermore, the cloud forests lie much higher and are much cooler. The rain forests are situated lower and the air is much warmer there. The rivers moving through the rain forests are larger and slower and usually flow in a muddy bed, while in the cloud forests there are faster, shallower and cleaner rivers flowing through.
Culturally, South America is a mixture of thousands of years of ancient cultures and a large portion of European culture. The ancient cultures are still alive though these rituals and religions are practiced only in smaller places, most of them in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. There people also wear traditional clothes and their dresses are made of colorful textiles, their cloths tell about their traditional folk.
In most of the South American cities there is a central square, the town square (Plaza de Armas - parade square), from where the streets lead towards the four directions of the compass. This construction method comes from the Spanish. A town square is always worth a visit, no matter where we are in the world, because here you can feel the „heartbeat” of the place the best. Beautiful colonial buildings were preserved from the Colonial era. To be in such European atmosphere, walking between locals, it feels as if I were anywhere else in Europe or America.
Many common and popular food ingredients in the world come from South America, cultivated for thousands of years by the Indians, such as potato, corn, tomato, pepper, sugar cane, peanut, vanilla and pineapple. This continent has such microclimates, that the cultivation of fruits and vegetables all year-round is possible in most countries.
The Coca, the Incas sacred letters, was originally used to communicate with the Andean gods and was also present in the ancient Andean culture’s everyday life. It used to be the symbol of old rituals and was used as a medicine. Today it is used to prevent altitude sickness (causing headache, nausea, weakness, dizziness, and nosebleeds). In Argentina, Peru, Chile and Bolivia the use of unprocessed Coca leaf is legal since 1989, but not anywhere else in the world.
The way of drinking mate tea is one of the most extraordinary and characteristic habits of South America. Particularly in Chile and Argentina, they carry their tea everywhere. Usually, it’s a pumpkin-shaped container - hollowed-out from pumpkin - they put the evergreen tree mate’s dried leaves in. This tea contains valuable antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins. Then boiling water is poured on the leaves and the mate tea can be consumed by sipping through a special silver straw (which end’s is filter fitted). In a group of people, the mate tea is passed around as a way of respecting each other.
I drank the finest coffee in Colombia. More than half of the world’s coffee production is performed in Brazil and Colombia.
I saw a lot of dogs living in the streets in South America; a lying sleeping dog is a very typical image everywhere, whether on a market or in front of an elegant building’s lobby or next to a restaurant. People like them, dogs are the usual players of their lives, so the dogs can live in peace. For example in Valparaiso, the dogs are given a winter jacket, with the script on: "I'm not abandoned, I am free."
One day in Puerto Natales I saw a dog with bleeding nose, so I went there to check out what matter he has. I was cherishing him for a while when -like in fairy tales the prince on the white horse - a white-robed man appeared and was approaching with a medical injection to cure the street dog! I was so pleasantly surprised about it, that I left them there relieved...only then I realized that we were only a few meters away from a pharmacy, but still, I haven't experienced such evident goodwill from a professional towards a street dog before.