Life is what happens while you make other plans.

I just started this voyage a few weeks ago with no idea what it would turn into. The end was always hazy – both in terms of destination and date – and so were destinations, schedule, and objective. Part of the fun and purpose of this trip was to find out what to do next, where to go, which step to take next. Finding myself, my purpose (it’s that little thing that lights fire under your ass).

Some of this became very clear when I checked my email today. I will be ending this voyage before August and I will return to Europe – if not back to Germany, then at least close to it. And at least for a few years – after all I have the attention span of a hamster, so I can’t really be expected to make any decisions for years to come, can I? What will I do? I have not the slightest idea, maybe work for a non-profit, a charitable organization, or teach/train people. But the most important thing that I’ll do is spend more time with my family.

I love you, little sister, and can’t wait to see you again.

Other than this (cryptic) realization (send me an email if you want to know more), what else is new?

Today I have come to discover that I have had more beer to drink here since I arrived than drinking water. One could easily dismiss this and explain it with the poor water quality in Central and South American countries, but really – it’s got nothing to do with that. Quite the contrary actually, the water quality here is fine (although the water is not quite as pristine as in parts of Patagonia), it’s just that sitting in the constant heat and drinking a cold beer is tremendously enjoyable. And that’s pretty much all that you can do in the heat – it’s too hot for any strenuous activities, and the waves at the local bay aren’t anywhere near big enough for body surfing or other water activities (and snorkeling is largely out due to the high content of floating sand in the water). So what do we do after coming back from “school”? Sit in the hotel bar and study regular and irregular verbs, vocabulary and expressions – and drink beer. Years of reading didn’t do the trick, but after two weeks here I can finally understand why the characters in Hemingway’s book seem to have nothing else to do but drink, swim, and eat. I almost feel like I could be part of “Islands in the Storm”.

From the classifieds:

Private classes are definitely the way to go if you want to learn Spanish. They are much more strenuous and require undivided attention for a whole afternoon, but I leave them realizing that they also required me to speak for 4 hours straight. And with help of good ol’ flash cards I am starting to remember my verbs as well.

Adding fins to my snorkeling gear didn’t help – the visibility is still close to zero, even when swimming out 100m. I might have to pay for a trip on a dive boat after all.

I am a bit scared of the Spanish in Argentina. Yesterday morning I tried to watch the “Motorcycle Diaries” in Spanish, and I had a hard time even trying to figure out where one word ends and the next starts, understanding anything was next to impossible. I am considering taking another week or two of conversation classes in BsAs.

Nate wised up and moved his trip to Argentina up by a month, so we should be able to get some great weather throughout Patagonia and parts of Tierra del Fuego when we head down there in late March. I am still hoping to make this trip with a motorcycle and follow parts of Che Guevara’s route and the book “Chasing Che”, but I’ll have to see about this when I am in BsAs. What’s a good bike to take? Anyone?