All that distance…
Peru Airfield
Grand Plans change, and so did mine. The original 9,400 Kilometers of travel actual turned into approximately 14,300 kilometers over 60 days. Certain portions of that travel turned into flights, however, as long-distance bus rides were definitely taking their toll, and I had no desire to add to them unnecessarily. With the change in plans for travel to Venezuela, from air to land transport, I did change the trip from Cucuta to Cali from bus to air. What’s amazing is that with the huge number of airlines serving large parts of South America, you are bound to find cheap one-way flights that cost only slightly more than a bus ticket would, and they are definitely time-savers. The trick is to use only domestic flights. The moment you cross a border by plane the prices skyrocket. Several other flights helped shorten travel times as well, and these included a flight from Tumbes in northern Peru to Lima, a flight from Lima to Cusco, a flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt, and a flight from Curitiba to Rio. Total distance covered by flights is approximately 4,000 kilometers, so at the end of the trip, I had added only 1,000 land-based kilometers to my trip. (Take a look at the map from my previous post: Trip Map)
(For a list of airlines and bus companies, please look for: Transportation Options – South America).
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NO! Bucket List, NO! 100…..
When I travel, I don’t make up an entire list of places that I ‘must see’. That kind of inflexibility only leads to rushing around and stress when the last few items on the list are not possible. Yes, I do have a few things I want to visit, but my schedule is generally quite flexible. I don’t have a bucket list of things that I must do before I die. 100 …… whatever. Similarly, I don’t subscribe to the lists that backpackers will often bandy about during evening conversations at bars in hostels. For every person travel is different, and I find it somewhat insulting to be asked whether or not I have ‘done’ this or that thing. You don’t ‘do’ a place, you experience parts of it. Travel does not consist of a shopping list of places to be scratched off as you buzz through them or past them.
Imagine yourself, wanting to travel in Thailand, and you’ve made a detailed plan. You want to go to Chatuchak, to the Temple of Dawn, the Grand Palace, the floating market, Ayuthaya, Chiang Mai, Sukhothai. Phuket, Krabi, the elephant camp and of course Doi Suthep, Samui island, and you can’t forget Chaang island nor Pathat Tong in Nakhon Phanom, and the Golden Mountain and the town of Pai where that oh so fancy flavour-of-the-month coffee shop is… and….and…but you only have 10 days, and on the last day you are lying on a beach somewhere and you realize that all you’ve been doing is ticking things off a list and you’re just too exhausted to get up and do another day of walking on Kho Kred, or some other temple or China town, or…whatever else is left on your list. So what if you miss one or more of those palaces, those temples, or islands? Will your trip be a total disaster? Will it be a waste of time? Are you afraid that you won’t be able to brag along with your friends that yes, you too have been to such and such a place and have the same identical t-shirt and hat? Is that all that travel really means to you, a checklist with a souvenir hat and t-shirt to prove the point; so you can impress friends? What did you learn on your last vacation, or were you so busy ticking boxes and buying the chintzy souvenirs that you didn’t learn anything or take the time to simply experience and enjoy and get to know people and make friends?
You’ll Never Have Enough Time, so Enjoy the Experience
Local market, Bogota
If you really travel, you will come to realize that no matter what place or country you visit, your 5, 10, 50 days are simply never going to be enough. Even in our home countries, how many of us have seen all there is to see and learn? Life is too short even to cover the country in which we are born, let alone do justice to any other place on earth. The best we can hope for is to get a short glimpse of some of the beauty that this planet has to offer. And so I try to visit the main museums and art galleries of the countries and cities that I visit – they speak of the history of the country, its origins, and also of its changes over time. I will study the architecture of buildings in the locations I find myself, as that architecture also speaks of life and change. Most importantly, however, I try to visit the markets (not the supermarkets or shopping malls – those I can find in any country and the products do not differ all that much from one country to another).
The markets I speak of are the ‘fresh’ markets, where produce is sold, farmers’ markets, flea markets, etc. It is in these spaces that you find life, laughter, color, and as true a representation of daily life as can be found. I visit parks, and jungles, and forests, and no matter where I encounter nature, I am always reminded how infinitely small we human beings really are. I do not subscribe to ‘having to’ eat or dine at ‘such-and-such a place’ – that is not a priority. If I find myself near the location, I may try it, but I will not go out of my way to find the ‘flavors of the month’; instead, I will eat in the market, or the small restaurants tucked away in quiet corners where the local population eats, because they know what good food tastes like. It’s almost a guarantee that if you see a small restaurant that is frequented by taxi drivers and civil servants, the food will be of superior taste, and inexpensive.
Travel in the slow lane…
Return for More
I started by mentioning that plans change, and my plans changed. It is necessary to be flexible when you travel – yes, a certain amount of scheduling is needed but it can be in broad strokes. I initially set a target of 7 days in each country; Colombia ate up 10 days, and Venezuela 7 days. I had barely started my trip, and already I was in trouble with my calculations. I looked at my schedule, as I had set a soft target date of 17 September for my arrival in Cusco, and here I was, the 11th of September, crossing the border into Ecuador, with Quito and Lima still in the master plan. I made an executive decision: Quito would be my only stop in Ecuador, a total of 3 days, then a flight to Lima from the north of Peru to save valuable time. It is unfortunate that this had to be done, but my reasoning is that I must go back to South America again, and spend more time in several countries; after all, I still want to see Angel Falls.
Music by: DJ Answer; Title: Forgiven – electronic lounge music Source:http://www.orangefreesounds.com/
