This photo should be in the previous post, but it shows the refugio where I stayed on my hike last week - gorgeous, no?!
Buenas Noches! I finally took the time to upload the rest of my photos from my time in Junin. Check them out here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058313&l=53c0c&id=5901703
It´s a stormy night here in Bariloche, and I have just spent the last hour sipping tea and learning about the when, where, and why of Spanish accent marks. For some strange reason, I genuinely LOVE (and I am in NO way being sarcastic) Spanish grammar. It just so happens that German´s 10 year old son is learning the same thing in his Spanish classes, so we sat at the table together at 11 pm reading about Don Alphabet and his Word Planet until I realized that perhaps it wasnt the best hour to be practicing such things with a 10 year old - i.e. Teo began to fall asleep. So the lesson has been put on hold until tomorrow. But, man, oh man, let me tell you what - learning the rules just makes things so much easier! For the past few weeks I have not only been speaking only in Spanish, but written daily in my diary only in Spanish. Of course, there is no one to correct the private thoughts I note in there, so whose to say if it´s even inteligible, pero bueno... My next goal is to work on my pronunciation. It´s killing me that I still sound so very much like a freakin´ North Americano trying so hard to speak this here lenguaje. What does one have to do to sound at least a teensy weensy bit less foreign...grrr! But enough of that babble!
In the last few days, I had the opportunity to go on two spectacular bike rides in las montañas nearby. Once on a 25 km ride that involved a killer climb on a dirt road, followed by perhaps the fastest descent of my life as I flew down 10 km of windy pavement trying to keep up with some women who had done the ride more than a few times. Then yesterday, German´s wife Carolina and I did a 45 km loop skirting three gorgeous crystalline lakes. We passed through a Swiss colony (yes, I am still in Argentina), visited the famous Llao Llao hotel, and went up and down and up and down hill after hill with some of the most amazing scenery imaginable in front, behind, and all around me the entire way! This place will never cease to amaze me with it´s breathtaking views of the mountains and lakes in every direction!
Biking the "Circuito Chico" around Bariloche with Caro!
And tomorrow I will begin planning a trip for Joe - a co-worker from NOC who is down here visiting another co-worker who currently lives in Chile - and myself to visit a few super important and amazing places in Southern Argentina - i.e. PATAGONIA!!!! I have been waiting for the right moment to make my way South and am excited to have a travel companion - so much for thinking I would be going at it solo the whole time, eh?! Anyway, I have much to do to get everything in order, but wanted to share some random thoughts that have been passing through my head in the last few weeks...
Believe what you will about what happens to our loved ones after they die, but Im telling you, I wholeheartedly believe that my paternal grandmother - good ole Big Mama - is rocking and rolling and having the time of her life (or afterlife, if you will) here in Argentina. In many ways, she is the reason I am here right now. After living in Ecuador 4 years ago, I had always talked about coming back to South America to do some traveling "someday." But we all know how "someday" goes. Schedules, work, money, family, obligations, fear - you name it - the reasons and
excuses not to do something we have always dreamed of can become endless when the possibility of actually getting what we want comes into sight. In fact, even after I bought the ticket and made the plans to come here, I found myself so overwhelmed by the journey on which I was about to embark that I really almost hoped something would happen that would keep me from going. I promise you that if someone had told me, "Cameron, you cannot go," I would have stayed home without asking why. In fact, I had numerous conversations with friends and family in which I nearly begged them to tell me not to go, but the responses were always the same - wholehearted support and encouragement - "You can do this, Cameron. YOU!" Really?!? They ALL
thought this? Why was I the one with so little faith? And the person who truly got the ball rolling was Big Mama.
My grandmother loved to travel. As the first 70+ years of her life were spent studying, working hard, raising 5 children and taking care of my grandfather once he could no longer get around on his own, she took full advantage of the last 10 years of her life during which she traveled numerous times a year all over the globe with different family members. As long as you were a Taylor, you were fair game for
an invite - I tried so hard one time to convince her that Molly, my college roommate, might as well be a Taylor, but to no avail. While she hit many countries on many continents, she never made it to South America. A trip here for the two of us was always in the works, but due to school, timing, work, and other such obligations, it never came to pass. And when Big Mama realized she would be too sick to ever make the trip herself, she insisted I go for two weeks - her treat.
Really?!? What an amazing gift! But again, as easy as it should be to take a gift like this and use it right away, somehow life, work, and - for me - fear, get in the way. Yet everytime I talked to her, she kept saying, "When are you going?" And to make me mad (and set a fire to make me actually plan the trip), she would say (to be read with a VERY strong Southern accent) "I just dont believe you are going
to go. You dont have it in you, do you?" She had a way of egging me on by acting like she doubted my ability to do something. So, just one week before she died, I had convinced dad (ok, so there wasn´t exactly THAT much convincing that took place) to be my travel companion and decided where and when to go. And it just so happened
that dad and I would be here on what would have been her 87th birthday. And from there, I got to thinking - "Well, if this trip I have always talked about taking "someday" is going to happen, now is as good a time as ever!" I already had an initial reason (and means) to get to Argentina, so why not just stick around for a few months - or 8! - and see what there is to see! And, you know what, I think (or
I know) Big Mama has stuck around too. She´s having fun, but mainly I
think she´s watching over me to make sure I am doing alright. Things are just falling into place too beautifully to not have someone watching over me. And I feel that this is evident each time I meet someone or some family that invites me to travel with them. So here´s to keeping the good times rolling as I travel down down to the end of the world with Joe! VIVA!
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