So after just under 8 months of travelling overland from San Diego I made it to Ushuaia ("The worlds most southern city" / El Fin Del Mundo). Back when I was 15 in school myself and my friend Damien talked about this trip around the world that we would do once we finished Uni. It was kind of a joke at the time but we became pretty serious to do it. It involved travelling overland all the way across Europe, Russia and Asia to Australia then North to South America and then Cape town to home. It was always my dream to do most of this and I have now made it to 53 different countries 134 times along the way. Africa is something I am not so interested in doing just yet and will leave until I am older. Although Damien managed to do the bulk of this journey!
This particular trip along the Pan-am has been an incredible trip and I've met lots of amazing people. Originally kind of doing it myself or travelling "alone" I think I've only been on my own for the whole trip for less than 12 hours. Different people, friends, family and friends from other travels have joined me along the way not to mention lots of new friends I have met along the way and ended up travelling with for a number of months. In particular we had a group of about 8 of us travelling for about two months in Central America. Then after the boat from Panama to Colombia we had a really cool large group for about 6 weeks and then since Quito back mid Oct we've had a group that varies from 4 to 12 people all heading south so that's lasted about 4 months now. No matter where we go in South America its easy to bump into people we know as there are a lot of people doing the exact same thing and maybe branching off for a few days here and there. Not as unique that someone might think. I really respect those people who are driving this route on motorbikes or cycling it. I took the easy way out by busing it!
A lot of people keep asking me where I get the money to travel. Or how to do it. Well I feel like absolutely anyone can do it and you don't need much money at all. The truth is I work a few months as a waiter or bartender, usually minimum wage jobs and save as much as I can. A few months doing this is usually enough to travel well for a year. This means eating really good food, staying in nice hostels, drinking where we want to and doing most activities. I was very surprised at how expensive lot of stuff here is like food, drink, transport, activities, accommodation. It can be way more expensive than when I've travelled even in places like New Zealand, Germany, Spain and Portugal. Parts of South America are probably some of the more expensive places I've travelled to but despite this its been possible to do the whole trip on just about 30 euros a day or just under $40 USD. In the countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru which are a lot cheaper its tourist activities that always add up to a lot.
I don't know how much time I spent on buses and public transport to get here but it was highly enjoyable. In Central America it was generally chicken buses, old American school buses where locals bring on all sorts of stuff. Always ended up in a really interesting ride and interesting conversations. Most of South America and Mexico its been high class Semi-Cama buses which a lot of the time are on par with 1st class airplanes. The whole way from San Diego to Ushuaia including taxis to and from bus stations actually only cost 1521 EUR ($1923 USD) which is not that much at all. And actually Mexico, Chile and Argentina were the most expensive parts of this costing 874 euros between them which is crazy. Buses here were ridiculous.
A lot of people seem to think South America is dangerous but luckily we've had absolutely no problems so far....touch wood! Coming through all the countries the ones that stereotypically people think are the most dangerous were actually the friendliest and safest. Nowhere I've ever been has been as friendly as Colombia and that is by far my favourite place on this trip. Pretty much everyone we know got robbed in Ecuador or had a story about robberies there. We were lucky enough not to thank god. My biggest danger was my own stupidity and breaking my wrist!! Colombia was my favourite place for people, lifestyle, parties, hostels etc etc. Peru and Patagonia have been my favourite for scenery. Peru was absolutely incredible and also has great food and is very reasonably priced. Chile was also a favourite for people, food, scenery and lifestyle. And then there was Central America which I guess Nicaragua and Panama were my best.
Ushuaia is a pretty nice city. I somehow pictured it a lot duller and boring but we've had pretty much good weather every day. It usually doesn't get above 12 degrees but because its summer its bright until 1030 at night and bright again at 430 in the morning. A few weeks ago anything less than 30 degrees felt cool. Funny how quickly things change cause yesterday was 15 degrees and that felt very warm!! Its a small little town in Tierra del Fuego surrounded my snow capped mountains, a large port in the middle of the blue Beagle Channel. Surprisingly you'd think it would be really far south but its along the same latitude south as Belfast is north! On the other hand its so far from anywhere and everywhere. Its more than 10000 km from pretty much all the major cities anywhere in the world except for Brazil and Argentina!!
So anyway were sitting down here in Ushuaia now having a relaxing week after a few weeks trekking. Five of us are here all trying to decide what to do with our lives now!! We are all kind of heading different directions and coming up with different ideas of what to do next. Most of the week we have done nothing except sit around and its been great. Lots of ideas have come to mind but will just see how it plays out. The Antarctica was an option. I have never taken a loan out in my life but was considering it for this. Plus the Euro to Dollar exchange rate got so good over the last few days that it made it a few hundred euros cheaper. So a 11 day cruise including all the warm clothes would have cost 2300 euros as opposed to the $6000 to $8000 you might pay if you book in advance online. Had been considering it cause I could probably pay this money back in a yr or so but on the other hand I'm just not feeling it right now. I hope I wont regret it in the future.
Carnival in Brazil is also another option as something I've always wanted to do but its also crazy expensive. Brazil is meant to be the most expensive country in South America and if I already find most places more expensive than Europe I can't imagine what this is like. I hear some of the cheapest hostels are over $70 per night during Carnival with a 7 night min stay so this I can't really afford either. I am flying to Buenos Aires on Saturday so might look into working there for a few months and working on my Spanish. One of my biggest regrets of this trip is not knowing Spanish better and would hate to leave without learning it. But otherwise a lot of things have come to mind like work in New York, Norway, or stay in Argentina for ski season or keep travelling another month or so until the money runs out and then just find a flight home and hope something pops up there!! If anyone has any suggestions or job offers anywhere please tell me. Was also looking into going back to Uni sometime next yr. I would have thought that after 5 yrs after finished Uni I might have come up with some idea with what to do with my life but still don't have a clue!! Hope this doesn't sound like I'm complaining because I'm not!! Just looking for advice or ideas from other people doing different stuff around the place! If anyone has info on things like working Bar jobs in BA or NY or cruise ships or ski resorts or even teaching English without a qualification let me know! We all keep coming up with different plans here all the time and changing our minds daily!! One of the girls actually booked the Antarctica. Others are trying to work out different routes from BA to Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and even a trip up the Amazon to Colombia which I'd also love to do!! But who knows, I guess I'll head to BA and see where it takes me!!
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