‍Traveling South America

Originally published September 6, 2014

Damn, it’s been a while.

I could go on by saying I was busy, or that I had nothing to write about, or make any other BS excuse to justify why I haven’t written in a while, but the truth is, I just haven’t.

Until this past week.

For the last three weeks in August, I was fortunate enough to travel with my family throughout South America. I had the chance to visit some amazing cities and places, ones that I will truly never forget.

Now, I’m not going to make this a travel blog post, where I tell you about everything I did, where I stayed/dined/walked, etc. cuz that’s boring. If you want to know all that stuff, hit up tripadvisor, because they have way more information than me. I’m going to tell you about my thoughts on my experience traveling one of the most unique continents in the world.

I visited a number of different places, so I’m going to give a brief summary about each individual country and then just generally reflect on my whole trip. Sound good?

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First leg of our trip: Buenos Aires, Argentina.

To me, this was like any other big city, and actually bore a lot of resemblance to Paris (Didn’t know till after that it’s actually called the ‘Paris of the South’). About a week before we got there, Argentina just defaulted on it’s debt and after walking through the city, it was very easy to tell the country had fallen on hard times. For example, everything was very expensive: 100 dollar soccer shoes here in Canada and the US were 500 dollars US and even on Saturday and Sunday, malls were dead and there wasn’t that many people walking around town.

Nonetheless, the city was still very nice. We went during their winter and as a result it was quite cold, but I could definitely see how Buenos Aires is a bustling city, and very touristy in the summer. They have a really nice port area, filled with restaurants and bars (similar to the one in Sydney), a massive park in the middle of the city (reminded me of Central Park) and 14 lane roads (this was the weirdest thing. Imagine 14 lane, one-way streets. It was nuts!). Overall, it was very cool, international city.

Next stop: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Best views of any city I’ve ever seen and the Christ the Redeemer is truly spectacular; definitely a wonder of the world. There’s a massive lake/lagoon in the middle of the city and Rio is right on the Atlantic ocean with the famous Copacabana beach (and lesser known Ipanema beach), so it really makes for some amazing scenery. Also had a chance to visit the Maracana stadium and it’s an amazing venue. We went exactly one month after the World Cup Final and got to go in the dressing room, see the media box and sit pitch-side on the bench. Very cool shit.

However, even after all of this, I was still a bit underwhelmed by the city. The famous favelas are everywhere and you still feel a bit unsafe in the city. Our hotel was right on the beach but next to a neighbourhood of favelas, and one night, we heard machine gun fire from our room. Traffic is also horrendous and none of the Olympic sites are even close to being done, so I have no idea how they’re going to pull of the Olympics in 2 years. Overall, amazing scenery, but still needs to be cleaned up for the Olympics.

After that: Santiago, Chile.

Definitely the most surprising and underrated place to visit on our trip. The city is really quite developed and it’s very cool how it’s built between mountains. They have a really nice subway system (even better than Toronto’s), which connects you to all parts of city; from the old square in the centre of Santiago to the massive mall on the outskirts of the city.

Santiago is also a huge summer ski destination for North Americans, and it’s not hard to see why. A lot of Olympians, like Lindsey Vonn and Erik Guay, have trained there in the past, and it has some unbelievable mountains. Also had the chance to visit a ‘biodynamic’ winery (fancy way of saying organic), which was also quite amazing. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into the whole wine process that you never really think about, so it was very cool to learn about it. Overall, definitely a place I would visit again, and lots to do.

Small lay-over: Bogota, Columbia.

Had the chance to do a brief city tour of Bogota between Chile and Galapagos. Not gonna lie, going into it, I was quite nervous about seeing Colombia, just cuz I thought it would be very poor, and very unsafe due to drug history/Pablo Escobar etc. However, I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. There’s police everywhere, which made me feel quite secure, and a lot of history in the city. It’s built amongst the mountains as well and has some remarkable views. Not to say it’s a totally developed city, but definitely one that is steadily improving its reputation.

And I’m not a fan of coffee, but man is Colombian coffee good…

Then came the highlight of my trip: Galapagos, Ecuador.

In my opinion, it was totally worth all the hype. Where else in the world can you say you snorkelled with sea lions, sharks and green sea turtles all in one place, while seeing swimming iguanas and Galapagos penguins less than a foot in front of you? The Ecuadorian national park service has done a fantastic job maintaining the biodiversity in the Galapagos and it truly is unlike anywhere else.

Had the chance to visit the Tortoise sanctuary and it’s very cool to see the Giant Tortoises in their own habitat. They’re pathetically slow, and don’t really do much, but still amazing to see. We had a couple of excursions to different islands, and although they were both very different, they were still equally awesome. Santa Cruz had the clearest water I’ve ever seen in my life with tens of sea lions just chilling on a beach right in front of you. It was also wild to see about 10 sharks, all clumped together, about 2 feet from the shore. The other island, Bartholome, was all volcanic rock (similar to Hawaii’s big island) but had the best marine life.

I think the experience would’ve been even better if I had the chance to scuba dive, but such is life, and was still very impressed with what I saw. Overall, highlight of the trip and everyone should see it at least once.

Last but not least: Cusco/Machu Picchu Peru.

Machu Picchu is totally a WOW moment, but man is it hard to get to. Normally, most people who go to Machu Picchu do the weeklong climb/hike along the Inka trail, but we were fortunate enough to see it via train. However, I didn’t realize how much altitude could affect you. I consider myself a generally fit person (play a lot of sports, stay active, etc.) but being 11,000 feet above sea level really does get to you.

It’s strange to think that about 100 years ago, some dude was just hiking and came across this amazing lost city in the middle of the mountains. It’s also crazy to think about how the city was even made, considering Machu Picchu is about 1000 feet from the next closest town and the workers had to transport stones that were as big as modern day mailboxes.

Had the chance to see Cusco as well for a few hours before we headed home, and I thought that with all the tourism money coming into the town, it would be more developed. Yet, it’s still a very traditional city.

Overall, although I never really felt normal throughout the time we were in Peru, it was totally worth it for what we saw.

‘Education. It’s really the most important thing you could give to any person’

First thing I noticed on the trip: people. There are people everywhere. Anywhere you look: people. Left, right, up, down: people. Thing is, growing up in Canada, my world was basically school, family and friends. Throughout elementary school and high school, I really couldn’t understand the magnitude of the world because I was so focused with what was going on in my life.

I’ve been lucky enough to travel to both China and India, by the far the most populous countries in the world, and yes, there are people everywhere. But you expect that, because there are over 1 billion people in each country. However, on this trip, after visiting so many countries, you realize just how big the world really is. Nowadays with the invention of the Internet and social media and such, the world seems so small, but to me, it’s still enormous.

Think about it, you are one of 7.25 billion people in this world, and you are no more special than any one of those people. Sure, you may have more opportunity and may be in a better situation than over 99% of the rest of the world, but it doesn’t mean your life means more than anyone else’s. That’s why, when you look at our world now, for example with what’s happening with ISIS in the Middle East, all those people who are suffering brutal atrocities are really no more different than you and I. We tend to desensitize ourselves to what we hear in the news because we think that those people are not like us at all and are totally different. However, we need to remember that their lives mean no less than ours.

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Education. It really is the most important thing you could give to any person. It’s amazing how much people, like me, take for granted the value of living in a place where it is the law to go to school. I remember when I was in elementary school how some days I woke up dreading going to school because I didn’t want to write that test or submit that assignment. However, I was so young and naïve that I really didn’t appreciate the value of the position I was in. Every day I had the chance to wake up in my comfortable bed, in my amazing house, walk to the sink to drink clean water, put on a different set of fresh clothes and have delicious food waiting for me downstairs on the table. For over half the world’s population, that’s not even close to how they wake up every morning.

I also learned that for most of the world’s population, education is your only ticket out. During our few days in Peru, we had the chance to go on a little detour during one of our excursions to go see a local school. Our family wanted to donate school supplies and make a tiny difference in the kids’ lives so the tour guide, Alvaro, took us to the elementary school he grew up in. That was definitely a memorable moment, as every single kid’s face lit up when we gave them pencils, markers and paper. Alvaro explained to us that these kids walk about an hour a day to get to school, up and down mountains, by themselves, just to get an education. He also told us that most of these kids end up working on farms or for their families, and that he was one of the lucky ones to do well and make something of himself. This whole thing really hit me hard because like my prior service trip to India, it taught me to be appreciative of the position I’m in and be thankful that I still have an opportunity to get an education.

Lastly, appreciation: being grateful, being thankful for everything you have. If you were to tell me that I would have the opportunity to go on this trip and see all the places I did in three weeks, I would say you were dreaming, and that’s how I described the trip to somebody, ‘almost dream-like.’ I will forever be thankful for the opportunity I had to go on this amazing, once in a lifetime vacation, and to that, I owe it all to my parents.

It’s kinda crazy to think how much your parents do for you on a daily basis. They’re your doctors, therapists, cooks, caregivers, and friends, while still doing everything to try and put you in the best possible position to succeed. I’ve been fortunate enough to see the world because of my parents, and I will forever be in debt to what they have given me. Occasionally we take our parents for granted, talking back to them or telling them off, but I’ve begun to realize that they’re always trying to look out for us and do what’s best. My parents really have given me everything (and more) and to that, all I can is thank you…

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Wow, can’t believe you actually spent time to read that. Congrats to you sir/madam.

But seriously, thanks for taking the time to read it and if you want to give me your opinion, however harsh it may be, my body will be ready.

I’m going to try and update my blog more now that summer is finished and I’m getting back to school, but who knows.

So to quote Mr. Chow ‘Toodalooo mother******s’

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