The return - over and out ...

I had to wait several weeks before mustering the courage to write again about our trip. To be honest I had even decided several times not to add this last entry to the blog. I guess I did not want our trip to be over and writing this last entry would mean that our great adventure had finally come to an end.

We flew back from Recife to Rio and spent several hours in Rio waiting for the night plane back to Europe. We locked our suitcases in safe keeping at the airport and wandered away in Rio. We wanted to get some Cachaça and so we went to a shopping centre. We found what we wanted and also did some window shopping. I finally managed to taste "Bob's Burger", a Brazilian burger joint, but it was awful (I should have listened to you Will).

We then came back to the airport, where Jean-Yves and Stéphanie were waiting for us, got some last minute duty free items (what's a Mauritian without a bagful of duty free wines & spirits!) and boarded the plane back home. We still had not quite realised what was going on. We had a reasonably nice flight, during which we did not sleep much.

When we landed in Paris it hit us! We were back on the old continent. Everything seemed so familiar, and I did not like that! We took a high speed train to Brussels and took the public transport back home. It was cold... and grey! We were back, our trip had ended.

I had read that we would go through a low point (a mild depression if you will) 3-4 months after returning. That is why it is important to book some more vacation around that period to have something to look forward to. I must say that I did not have to wait for that long as the first week we spent at home before going back to work seriously dented our morale! We found ourselves all of a sudden alone at home, finding again familiar habits (the bus 95, the Delhaize supermarket, the UGC cinema) but yet it seemed so strange to do those things again.   

People ask us if we see life differently now, if this trip has changed us in a radical fashion. I don't think so. Does it take a trip like this to see things differently or does it take one who sees things differently to engage in such a trip in the first place? Chicken and egg kind of thing ... 

I think if we had done a trip like that right after secondary school, like a first big trip abroad, it might have changed our insight on things more. But we are in our early 30's already left our home and country of birth and living abroad for over a decade. So the impact of such a voyage is somewhat diminished. 

But what I know is that over the past 6 months we have seen some extra-ordinary things, lived incredible experiences and met some amazing people.

View Our trip in South Amrica in a full screen map

We have been in the natural miracle of the Galapagos Islands, climbed the mythical Machu Picchu, seen the astounding glaciers in Patagonia and walked on deserted beaches in Brazil. We have been charmed by the Easter Island and felt humbled to trek in Torres del Paine. We walked and swam in the lush Amazon rain forest basin and  experienced carnival in Brazil.

We have visited amongst others Quito, Lima, Nasca, Arequipa, Cusco, Santiago, La Paz, Sucre, Ushuaia, Buenos Aires and Rio, cities filled with past history and modern individual character. Bustling centres and quiet residential neighbourhoods where people are simply getting on with their lives.

Amazon Basin, Ecuador

Galapagos Island, Ecuador

Punta Union, Peru

Machu Picchu, Peru

Endless sea of white, Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia

Garganta del Diablo, Cafayate, Argentina 

Best meat in the world, Argentina

Amazing diving, Easter Island

The trek of our lives, in Torres del Paine, Chile

The three "towers" - Torres del Paine, Chile

Perito Mereno, El Calafate, Argentina

  

Ushuaia, Argentina

San Martin de Los Andes, Argentina

Buenos Aires

Rio de Janeiro, cidade maravilhosa

Paradise beaches, Brazil

For A selection of the best pictures of the trip
There are a little under 600 pictures in this selection, which may sound like a lot but it is actually only an average of 3 pictures per day of travel ...

Then there were the people we met. Everywhere, fellow travellers, locals or old friends alike made this trip so very special. But every time we learnt a lot bout the way of living and the realities of the people living in the regions we visited. We met many other travellers each having different stories and life paths. With some of them we spent only a few hours while with others weeks. We stayed with old friends and relived some of the old times. 

There are so many people that I dare not start enumerating. Maybe only a special mention to Cecilia with whom we stayed for several weeks and who opened her home to us. We had such a very special Christmas and New Year with Cecilia, Pedro, Juan and the entire Arribere and Antonino families. Muchas gracias a todos!

This voyage taught us a great deal about ourselves too. It exposed some of our flaws of character but enhanced our strong suits. I learnt how to let go of small vexations quicker and look towards the future. It also showed us a whole different way of travelling. Backpacking, bus and hostels ... I wonder why we never did this before.

Many people ask us if we would go again given the chance ... the answer is YES! Absolutely. Sometimes we regret we did not do 1 whole year. We would have done a round the world then, including Africa, Mauritius, Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia and perhaps India and some Pacific Islands. But on the other hand this feeling of not having done enough gives us the motivation to do a similar trip to some other parts of the world in the future. In the meantime I keep buying lottery tickets!