The mind works in mysterious ways

Before I left for my trip to Chile and Argentina I was joking with an Arup colleague that I wouldn't be doing any real backpacking, that I would just chill out by a pool drinking cocktails.
This joke slowly started turning into reality when, half an hour before leaving for the airport, I decided to take a suitcase instead of my backpack. A decision I haven't regretted for a moment. After all, both Chile and Argentina have paved roads.

Then, once I was in Chile, I got invited to stay with a Chilean family, in their holiday house in the moutains. I think the pictures say it all. A huge wooden house, all the water directly from the river and no electricity until after sunset, when the generator was switched on. A five star back-to-nature experience. But the highlight of this adventure was the 9 year-old Benjamin, who very patiently kept teaching me new words in Spanish.






But even though I was surrounded by the most beautiful scenery and welcoming people, my mind wouldn´t stop thinking lots of ¨if only´s¨. If only I were here with my own family/friends, if only I spoke better Spanish, if only I could go back to Sydney soon, if only this were my house. If only, and it would all be perfect. Does this mean I am spoiled? Well, obviously I am, but I don´t think that was the reason. I think it was just the thought of being dependent on these people, not being able to leave if I wanted to, to do my own thing. Maybe my year in Sydney has made me a bit too independent. After a severe test of my patience with Latin timing (with everything happening a day later then planned!) we finally got back to Santiago/Valparaíso on Monday night. The next morning I made a dash for Mendoza (Argentina), just over the Andes. And it´s amazing how much better I feel! Mentally I mean, because my body is actually quite sore from horseback riding.




Briefly skipping back to Santiago de Chile again: I thought it was a pleasant city, and Sara (see previous post) showed me some neighbourhoods that I am quite sad not to have been able to explore further. Maybe on the way back. I was also pleasantly surprised to see my favourite tree, the jacaranda. Too bad its blooming season was near the end.


Mendoza is great as well. It´s very, very green and very calm without being sleepy or boring. It actually feels a bit like a Spanish town. (Hmm, how strange....doh)

Some of you might be pleased to hear that I haven´t been able to maintain my vegetarianism. In Chile I did fairly well. Because they eat everything with avocado I would just ask for no meat-extra avocado. But here in Argentina the avocado has disappeared from the menu. Instead, it´s meat, meat and meat. Today I had about 6 pieces of the most delicious (and deliciously bbq-ed) meat ever. I comfort myself with the idea that out here the cows lead happy pampa-lives, far away from over-crowded cages and hormone injections. Yay.





From Mendoza I am going to Buenos Aires (on Saturday), where Madeleine will join me on 28 November. Together we will explore BA a bit more, (hopefuly) go to a Boca Juniors soccer game, and then travel around other parts of Argentina until Christmas. After Madeleine leaves on 26 December, I hope to stay in Buenos Aires to learn more Spanish (with that peculiar Argentinean accent) and maybe find a job of some sort. I am actually going to look at an apartment in BA this Monday!


Over the past week I had about a million ideas of what to write about, but in reality typing a blog on a hostel computer is not ideal. There´s wi-fi in most places, so I can use my own laptop too, but the handy, tiny thing is so tiny that I will develop RSI in every part of my body if I use it for too long. So you see, lots of excuses!


I guess the main point I want to get across is that I am happy to be here.

I am in Chile

As the title says, I am in Chile! And it's great. I will post an update later but just wanted to say I had a great day with Sara, an American girl that doesn't look American (and doesn't sound American when she speaks Spanish). She showed me around the city and we both got very red-faced because it was really hot. Not complaining though! I also had my first pisco sour, the national Chilean drink, dangerously nice!

More to come soon!

McCain supporters on the Dutch news

In Sydney I succesfully sheltered myself from most of the world's news. This wasn't on purpose, and I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, it's just the way it was. It didn't worry me too much because I figured that if something big happened I'd hear about it anyway.
Hmm, come to think of it, I did quickly check a Dutch news website almost every day, so I am not being totally honest here!
My point is, if the recent trivia quiz at work had focused on current affairs, I would've sucked.

Luckily (?) I feel a bit more involved again now that I am back in Europe. For instance, there is no escaping the financial crisis. Even all my girl friends seem to suddenly know a lot about shares, pension funds and putting your money into a savings account in Iceland (don't). I still think it's an extremely dull topic, although I must admit the sudden collapse of the Aussie dollar, just when I (for the first time in my life) have quite a few savings (in Australian dollars, in an Australian bank account) did make me swear on quite a few occasions. I'm trying to be more Zen about it now. I'm sure it's still worth a lot in Chile and Argentina...

Last week though, the Dutch news had an item covering one of my favourite things: the opinions of the average American. Ok, I know that editing is manipulative, and that they'd rather show extremes because normal, sensible people are less interesting to watch, but boy does it make for some great tv!
They were interviewing people that were waiting to go into a community hall or something where McCain was going to hold a speech. The interviewer asked them if there was a chance they would vote for Obama:

Woman: "Hell no, he's a criminal!!!"

Reporter: "? A criminal? How so?"

Woman (with a look of disbelief that the reporter guy didn't instantly agree with her): "Yes! He's a socialist!" (Socialist pronounced like it's the most disgusting thing in the world)

Reporter: "But is a socialist necessarily a criminal too?"

Woman: "............well,........well,........with his record they wouldn't even hire him at a post office if he applied!!!"


This post office example was repeated by someone else. Apparently people seem to want a president that could just as well have been an employee at a post office. I should hope that a potential president would be slightly overqualified for a job at the post office, but hey, what do I know.

Another lady was very, very concerned that "all the foreign newspapers I read want Obama to win". This to her was a clear sign: "Of course they support Obama and want him to win, they want America to become weaker, they don't want a strong America".

Finally, some shots of McCain saying nothing of any interest. Just yelling: "We have to stand up and FIGHT!!".
Sure, that's just what you need. Spend some more time, energy and some xx billion dollars on fighting. After all, fighting is what makes people happy. Poverty, healthcare, and the environment are nothing but topics for socialists. Oh sorry, that should be 'criminals', of course.

Back to Dutch life

Stereotypes are true sometimes. Yesterday I ate two slices of brown bread with some Old Amsterdam cheese. Then I got my bicycle from the shed, the bike that I've had since I was...13? and rode it to my friend's house, without encountering any hills on the way. We drank some cinnamon tea and ate some good chocolate.

No clogs and windmills though. And the sun was shining!

Karma II

Well, I was right. What goes around comes around, in this case in the form of three whole seats to myself on both legs of my journey from Sydney to Amsterdam. The first flight wasn't full so more people were lucky, but on the second flight every seat was taken, except the two next to me. It made me feel a bit guilty, stretching out and sleeping for 8 hours. But then again, it's not my fault I was the only one generous enough to give away free money!

I'm flying again soon, hopefully I'll have an absent-minded, forgetful day before that flight too.

Signs that make you wonder...

Today I saw two signs that made me laugh.

I encountered the first one when I was jogging in Rose Bay, along the posh, plush, green Rose Bay Golf Course:

"Illegal dumping prohibited"

I might just have to run around to the other side of the course tomorrow, because this suggests there might also be a place where it's "legal dumping prohibited" or maybe even "illegal dumping allowed".

The second sign was in the Botanical Gardens where I was lazily strolling around in the afternoon. (I am a lady of leisure these days, it's not bad at all). In the Botanical Gardens you are encouraged to walk on the grass, touch the trees and talk to the birds. But there were two very big trees with a fence around them. The sign said something like: "Please don't climb over this fence. Branches may drop without warning". Am I supposed to assume that going near the other trees in the Gardens is safe, because those trees do warn me before they drop a branch?

This is pretty useless info and it won't win you a trivia night (for that you need to be an expert in American pop culture and Disney movies), but it's these small things in life that can make me laugh out loud. LOL.