Bolivia!!

Have spent an incredible 4 days in a gorgeous, sleepy town called Salta in Northern Argentina, going horseriding, enjoying cafe and backpacker culture, as well as grilled rare steak on the farm, olives, French cheese and fine wines - very very relaxing, and photos to follow soon!

This morning I arrived in Bolivia, a country I´ve been desperate to visit for a long time! Am in a southern town with incredible red mountains and not much else, getting aclimatised to the altitude and hiding from the very fierce sun. So far Bolivia has not disappointed; I think it´s going to be a much more extreme experience than Argentina, or indeed anywhere else in South America! The culture is very evidently more Andean than the European vibe of Argentina, and the landscape is eerie, beautiful and like nothing else I´ve ever seen before. 95% of the roads are unpaved - the rains wash them away every year, so think tractor moved dirt and gravel and that´s pretty much it. I love it.

Today I am jumping on another beloved overnight bus to Salta in Argentina, before crossing into Bolivia next week. I´ve hardly spent any time in Buenos Aires, but I need to leave for 2 reasons;

1) I wish to make it to La Paz before Christmas
2) Buenos Aires is so cool that if I don´t leave soon there´s a real danger I´ll spend the whole 10 weeks here!

Adieu for now...

So,

most of November has passed in a bit of a blur...a blur of travelling all over the South East, to Alabama, Louisiana et all, meeting students and helping my organisation get their program together, and learning all the sorority/fraternity lingo along the way. College football games, movies, enjoying autumn and time with friends. And to cap it off, a perfect week diving in Panama at the end of November to get my visa (and tan) renewed!

This, however has not been the main reason I´ve been so silent. I´ve spent much of this month reflecting and making tough decisions, as after completing our college tour it became very clear that the projects I´d come in to work on had come to a very natural close, and wouldn´t pick up again until about September next year! So, despite it making me very sad to do, about two weeks ago I came to the decision to leave early, and spent that time fitting in as much as possible with all the people I´ve come to love so much out here. I know that I´ll miss everyone I´ve been living and working with like crazy, but I´ve gotten so much out of my time in the States. Working with wonderful, talented people, living like a Southerner, and on a personal level it´s given me a ton of confidence to start my own business at some point in the future, which is something I´ve wanted to do for a long time. On a professional level I know that I´ve had an impact on Global LEAD, and that´s not something I want to lose - if I were to stay another 2 months my impact here would be limited.

So, new plan, yesterday, at 3am in the morning, I arrived in Buenos Aires, a place I´ve wanted to see for a long time! I´m going to spend the next 2 months travelling through Argentina and Bolivia (hopefully Chile too), practicing my Spanish, reading too much and getting to know this beautiful part of the world. My itinerary is very bare at the moment so any suggestions are welcome!

More on South America once I´ve actually gotten started on travelling, for now I just wanted to post up what was happening...