My Final Month and the Long Anticipated Return Home

After leaving the Estancia, I headed to San Martin de los Andes, a small ski resort town about 5 hours south of Zapala in the Argentine lake district. Unfortunately, the weather was lousy and I ended up leaving two days after arriving. Still, I had a really nice hike that ended at a high point with a great view of the town and some surrounding lakes and mountains. Because of the bad weather that wasn't supposed to end for at least a week, I decided to go to Pucon, Chile with Emma, an Australian girl I met at my hostel. We got a bus to Pucon and safely arrived at a nice hostel without problems. Sadly, the weather in Pucon was no better than in San Martin de los Andes. But I didn't let that stop me. My first full day in Pucon was very relaxing; myself and several others from my hostels hit up quite possibly the best hot springs I have ever been to which were about an hour away from Pucon. I'm talking 6 or 7 seven pools with different temperatures right next to a raging river between two mountains covered in lush green vegetation. Fantastic. They were so nice we ended up staying for 6 hours. The next day, in the rain, I started a 50 km bikeride that took me to many beautiful waterfalls and finished at a black beach on an awesome lake. Unfortunately, the ride took longer than expected so I wasn't able to see the second beach on the lake, a white one, or do the 25 km return trip. It was about 7 PM, pouring rain, dark, I had a ticket for a bus to Santiago leaving at 9 PM, and I was alone. I had no idea what to do. Thankfully, I found out there was a bus going back to Pucon and the driver let me get on with my bike and sopping wet clothes. I caught my bus to Santiago without problems.
The next morning, I arrived in Santiago with Emma and two other friends from the hostel in Pucon. Upon arriving at the hostel, I nearly had a heart attack when I realized that I didn't have my money belt containing my passport, credit card, debit card, flashdrive with photos, 60 USD, and about 150 USD worth in Chilean pesos. It was the worst feeling. I guessed that it had fallen out of my pocket while I was sleeping on the bus, so I quickly made my way back to the terminal. I found my bus company's office, and thank God the money belt was still there. The only thing missing was the Chilean pesos, funny that they took those but not the USD. At that time though, I really didn't care about the money. If I had lost my passport, I would have been stuck in Chile and wouldn't have been able to meet Will and Ryan (Will's roomate and frat brother from Wash U) several days later in Buenos Aires. Santiago was really nice. I spent my days there walking around, visiting museums and parks, and going for bikerides. I also took a trip to the nearby port city, Valparaiso. It was a beautiful city with great street art, and I ended up spending 6 or so hours in a rooftop restaurant hanging out with the group I came with from Santiago.
From Santiago, I got a direct bus to Buenos Aires where, on the morning of May. 26, I met up with Will and Ryan who had arrived several hours before me. It was so good to see family again after being alone for so long. We had an amazing couple of weeks. After hanging out in BA for a few days, we headed north to Iguazu Falls on a long nightbus that was stopped for several hours during the night because of a roadblock set up by protesting farmers. Iguazu Falls were awe inspiring. It was definitely one of the most beautiful places I saw on the trip. The amount of water passing down the falls at any instant is incomprehensible. We visited the Argentine side two days in a row. After Iguazu, we headed to Tucumon. Our first full day, we took a bus to a nearby town, Tafi del Valley where we climbed a big mountain. Unfortunately, Ryan had food poisoning and he had a pretty bad day. The view from the top of the mountain was amazing. We were able to see the town, the valley it is in, a nearby lake, mountains all around, and clouds slowly drifting into the valley way below us. It was a great day, at least for Will and I. The next day, Ryan rested up at the hostel and Will and I cruised around the city. We saw some cool building and plazas and visited some cool markets. That evening, we got yet another bus, this time heading south to Mendoza. We arrived in Mendoza the next morning and headed to some nearby hotsprings which, after the hotsprings I visited in Pucon, were pretty crumby. That evening, I headed to the airport and met my good friend from Weston Max who had planned to come meet me for my last two weeks in South America. It was so good to see a friend from home again. The next morning, I woke up feeling horrible, not feeling up for the winery tour we had planned. Soon after getting up, I threw up big time and realized it was my turn to fight some food poisoning. The others took off and I went back to bed and spent my day relaxing.
The next morning, we got a bus to Puerto Madryn, a city on the coast of Argentina in Patagonia. We got there the next morning and quickly made our way to a hostel in the center near the beach. We found out we were too late to do any whale watching tours, so we did an awesome bike ride to a sea lion colony instead. The next day we rented a car and drove to the Peninsula Valdes, a national park with tons of wild life and, most importantly, supposedly the best whale watching in the world. It was a great day. In the morning, we did a whale watching tour on a boat and saw tons of whales, many of them breaching (jumping about halfway or so out of the water). It was unreal. Then we drove to another point where we saw some sea lions, armadillos, and beautiful views. That night we ran into a problem. Will and Ryan were set on going to southern Patagonia, which would mean spending at least three more days on a bus. Personally, I didn't really want to be on a bus that much but I didn't want to split up. Max didn't want to spend that much time on a bus either, because that would mean in total he would be on a bus for 4 of his 14 days in Argentina. We ended up splitting up. It was terrible, but really the only option. I was really sad about parting with those guys, but it turned out allright. Will and Ryan took off that night and Max and I decided to stay another day and get a bus to Buenos Aires the next evening. The next day Max and I went on another great bikeride to a whale watching point before getting on our bus to BA.
We got to Buenos Aires the next evening and had an excellent night on the town. The next day, we got a bus to the nearby city, Rosario, birthplace of Che Guevera. We chilled in Rosario for two more days, walking and biking around the city, before heading back to Buenos Aires for the weekend. Both on the way to and from Rosario our bus was delayed because of more roadblocks. In Buenos Aires, we did a lot of partying and not all that much else. On Sunday night, Will and Ryan finally showed up, a day late. Their journey from southern Argentina to BA had taken about a full day longer than expected due to the roadblocks. Nonetheless, the two were still very happy that they had chosen to go south having seen some incredible places. It was great to be back as a group, and we had a great, huge steak dinner at a famous restaurant , Siga la Vaca (follow the cow). That Tuesday, I left Buenos Aires on a 4:30 PM flight on Air Canada that took me to Santiago, Toronto, and finally New York City. For the last week or so, I was experiencing a crazy mix of emotions. I was so sad that my travels and my big South America trip were over, but so happy and excited to return home to family and friends. It was really weird.
Walking past security and seeing my mom waiting for me was one of the happiest moments of my life. It was so great to finally be able to hug her again after so long. Five and a half long months of being alone were now over. On the way home, we stopped at my dad's office and he really laughed when he saw my hair and beard. When we were driving through Weston, about to reach our house, I strangely felt as if I'd been gone only a week or so, as opposed to nine months. Walking into the kitchen and seeing Gigi and my two sisters was amazing. Walking into my room was one of the weirdest moments of my life. I was suddenly overcome by emotion, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. My trip was over. After nine long months on the road in South America, I was finally home. I couldn't, and still can't, believe it.
Now I have been home for about two weeks. Allthough I am sad that my trip is over, I am so happy about it and so thankful that I was able to do all that I was. It was so amazing, I couldn't have asked for more. I did so many things that were totally different from one another, but all incredible in their own way. Even though the trip turned out totally different than expected and there were plenty of bad moments, I can honestly say that it unfolded perfectly. It was just so incredible, I can't even begin to explain. I feel so much more than just happiness when I think about it. It is an indescribable emotion that I have never previously experienced, and one that I am sure I will never lose.

Finally, I want to say thank you to Mom and Dad, because without them there is no way that this trip would have happened.