21 months, 12 days and home....

I would lie if I'd say it was easy to buy my return tickets and I have kept delaying it for months. So I eventually forced myself to come back for Christmas. It was for my family as I was up for another summer in the Southern hemisphere until the early March to really get to 2 years of traveling.
I spiced up my return with a surprise to my mum and my grand-parents, arriving two days before what I had told them.

 From late drinks at terrasses with my Chilean friends....

 to -2 degrees and a white Normandy 3 days later

I flew out of South America from Santiago de Chile and it took me three days to arrive in Caen. My flight has been all but direct: Santiago - Lima - Bogota - Madrid - Paris - Caen. 3 days, little sleep and once I was in the plane all the disappointment I could have felt about finishing this trip had disappeared. It is surprising as I am not a person really into family stuff but once in the plane I was ok because I knew what I was doing I knew it would make my relatives really happy. And since I have been so lucky to do this all trip for so long it was time to do something for them.

 My Colombian friend Carolina who came to see when I was between two flights at Bogota airport. Muchas gracias Caro!!!

So I came back Saturday 18th December at 10.00. I will never forget this day, the tears I saw in the eyes of my relatives, thing that I would not have thought, their laughs that made me quite emotional. I will not forget that this day was somehow surreal, to be again with them, a bit like if I had not left because the environment has not changed.

This 18th of December will always as a really special moment in my trip!!!

My house for 2 almost years

The trip is over

One anecdote. I was told coming back through Paris would be hard because it would show me life as I am not really looking forward to. So I arrived and the suburb train was late due to suspected luggage in one station blocking all the traffic so I had to wait half an hour in the cold for the bloody train!!! Welcome back!!!

A relaxing time in Argentina

What to say about my last month of traveling.
First I really enjoyed it, so much that I added Argentina on my list of destinations I would like to live in in South America.

Why?
First because it was spring, it was nice and warm and after months in the Andean altitudes I was happy I could wear only a tshirt at 23.00 while I was having an icrecream. Speaking about icecreams I did an "icrecream diet" whose aim was to eat icecream everyday. There is this flavour called mousse de maracuya which is just DELICIOUS. The strawberry, mango and peach sorbets are all great as well.

Pineapple, vanilla and strawberry...

Secondly because life is relaxed in Argentina. In the north it stops from 13.00 untill 17.00 because it is so hot the only thing you enjoy doing is a siesta!!! Then everything opens up untill late late late at night. In Buenos Aires life does not stop but it really slows down at the same time. So you do little and you check your clock and it is 22.00!!! Ahh, it´s time to start cooking. Finishing a nice bottle of Argentinian wine, it is midnight and everybody is still up. Talking about wine I had the best white wine in 10 years near Mendoza.

Although I am still not a fan of cars there is something quite funny about Argentina is that they do not throw away old cars. So from time to time one can see a car left here rotting. Moreover the cars in Argentina are either really new or really old like 20 years old but they continue working and they still work quite well. This contrast in the steets is quite surprising.

Two examples of car wrecks in the street

Football or fútbol as they say here. Here football is sheer passion, something simply crazy as people, including girls, do not have much sense of humor when it comes to their favorite club. Everybody supports a team, even those whose are not real fans of football. The ironic thing is that Argentinian club football is really bad as any good player will be bought by European clubs. Anyway people still go to the stadium despite the quality of the football and the violence between supporters. I went myself to see a game: Velez Sarsfield - Tigre. Velez was second and is considered to be one of the teams that plays best in Argentina. I was with the supporters behind the goal. They sing all the time, they do not really watch the game there is definitively something else, something that in France we have no idea about when it comes to supporting a team.

Even the police watches the game!!!

My friend Mattias (right) who took me to the game

Argentinian people. What make a special a country (contrary to a few spots in a country) are its peole. Argentinians are really friendly and welcoming. Friends from the travel, friends I had just met, friends from CouchSurfing they all showed me Argentina on a good light.

Barbecue with the family of Dany

Paola and Gime in Rosario

Maria (left) in Buenos Aires

Iguazu, the last natural highlight

Iguazu came as a big surprise in my last month of the trip because after so long it has become more difficult to be impressed by what I saw when it comes to nature. I usually blame it on Patagonia because the month I have spent there has been simply so fantastic.

I know I look like a beggar and I need to change my tshirt!!

As I did for the rest of Argentina I decided to take my time in Iguazu and get a bit lazy. So in the end I went three days to the national park Iguazu, two on the Argentinian side and one on the Brazilian side.
The two are quite complementary because when one gets you really close to the Falls (the Argentinian one) the other one gives you an impressive view of almost all the falls at once and I can confirm it's pretty cool.

  The Brazilian side (with la garganta del diablo at the left of the picture)

 and the Argentinian side that takes you almost into the watrer

What is really impressive for Iguazu is the sheer might of the falls. They make you feel so small and weak that you could stay there litteraly hours watching the water falling down. There is something that attracts you. You can try to count how long it takes from top to bottom for the water to fall, try to see how it changes with the light of the day or just think what would happen if I would swim there (the end is obvious but it would be fun before). The surprising thing about the falls is that the river is actually quite calm and suddenly there is the drop where the powerful monstear appear!!!
 

   From quiet.....

to the devils throath!!!!!

Iguazu has almost really nice butterflies, some food thieves dressed as rodents and a nice small waterfall to refresh a bit when it gets really hot.

Last thing is that although it is crowded you can avoid the crowds if you just go a bit before or after the big flows linked to the small train getting you from one point to the other (it is made for lazy people!!!)

Whenever you get to Brazil or Argentina take the time to get there it is really worth it.