Debriefing: South America

So, now that we´ve finally gotten settled in here in Europe, I thought it was time for some reflection on South America. So, here are some of the key takeaways....

1) Despite the horror stories from almost everyone we spoke with, we never once felt unsafe in South America (even that shady trip up to the viewpoints in Rio was not that bad, I had my counterattack planned within seconds of stepping out of the car...plus, there were police up there monitoring things anyway). All you need to do is use the computer ahead of time and your head while you are there and you will be fine. It is such an amazing place and it is a shame if you stay away from it because you let someone else scare you rather than going and forming your own opinions about it. WE LOVED IT AND WISH WE WERE STILL THERE!
2) The way to really experience a country and a culture is to see what they eat and what they see. The locals do not spend time at tourist sites or Starbucks, they drink Mata in the afternoon and walk everywhere. So, Lindsay and I decided we would do our best to do the same and thus set out to expand our stomachs and our strides every day. I cant name you the 2 museums we visited in our five weeks there, but I can tell you the native drinks and food we tasted every night we were there.
3) Don´t even think of renting a car. In Lima, the buses with people soliciting customers from the windows will run you over. In Patagonia, you will run out of gas and be stranded in the middle of nowhere, probably til the vultures start picking at your bones. In Mendoza, shoulders are passing lanes. In Iguazu, any flat surface is a passing lane. In Sao Paolo, 4 inches of space is all that is needed for someone to take the lane in front of you and 4 inches of middle finger is all you´ll see for a good mile after you flash him the brights for cutting you off (it happened during our taxi ride to our hotel). In Paraty, you need a roller coaster operator´s license and a stomach of steel. In Rio, the second part of your licensing test requires that you drive through a dark labryinth without lights or brakes before you can drive. And in Buenos Aires, stop signs do not exist at 4-way intersections, it is merely a guessing game of who really got there first.
4) You can wear whatever you want. The porters on the Inca trail wore sandals while hot-stepping over rocks with 50lbs on their backs. I looked like Indiana Jones for 3 days and no one cared. In Paraty, I looked like a freak in my board shorts - all of the guys on our boat wore the old banana hammocks and the 250lb lady sunning on the bow of the ship wore a thong and didn´t think twice about tanning every part of her body in front of us. Should we even bring up the hair issue again? I had facial hair, Lindsay had blond hair, every South American guy had faux-hawk mullets and everyone thought they were cool. So, do whatever you want, because no one is judging you.
5) Stay away from the touristy places if you can. If the book says ``tourists have begun to flock to this spot of town, but it continues to maintain it´s unique feel,´´ what it really means is ``plans are currently being drawn up for a Hard Rock cafe around the corner.´´ Any time we encountered one of these spots, we ducked our heads and sprinted through the gauntlet of cafes with waiters pitching their menus and booths with amateur jewelers pitching there tinfoil necklaces, stiff-arming as many of them as we could on the way by.
6) You really can live without your cellphone. Even though we have a cellphone, we have only used it to check in at home every once in a while. However, I would not wish living without the internet (or newspapers in english) on my worst enemy.

I´m sure we´ll think of more, but that is it for now. As for our top 10 experiences, in no particular order:
1) Hiking Machu Pichu
2) Dining and walking the cobblestone streets at night in Cuzco
3) Boat trip around the islands off of Paraty, and walking the cobblestone streets of Paraty at night (I love cobblestone for some reason)
4) Palermo in Buenos Aires
5) Wine on the porch over looking the ocean in Valparaiso
6) Ipanema, although it rained the entire time we were there, we saw the potential...
7) Stay at Lago Grey in Patagonia, because everyone should experience the feeling of being that isolated from civilization (it may even make you want to live in an apartment building in NYC!).
8) Seeing Christ the Redeemer lit up in the misty clouds at night in Rio.
9) Jungle hike at the Iguazu falls, where we saw the anteater/monkey/opposom creature, lots of swinging monkeys, snakes, and hidden falls.
10) The Iguazu falls themselves, from both sides.

And I´m sure we´ll add to that as well, but that is all we have time for becaus we aer getting kicked out of this internet cafe. The next post will be about a big development that took place in the last 24 hours...............................STAY TUNED!!!!!!!!!!! (plus we have lots of pictures to come)