Tuesday, February 27, 2007

South America to Asia

2-24-07
Sitting in the San Francisco airport I realize a lot has happened that I could write about. I also realize that if I haven't written about it yet I probably won't get time in the near future either! So here is the condensed version. Tania met me in El Bolson the end of December, the end of January we left together and traveled by bus to Colombia. On the way we stopped for a couple nights in Santiago Chile and visited friends of hers from Colombia. Then we hung out for a week on a beach in the north of Peru with Cari Freemont, a friend of mine from work. I finished my South America trip by visiting Cali Colombia for 10 days. A brief history here, I met Tania more than 10 years ago in Denver, we didn't get to know each other until the fall of 2002 when we started dating, we separated in the spring of 2003 and did not see each other until December 2005 when she came to Nepal and we lived together for 6 weeks. Again we separated until she came to Patagonia this December! Tania grew up in Cali Colombia and it was amazing to have her as a guide and get to meet her family. My spanish is really not very good so to have someone who was fluent in Spanish and English was very insightful, so much I wouldn't have understood or misinterpreted she opened my eyes to. Another really cool connection was meeting my friend Ryan K. in Cali. He is a friend from the first year I was in Durango, Colorado in 1998. I met him in Lima Peru just days after arriving in South America last Fall. He's been traveling around Peru and Colombia since I've been in Argentina and it was really cool to connect with him as I left the continent.

I just spent 3 days in San Francisco, my dad came out for a day on his way to a friends wedding in New York, well I guess that's a little out of the way! My mom and Ken made it back early from a month work/vacation trip to Australia so we could connect. 2 nights I talked with my sister using Skype with video, once with my Dad and once with my Mom. What a cool experience as I learned a little about her current work in a hospital for the treatment and prevention of HIV in Cameron Africa.

Allright well that and looking at my pictures on Flicker should get you up to date with what I've done up to now. And so what about the present? Well right now I'm in the Los Angeles airport waiting for my flight to Delhi!

And for the future? From Delhi I'll make my way to Nepal and begin a paragliding trip working west through the Himalayas. I plan to travel by motorcycle and fly familiar sites and find new ones as I work my way west, eventually flying in Pakistan sometime in May and June. All is subject to change but that is the idea now!