LAST POST FROM ARGENTINA

Sept 13, 2008

We ate our last restaurant meal of the trip here in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina tonight, at the reasonable Argentine hour of 9 to 11PM. Amber had parilla, an assortment of greasy meats including blood sausage, and I had the local fish, pacu, with roquefort and mushroom sauces. The glass of white wine I thought I ordered for $4 turned out to be a bottle. The included appetizers included tongue, and since there was a mounted cow head on the wall above us, I asked the waiter "Es la suya?" (Is it his?), which made him laugh. We just had a taste of the tongue, that was enough.

Here´s my list of the things I will miss from traveling with Amber in Argentina:

1) Seeing some teenagers goggle a girl´s tight fitting pants today at Iguazu and making them laugh when I say "se puede mirar pero no toca" - "You can look but dont touch".
2) Seeing the bright red of a sunset over the snowy Andes while sipping tea in a high mountain hut.
3) When your big decision of the day is whether to ski, snowshoe or hike.
4) Renting a car for a week then looking up the weather on the internet and seeing six straight days of sun after weeks of rain and snow
5) Traveling with your daughter and seeing she is having a good time
6) When traveling through a foreign country, putting a card into a machine and having money come out of it, every time.
7) Spending hours on your blog and seeing someone left a comment
8) Having lots of time left on your vacation
9) Having real conversations with locals in their foreign language, like about volcanoes or politics.
10) Meeting interesting people who describe their travels around the world.
11) Sleeping in a freezing mountain hut in the snow, but you are warm in your sleeping bag.
12) Ordering weird fish and meats in restaurants when you dont understand the menu
13) Having it snow 3 days in a row while you are staying in a cozy hostel with views.
14) Losing the first 2 games then winning the next 3 playing ping pong against an Argentine man.
15) Hiking and hiking and hiking most of the day with all you need (and more) in your backpack
16) Eating lunch with your daughter sitting on the edge of a crystal blue lake overlooking snowy peaks and glaciers
17) Watching your daughter expand her horizons thanks to you
18) Doing whatever you want with no money worries
19) Hearing your daughter say she will take her kids on an awesome overseas adventure for a High School graduation gift to them
20) Having foreigners go out of their way for you so you dont feel like a stupid American gringo tourist.
21) Looking at the world´s greatest waterfalls when a blue and red butterfly lands on your shoulder.

THINGS I WONT MISS TRAVELING KEVIN YOUNG STYLE

1) Washing clothes almost daily by hand in sinks and showers using tiny pieces of soap and hoping they hang dry in time for when you need them
2) Not getting a full night´s sleep because of inconsiderate young drunk hostel residents, traffic noise, screeching roosters, loud talking adults, TV noise, music, etc.
3) Managing to lose articles of clothing as you maove from place to place, even though all your stuff fits into one backpack.
4) Hostels with cockroaches, dirty bathrooms, lines to take a shower, no hot water, bread and jam breakfasts.
5) Putting on the shirt you just washed in cold water and soap, and it still smells
6) Taking a cold shower, then realizing the hot and cold water knobs are reversed.
7) Drunk teenagers on the 2nd floor above you vomiting, and it goes through their floor, which is your ceiling, and having it splash onto your jacket, in a high mountain hut.
8) Your last restaurant meal of your trip, your last city, your last bus ride, your last hostel even though it is noisy and gross.
9) Hearing young Americans on the bus behind you say "like" 100 times in a loud conversation
10) Feeling the animosity that foreigners exhibit while complaining about US government support of their former military regimes, and of the US war in Iraq.
11) Hiking all day in the snow then watching Amber put on soaking wet boots to go out to dinner because those are the only shoes she brought on the trip
12) Eating cow brains and cow tongue
13) Seeing how poor and unlucky most people are compared to me
14) Feeling like a stupid American gringo tourist

Still, you only live once, I can sleep more when I´m dead, and I would not change a thing about this great 6-weel trip with Amber Rose. Bon Viajes, amigos, y hasta luego! from kevin and amber Argentina - Chile 2008