It's very early to have a certain view on the trip in retrospect, I'm still bewildered from being back, but it's a trip that has changed my life, and my view upon life, but then, all great changes in your life do exactly that.
Certain people on the trip have made a bigger impact than others, of the most important I can mention: Mike Gasson, Jimmy, Dave, Sarah, Carl, Miguel, Anne Dorte, Stephen, James, Johno, Karin, Flavio, Julian, Magte, Tono, Antonio, Heather, Lisa, Moni, Bob and the star of the show... Gilbert.

I have also had a lot of help from the homefront: Hanne (mother), Jesper (father), Anne Sophie (sister), Bo (stepfather) and Anette (friend). Especially without the help of these individuals, the trip never would have been or it would have failed while I was underway.

With a disregard to all that I have just written, I would like to extend a thank you, to everyone on this list:

Family, friends and everyone who has been reading the blog!

Uruguay: Those 5 Danes

Colonia Del Sacramento: The Brit and the Aussie

Puerto Madryn: Sarah and Kyle

Rio Gallegos: Timo, Jonah and Fred

Ushuaia: Andreas, Uri, Layden and the 4 Israeli girls

Punta Arenas: Carl, Tamar, Adina, Keenan, Irish couple, Jack, Roman, Mike and the two Aussie's in their 50's.

Puerto Natales: Bill, Kat, Bo, the guy from Punta Arenas, Monty (the cat), Britney, Jenny, German girl, Vicky and Sophia

Torres Del Paine: Urs, John, John, Susan, Katy, Rafael, Natasha, Albert, Nick, Whitney and the two Irish guys.

Calafate: Edward

Chalten: Mike

Futaleufú: Eyal, Rachel, Dave and Eddie

El Bolsón: Lucia

Bariloche: Patrick, Reut, the Israeli twins and Jimmy

Bariloche -> Valdivia: Lindsay

Pucón: Everyone at hostel Etnico, everyone who went up the volcano with me (in particular Yong)

Santiago: The staff at La Chimba hostel and Mike (of El Chalten fame)

Rapa Nui (Easter Island): Miguel, Chen, Kieran, Melissa, Larry, Jimmy (From Bariloche),John, Emma, Brian, John (Montana), Alejandra

Buenos Aires: Eddie (of Futaleufú fame), Anne Dorte, Jon, Karen, Elena, Jane, Becky, Eric, Madoka, James, Steve, Stefan, Darren, Deborah, Chris

Puerto Iguazu: Two German girls, Canadian girl and the two Danish girls

Ciudad Del Este: Dan and Rommi

Santa Cruz -> La Paz: Lorgio

La Paz: Patrick (from Bariloche) and Danny

La Paz -> Cuzco: Florian

Cuzco: Steve and James (from Buenos Aires), Karin, Anna, Heather, Ley, the 3 Norwegian girls, Ingrid, Johno, Maria, Charlotte, Mike Gasson (from El Chalten and Santiago) and the Kiwi girl.

Inca Trail: Flavio, Julian, the porters and the cook, Rob and Dee Ann

La Paz: Nadja, Yasmin, Heather, Uval, Maud, Jonathan, Ivan and Macro

Potosi: Cameron, Monica, Allan, William, Anaïs, Angela and Aaron

Uyuni: Angela (from Potosi), Declan and Judy

Sucre: Andrew, Tamsyn and Trevor

La Paz: Jimmy

Pampas: Jimmuy, Laia and Tono

Jungle: Jimmy, Antonio and Jesus

La Paz: Jimmy, Heather, Roly and Anita

Copacabana: Jimmy

Habana: Lisa, Amasa and Lily

Santiago de Cuba: Lisa (from above)

Comandancia La Plata: Moni

VIlla Santa Domingo -> Camaguey: Shane and Steve

Cuba: All the family's I stayed with, ate with and talked with; you showed me the best side of Cuba.

Washington, D.C.: Hiro, Carlos, Rachel & Eyal (from Futaleufu and Bariloche), Bill Colburn, Jackie, Rick and Rav Shmuel.

New York: Tony, Anne Sophie (my sister), Peter & and his son Tony as well as

Chicago: Bob, Amanda and the people on the Wicker park tour

Boston: Amelia

I'm just gonna leave you with a feeling of my trip, I know with this massive list of people above, it doesn't feel right, and I'm not saying it gives a sense of my entire trip, but you will also notice that few people are mentioned more than once (it won't work if you are reading this in an email, you have to go to the website):

[See post to listen to audio]

So before I leave you... Beyond the sky and the earth, thank you.

This has been one of the days with nothing really to do, tomorrow I'm gonna go up to the local glacier; instead I had time to convert a lot of pictures for flickr, and I thought I might try and reflect on the time I have had so far.

Lonely Planet writes that if you stop the music, the continent will grind to a halt, and oh how true that is. Wherever you go there is music, waiting outside for a bus at too early in the morning, in restaurants, on the street and everywhere else.
Everything follows its own pace, be it buses, tour-boats or the people, nothing goes to plan (time-wise) which is okay, I was expecting it, but I didn't know it would be this bad (especially the buses).

So who goes backpacking? Well I have met no Scandinavians (the Danes at Cabo Polonio, were not backpackers, but on a trip from Buenos Aires to the beach), I have met 2 Germans, 1 Brit, 1 French, 2 Australian , a couple of Americans and a few South Americans and endless heaps of Israeli's. Down here they are everywhere; not being an Israeli is almost a small achievement, some have even spoken Hebrew to me, thinking I was from Israel, since everybody else is. But I do expect that eventually I will bump into more West European people; hopefully some Nordic people even.

The continent (so far) is incredibly beautiful, the nature, seaside, wildlife; everything just seems natural. According to other travelers, I haven't even begun to see the really beautiful sites, something I am really looking forward to, and which should pop unto flickr eventually.

My cooking is becoming more natural now, on a day as today, I am making all 3 meals myself, and so far the variation is good, and the food is passable, occasionally good (I'm not a good chef). One thing that bothers me is that eventually, the variation will stop, as I get used to everything that can be made cheap and easy. As I (so far) am always making food alone, I am not really bothered to make more elaborate dinner, but maybe (and quite possibly) that will change, but time will tell.

When I first arrived, I was rather sceptical as to whether I actually thought this trip was a good idea, but at this stage, I am very happy that I indeed went. I have enjoyed myself very much the entire way (except for Cabo Polonio), and I am very much looking forward to what I have yet to see.

I promise to keep you people at home updated, although I might stop writing as frequently as I have been, although that depends on how occupied I will be in the future.

When time got around for dinner I went to a seafood restaurant and ordered something that sounded nice, but turned out to be shrimps coated in deep fried fish. It wasn't exactly tasty, but rather cheap; although I do regret my choice, but such is the world.
I know I have to get into a system of making my own food, but it is a process and I'm still moving around rather rapidly. I am very interested in getting to know how to transport e.g. meat around in a bag without it going bad, or bread without it crumbling. As I am only one person traveling, my food consumption doesn't cover an entire bag of bread in a day, or a pack of sliced ham and a head of lettuce in a day; but I will get there.

After my glorious dinner I headed back to my hostel, and fell in conversation with 2 other traveler. Simon from Kent (England) and Rob from Sydney (take a guess); both backpackers and good company. I went to bed around midnight.

24th of January
Not the most thrilling of days, I woke up at 8 and went to get a ferry from Colonia to Buenos Aires at 10:45. At roughly 11:15 I was in Buenos Aires, and at 11:25 I was in the Bus Terminal (what a place) where I bought a ticket for Carmen de Patagonia (where I am now); and set out discovering the place. I bought a digital watch for roughly 20 DKK which has the time (duh), light, a calender and a stopwatch. I ate lunch (French toast) and dinner (very fat cheese burger) before boarding a bus which was 30 minutes late (enough to upset any Nordic/Swiss person, but not the natives); the time was 22:15.

So what caused me to go straight back? Well the articles I had read (Pluno magazine and online) led me to believe that it was a calm and tranquil society protected by those who lived there, and only for those who would abide by the rules. A scenic place for those who seeked a tranquil place... Well apparently those villagers caved in to the more commercial notions, and a lot has changed since I read about it.
It is now a gathering point for people who come to spoil the nature (I will post some pictures later), make more noise then a jet-fighter and get absolutely hammered. So anyone that knows me just in the slightest, should know that neither of those 3 things suit me in any way.

Something good did come out of it, a few good pictures; but mainly, on the way home I met some Danish people whom I talked with... It was nice to have a conversation for a change.

Back in Montevideo, I arrived just before a bus to Colonia del Sacramento left, so I had a quick bite and was off (I seem to always be hungry). I arrived in Colonia del Sacramento in the middle of the night, but the hostel was open and invited me in, after which I went directly to sleep.

I must say that when I walked back I didn't feel all that much at ease, but then it was very dark, I was (and am) new in the country and to top it... I got lost :S.
But I did eventually get back, and spend an hour or so repacking (my bag seems to have shrunk, or the contents gotten larger), whilst I talked to a friendly Canadian girl. I did however, go to bed after that.

So when I woke during the night (noisy people) I decided not to go to Cabo Polonio, simply because I was to lazy to get up (the bus for Cabo Polonio leaves at 9; I haven't changed much yet), but when I did actually wake up it was 6.45 so I decided to go anyway, so right now I am sitting in Tres Cruces Bus terminal in Montevideo waiting for my bus, when actually leaves at 10.10 (as I discovered).

Cabo Polonio is special because it is what's called "off the beaten path" in a unique way. It is in fact somewhat close to Punta del Este (a big tourist place), but there is no bus stop (you have to ask the driver to stop), and then wait for some big monster trucks to drive you there (that, rent a horse or walk through the sand for 3 hours).
When you finally get there, there is no electricity and I hope; a vacant hotel room, otherwise I will have to sleep outside; but I have faith in the small hotels there; even if it means getting a single room, I read some articles about the place, and it really seems like a place not to be missed (although I would really like to sleep in a bed).

And today, I have prepared a little favourite song of mine, for you to listen to.
[See post to listen to audio]

To put it mildly, my driver was astonished to find a foreigner in that part of town (worst neighbourhood in all of Uruguay), with a big backpack all by himself; but he did manage to get me to my hostel, and for that I was grateful.

The hostel though, is rather rundown, and very noisy. Now the noise I did expect, but it is very dirty, and impossible to orient yourself; so to begin with I´m just gonna look up what to do after Montevideo (I have an idea about a place called Cabo Pinono or something like that).

I guess that´s enough for right now, you will get more later.