What a journey. There have been times when I´ve considered booking an early flight home. There were times when I was genuinely concerned for my safety. But far more common were the times I was having awesome fun! Certainly, with hindsight there are a lot of things I would have done differently. Saving up more money before hitting America would probably be top of that list! Note to any future travellers: there is very little you can do on a 30 pounds a day budget in the US. By contrast, theres very little you CAN´T do in Bolivia with 30 pounds. Here are some examples - my hostel at the moment costs 4 pounds per night; the bus from Sucre to La Paz (one of my highest expenditures in recent days) was 1 pound per hour of the journey; while in Sucre I did my best to have an expensive meal (three courses, a table on a balcony overlooking the main square) and it still only cost me 10 pounds.
However, I can´t help but feel that maybe there is some weird karma involved in these prices. While I was in the US, I never had a journey that went wrong, never stayed in a hostel where I was uncomfortable, and never ate a meal that made me ill. In bolivia, despite my best efforts to be selective, I must have eaten something bad because I have had some pretty bad stomach problems for over a week. On the bus from Sucre to La Paz (12 hour journey) I was sat next to the smelliest person I´ve ever met - I barely slept at all and a smell has never kept me awake before! And I had to walk out of a hostel in Sucre because it was just SO bad. Surely doors that shut properly and can be locked should be one of the top priorities for city accomodation? As a result I ended up staying in a hostel where they told me a different price on arrival (7.50 per night) to what I got charged on leaving (20 per night). That´s as much as I was paying in Seattle!
It´s as if Bolivia turned to the other countries I visited and said "wait wait wait. NONE of you guys gave him bad experiences in food, people or travel? What were you thinking? He´s meant to be travelling on a budget! He HAS to have lots of EXPERIENCES which he will hate but look back on with amusement! Do I have to do EVERYTHING myself?! Quick, someone fetch me the dodgy chicken and the old woman in the bowler hat who smells of onions and BO!"
And yet, despite all this, I really think that Bolivia has been the most amazing place I´ve visited. It´s hard to compare, because everywhere has been so unique that I couldn´t list a "top" 5 things I´ve done or seen - how can you compare driving through Canada´s amazing wilderness to lying on a beach in the beautiful caribbean? Nonetheless, Bolivia has managed to wow me with scenery, history and people that have made it pretty special.
Looking at the journey as a whole, I think it has been much better than I anticipated. Very few things went according to plan (ah, my innocent expectations to hitchhike from Anchorage to Los Angeles) but each time my plans changed, I genuinely believe it was a change for the better. I also think that 2 months is exactly the right length of time to travel. Any shorter and you spend too long looking ahead to what is yet to come instead of enjoying the moment. Any longer, and I probably would become seriously ill from the poor variety of food, not to mention missing everyone at home. Perhaps it would be different if I was travelling with friends, but I think this way worked better - I could do whatever crazy thing I felt like, and meet loads of people at the same time.
So what am I most looking forward to when I get home? Seeing my friends and family again has to top the list (especially since we´ve been planning so much stuff for when I get back), and food is high up there. I´m looking forward to being able to climb some stairs without getting lightheaded. I´m looking forward to being EITHER cold OR burnt by the sun, instead of both at the same time. I´m looking forward to clean clothes. And I´m really looking forward to not having to look forward - I´ve never been someone who enjoyed planning and preparing and deciding what to do in advance.
What am I going to miss? Mostly just that feeling that around the next corner, or over the next hill, there´s going to be something that amazes me. But I think that is a good thing to miss - it´s what will no doubt tempt me to go travelling again in a few years. And I think that if I continued any longer, I might start to take it for granted, or worse, just compare everything to what has gone before. I don´t think I can understand the kind of people I have met who have spent 8 months already just travelling through half of South America. Surely you get bored staying so long in one place? I´m bored of La Paz just because I was here for 2 days before! I suppose I am just impatient. People give me a shocked look when I say I started in Alaska just 2 months ago - they can´t imagine travelling so quickly through so many places. I guess it´s a matter of taste!
In conclusion? "Awesome, let´s do it again some time."
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