Buenos Aires held for me one of the most noteworthy open air markets, as well as some of the most fearful religious experiences....and....empanadas. I spent my time getting to know the city, meeting crazies from England (love you Tessa!), sharing meals with people on the street, running, and watching the sunset. To be honest, the impact of this city has not quite set in and the continual movement, and my failure to enter this blog prior to my more recent excursions, is leaving me a little empty of words. However, Uruguay, which happened to be a last minute decision, is the home of one of my most favorite places thus far. I had planned last minute to head to Uruguay to visit their famous beaches in Punta del Este. However, a last minute decision to take a boat into Colonia proved to be well worthwhile. My time here has only consisted mostly of two musts for every day. One, to get a good run in. And two, to watch the sunset. This place ended up being amazing for both. I only had a few days there, but soaked up each moment. I arrived midday, and found myself a hostel which was perfectly located next to an outdoor sitting pizza place. While waiting in the short line at the hostel to see if they had a bed, a shout from the street directed to me. "Hey! Are you american?" I'm sitting here thinking, great, about to get some trash for whatever bad impression some citizen of the states has left on this man. But nonetheless, I turned and replied politely that I was from the states. The man immediately turned welcoming and invited me to join him and his wife for some pizza given they had a half of pizza they couldn't eat and did not want to waste. The man pointed out that I looked hungry, and that most travelers could use some extra food. The man had read me perfectly, I had been starving. The few crossaints I had taken from the hostel breakfast to eat I had accidentally left on the table, and so I had not eaten since early the day before. I quickly accepted the invitation, and pulled a chair up to their table. The pizza was great, but the conversation was incredible. These people were awesome. Just an middle to upper aged couple from Seattle that like to save up and travel the world. They gave me some contact information of a few people that would be able to help me out along my travels, and we said our goodbyes. Immediately after that I dropped my stuff off at the hostel, and took one of their bikes around the town. The place was gorgeous. It was a modest town, full of a few ruins, small shops, a few river beaches, and a TRACK! Upon finding the track, I headed back to the hostel to drop off the bike and change into my running clothes. I headed out, ran around the town some, then headed to the track. The track was made up of gravel, it had no lanes, but was filled with a decent soccer field and surrounded by a decent sized set of bleachers. There were a few girls practicing their starts, a guy training for a marathon, and a few throwers working on their technique. It reminded me a bit of WC and the track team who I knew would probably have been practicing at the same time as me. The track really made me appreciate the facilities we have at WC, but I enjoyed it all nonetheless. My evening was concluded by a race against time to the hostel where I would quickly shower, and grab the bike to head down to the dock to watch the sunset. The sunset was incredible. The colors so vibrant and well organized. Only a master creator and artist could design something this beautiful, this great miracle. I let my mind wonder and eventually feel another hunger setting in. I hunted down some food, and finished my night by watching the stars. The rest of my time there consisted of more or less the same routine. Each day I would lay down feeling so satisfied. Eventually I headed to Montevideo for a couple days and a night. I enjoyed running on the beach, and meeting this woman from Virginia. She was about my parents age, had a daughter in her last year of high school, but decided she had to head south for a couple months. She had been volunteering for her first month then headed out to do her traveling. I enjoyed her presence and conversation and eventually met back up with her in Buenos Aires for an afternoon before my flight to Ushuaia and her flight back home. But, my Uruguayan adventures didn't end there. I ended up heading to Punta del Este with a group of girls from Chile that were on vacation. I had an awesome time there, running and hanging out on the beach. And then took an overnight bus a few days later back to Buenos Aires where I would catch a flight to Ushuaia, Argentina (aka the end of the world, last city before Antarctica!).
For me, I find that the more I travel, the more lost I find myself. But not the sort of lost we often think of, for I am lost, but not without direction. In fact my direction is becoming more and more define; it is just that as I travel, I widen my realm of understanding and my knowledge of the world, and the path becomes wider and so does that which surrounds me. The truth is that I am discovering much about who I am, recovering parts of my soul that I had hidden away, and by the assistance of others, I am just now reviving. It is true that I am becoming more uncertain of what I will do with my life, or what my short existence may amount to, but all of this is just fine. It is like the old saying, the more I learn, the less I know. Every time I see the sun set, the stars sparkle in the night sky, and the sun rise yet again, I am amazed and find myself feeling smaller and smaller. But this sort of insignificance in the realm of all creation does not fear nor intimidate me, but perhaps it relaxes me and eases some pressure of trying to achieve some sort of greatness in an impact on humanity. I don't truly know what my purpose is here let alone the purpose of humanity. Like Socrates, "I only know that I don't know." However, that doesn't mean I stop trying to understand and seek wisdom, it merely means that I accept that I am merely human, and that I play but a role in a much larger picture. I can tread all over the earth and never leave a lasting footprint, but that doesn't mean that my life is completely insignificant. What's beautiful and so very complex about life is that we are both incredibly significant as well as insignificant. But what we will never know is how insignificant we are because we will only know our significance. But perhaps the opposite is true as well. The more I ponder this, the more I become engaged and tangled because I cannot know. So what do I do with the short life I'm given? I learn to love, both myself and others, deeper. I share meals with those that are hungry, and with those that aren't; I smile at both the executive and the begger; I share that which I have in abundance and that which I don't; and I just hope that somehow it makes a difference to them and know that it does make a difference to me. I truly believe that life is beautiful, if you don't find yourself in agreement, I challenge you to dream big, and to create for yourself a beautiful life. Fill your life will all your heart desires and watch the beauty that arises.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
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