Both biks strapped into on crate. Thats it our home, our cloths, our life for the past seven months...
Great eh.
What more can you ask for it was the time of our lives and we would turn around and do it again in a second if we had the time and the money. We left with 1000km of experience and return home veterans, after conquering mud roads, lakes, rivers, dirt highways, mountain passes, boat rides and so on. We connected with people, inspired others, and learned and experienced more then we could have ever imagined. But it is all winding down from here. We are to board a plane tomorrow for a 14-hour flight to New York City and one last ride home. This wonderful feeling came over me when I realized that all our belongings fit into a crate 3X6 feet. I used to be proud that all my things fit into Volkswagen Golf but this is so much better. We spent a day in the air cargo warehouse packing up our bikes. Talking and joking with the warehouse guys, witch we can finally do in Spanish (Liz more then I). We had to take the front tires, mirrors, windshields, fenders, boxes etc. to make everything fit snugly. The smaller the size the cheaper the flight. The cargo company said they were going to give us a plastic crate because they often have problems with wooden crates arriving in the US. So we packed up our bikes on a skid and waited for the plastic crate to arrive so we could slide the crate in. But it wasn’t as we expected, they just saran wrapped the bikes and slapped some dangerous good stickers on it and they were good to go. It took the entire day to take care of all the paper work and disassemble the bikes but it was done.
Yesterday was May 25th; it is the largest holiday in Argentina and Liz’s birthday. We were woken first thing in the morning by mortars (fire works) going off feet from our hotel. Fire works are a little different here, it has nothing to do with how cool they look just how lowed they are. The streets were filled with people, representing their preferred political party. The president cam to speak to the people. It was great, people dancing in the streets, and chanting political slogans. The subway was free so we took that around the city and got lost a few times. Buenos Aires is quite the city. It never seems to stop. Clubs and bars stay open until the sun is well up, and people seem to party every night.
We fly out tomorrow. I am already dreading 14 hours on a plane without the ability to smoke, or stretch my legs. If we had the time we would turn around and bike home in a second. But I am already a few weeks late for work and we both are out of money. On our return next week I will post an entry summing up the trip. What it meant to me and some of the highlights. So keep checking there should be one more.
-Caleb
May 25th, 2006. Argentinas biggest holiday of the year.