The End

I sit here in the airport in Santiago. Chile.

The trip is over and I am on the second leg of my long journey home - a journey that began at 1.30am this morning with a flight from La Paz to some random town in Chile, before continuing at 9am with a flight to Santiago.

I have spent the day in Chile...but actually I could have been anywhere in the world as I dragged my exhaused and overwhelmed self to an air conditioned mall and sat in a cinema to quietly watch a movie.

I have spent the day reflecting on the last 4 months - the things that I have seen, the people I have met, the places I've been.

So much has happened....

My first stop was one of the most important to me....to Europe where I spent longed for quality time with soulmates in England and Spain.

I have celebrated two of the year's biggest events side-by-side with two of the people I love so much - christmas in Zurich with my oldest friend and New Year's Eve in Barcelona with my 'best' one...

I have soaked myself in the familiarity of my English life....seamlessly and effortlessly re-integrating my life with those of my so-much-loved and missed friends in this country and enjoying every moment of the simply perfect and easy comfort that is my second home.

I have lived my own Parisian dream. Learning to love my favourite city in a whole new way. Becoming friends with the people within it and dousing myself in its language. The friends I met there became a part of my life - from all over the world we shared a love of the city and a desire to learn the language....not to mention a desire to drink all the cocktails we could in little parisian bistros on some of the most fashionable streets in europe. I became a tour guide, gleefully opening my parisian apartment door to my London-based friends as they took the opportunity to visit my life there, giving them a taste of the experiences I was enjoying, alongside the best of french cheese and wine.

Leaving Europe was difficult, as I always knew it would be, but my experiences in Latin America have proven to be some of the most interesting, memorable, difficult and life-affirming as any I have experienced in my life.

Buenos Aires - the beat of the tango and the smell of the coffee....steak cooked to perfection. Argentina led seamlessly into Brazil as I spent time with some of the people that I will remember most from this trip  - a crazily fun group of aussies and brits and scandinavians who made the natural wonders of Iguazu Falls and the harbourside Brazilian town of Paraty even more vivid for me as we partied and explored and marvelled together. By the time we hit Rio it seemed only natural to be together and experience the week-long party of our lifetimes in eachother's company....even while I met even more people to love - splitting my time as much as I could with the promise of more and more caparinhas to keep the party flowing....

Peru....at first a break from the craziness that had been the weeks before, it steadily became a facinating country for me....rich in ancient culture, deeply felt religions and beliefs and some of the friendliest of people. More and more I delved deep into the history of the country, visiting ruins, glimpsing condors and llamas and playing in the cities until the creme-de-la-creme, the Inca Trail, was upon me and I struggled and panted and ached and laughed through the most challenging experience of my life with yet more amazing people....people I will never forget as being the ones who were beside me all the way...

The wonders of Peru gave way to a glimpse of the hard beauty that is Bolivia....the perfect full stop to a trip that has been exactly what I was hoping for as a life changing and life challenging experience.

I have been esctatically happy. I have been heartbreakingly lonely. I have cried. I have laughed hysterically. I have been pushed to breaking point and I have survived. I have danced as if my life depended on it. I have sung at the top of my lungs. I have seen some of the most breathtaking wonders of the world. I have reflected. I have made so so many new memories and so many new friends. I have gained a new perspective.

It truly has been the trip of a lifetime. The second such trip that I have been lucky enough to experience.

And now. Home. To my family and friends who allow me leave with as much understanding as they can muster. Who understand that this travelling malarky is a part of who I am. And who will understand when I turn around and start planning the next trip...

Gypsy...

Till next time....