what did you prefer?"

How can I say something that I preferred over all the things I have done/seen during my trip in South America? I think it is the same as asking me who is my best friend? People are all different and you like them for what they are so it is terribly difficult to compare them and give out a name.

The funny thing is that it is actually what your mind is doing right away, trying to find an answer, when you’re being asked this question. You think of one person straight away, and then “ah no, maybe him/her also”. And the more you think the more impossible it gets to choose.

Answering to the question what did you prefer during your trip is the same dilemma. I could answer that I really really loved the 3 days trip from Uyuni in Bolivia down to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. 3 days on a jeep crossing incredible landscapes (Uyuni salt flat, Isla de los Pescadores, Laguna colorada, Laguna verde, etc.) with really cool people, and georgeous weather. But when I think of Uyuni as a possible candidate for the “preferred thing done in South America” I also think about that day spent in Manizales, or in San Agustin, or in Quito, or in Chiclayo, or in Caraz, or those 4 days trekking to Macchu Picchu, or those 2 days climbing Huayna Potosi, or the crazy two days in San Pedro de Atacama, or again that one day in Valparaiso walking around the city, talking to locals, eating icecream in late December and only 1 day before getting back home.

Many many places I could talk about. And like I said, the more I think about it, the more I am thinking “that day was great too”. I like all those intense memories for very different reasons.

Manizales (Colombia) I loved it because of how everything fitted together. Got there at 5am in the morning, decided to kill time in a restaurant for breakfast, met that one guy from there that offered me to show me around the coffee plantations for the day and arrange the climb of the Nevado del Ruiz (the reason for me being in Manizales) the next day. He also found me a really cool hostel, did that 5hours walk in the coffee farms with me, offered me free tickets to a bullfight on that same day. And finally brought me to a local restaurant for some local food and local beer. Sometimes you don’t why but you’re simply lucky. Or is it because Colombians are so helpful and nice?

San Agustin (Colombia also J) is a great memory simply because of the time I spent there with an entire family. Went for a horseback tour with the son, got a ride on a motorbike with the dad, chatted with the other son, and family was offered dinner with the entire family. Simply LOVED it.

Quito for that fucking crazy football match. Woke up for a tour on my own of the city. Ended up watching a football match between Quito and River Plate with Aussies met during the day that told me about the match. Just imagine the feeling of being in stadium for the semi-final of the south America cup and watching the local club winning the match 7-0. Seven-ZERO!!

Chiclayo I loved it for that museum in Lambayeque. The museum of the Royal Tumbs of the King of Sipan. “The most important archaeological discovery of the last 25 years” as they proudly present it. Just imagine being that German guy digging the ground, digging something that just look like a squary pyramid so washed away by the rain that you can’t differentiate it from a hill. Simply imagine the feeling of finding momies covered in gold and emeralds and sea shells from head to toes. Gold necklaces, earrings, wristband, waistband, twist band, etc. And you dig deeper and you find more momies with even more gold. From the warlord, to the priest, to the King of Sipan an incredible amount of gold and jewellery just there in the ground. Just google King of Sipan. You will see. That museum was by far the most amazing museums I have seen in the last, I don’t know, 10 years, if not more. And the fact that I had never heard of it beforehand made it even more a big surprise. Things you have seen or heard before always tend to disappoint you a little as you don’t have that “first-time seeing something like this” effect. That day was definitely the thing I have loved the most from an archeological point of view and by far better that all the people say about Macchu Picchu, yet one the world’s new seven wonders…

I could keeping talking about this or this but to be honest one thing I have been wanted to talk about more in details in that Uyuni trip I told you about. Maybe the thing about saying the first impression is always the one that matters the most isn’t that wrong after all. I had heard about Uyuni and its salt flat before. I had actually planned it my trip as a must-do as I had written so many blogs about it and seen SO many amazing pictures. And I kept hearing people during my trip that had done it and were telling me all the good they think about it.

So I knew a lot about it beforehand so I wasn’t expecting else than a “first-time seeing this effect” and yet it constantly happened to me during those 3 days. I was simply blown away, mesmerized by everything I was seeing. From the up-to-the-horizon salt flat, to the century-old cactus on isla de los Pescadores, or the petrified coral reef, or the Stone tree, or the many lagunas it was and endless list of landscapes literally letting you voiceless. Because a good picture worth more than a thousand words here are the most exhaustive ones.