Hap Working The World

As far as bus rides go, this was awesome. It was 24 hours of bussing bliss. A double decker bus with a hostess that served meals, and not too mention wine with dinner – now that’s what I call a bus.

We had prime position seats, on the top level of the bus right at the front. It was basically just a wall of glass giving us an unobstructured vantage point. All the photos on this post are taken from where we sat.

Not only was the bus a luxury liner, but the scenery came to the party as well. We woke to beautiful blue skies over the Argentinean lake district. The landscape felt familiar to me, a mix of the baron Australian outback covered in New Zealand alpine scrub, trailing off into South Island lakes with the Southern Alps or the Canadian Rockies towering in the background. It was truly beautiful, we couldn’t of asked for a better welcome.

Waking up on that morning travelling through the little towns of the Lake District enroute to my new home of Bariloche I had a smile on my face, I felt like I had to write something down:

A foggy sunrise through condensated windows, like rain drops on the lenses of life

Looking out over a foreign land that has a fondness of home,

The birds, the trees, the waking workers all have a welcoming allure,

A sense of the beautiful unknown that can only be found in a foreign land,

The bus glides on the asphalt clouds,

The first pages of the Bariloche chapter are being written.

We arrived safe and sound in Buenos Aires a couple of days ago.

There have been a few funny moments, waking and trying to remember in which country we are. The body clocks are still all over the show, was up at 4.30am this morning!

But apart from that, love this city. It feels so very European, walking around the streets and eating at the little street corner kiosks I could swear I’m back in Spain. 

I should explain how Mandy and I came to the decision of Argentina.

The Argentinian seed was first sown while having dinner in Georgetown, Malaysia. The restaurant had a very un-Asia feel about it, it felt like we could of been nestled away in a ski resort town somewhere in the world, apart from the Malaysian ladies walking by outside done up to the nines for their Saturday night out.

While drinking the cheapest red wine on the menu, we both commented on how cool it would be to do a snowboard season in Argentina and drink red wine, eat steak and go snowboarding.  Then we talked about it more and it all seemed so right.  Why not? We were at a loose end as what to do after Thailand. Mandy’s money would of run out, I was really wanting to get to Antarctica and not really wanting to stay long-term in Asia as it was a continent I had already conquered – wow, you sound so heroic Hap! 

Plus I was always feeling that I was cheating on Mandy with my goal. In a way I am a slave to my goal, I sometimes felt it was all about what I was wanting, even though Mandy fully supports me and doesn’t see it that way, which I’m so lucky for.

So yeah, Argentina it was, or it is, the sense of “duh, it was so obvious, why hadn’t we thought of going to Argentina before”, it was like a relationalship weight had been lifted off our shoulders. It was perfect for both of us.

Mandy gets to do something that she has always wanted to do, ever since she visited Bariloche (the place in Argentina we will go to) 5 years ago whilst backpacking through with her friend Ingrid. She will be able to earn good money (for Argentina), as she can work, not just work but be in demand, as she is fluent in Spanish, well the fact that she is a Spanish teacher kind of gives that away, but she will easily find English teaching work there. And after the snowboard season we will be able to go to Paraguay, where Mandy lived for a year, to visit all her friends, may even spend her big 30 there.

As for me, Argentina is perfect, firstly it is a continent I have not lived and worked in. I have spent 3 months in South America backpacking through Brazil and Colombia, but have not lived and worked there. Secondly, I will be able to learn Spanish, not just learn, but master Spanish as I already have a good base, that will be my main goal of this chapter. Thirdly, I will get to go snowboarding, something that I thought I wouldn’t be doing when I fell off that swing and buggered my back up. And fourthly, Argentina is the take off point for the majority of the boats that go to Antarctica, perfect!

Yeah, so I’m soo excited. I never would of thought I would be doing a snowboard season in Argentina when I left New Zealand over 6 years ago on the mission to live and work in every continent of the world. But I’m not gettng ahead of myself, I

Nuthin but love Hap