Well… it seems as though I have done a terrible job at writing about my journey thus far. I have given glimpses about what I have seen and pieces into what I have been learning, but they are merely glimpses. I am committing to write about what is going on during my time in Argentina. This forces me to write, ask the questions, express the thoughts, and tell the stories of the people I am coming into contact with.
For example, During my last week in Nicaragua I met a man in Granada who was riding his bicycle from Vancouver, Canada all the way to Argentina. The next night I saw him again in San Juan del Sur. He is a Mexican National, riding what looks to be a ‘Giant’ Cruiser type bike across 2 continents. He has no Money, works along the way for food and accepts no handouts. If you want to give him something he said he has to do some sort of work for you. We offered to give him some money and he said,
“no, sorry I can’t accept that, do you have some clothes I can wash or something?”
He said, ‘I am not the cleanest person in the world, but I am clean enough,’ haha.
It’s stories like his that make me fall in love with people. We are so dynamic as humans and have so much to offer one another and the world around us. This man will have an unforgettable journey, but also has the opportunity to touch the lives of thousands of people on his journey down south.
I arrived in Argentina about a week ago, I’m living in a pension with 9 other guys who are attending the National University here in La Plata. The pension is connected to a church in town that helps provide cheap housing for students attending the university… and crazy travelers who want to learn Spanish and decide to come to La Plata to do so…. I share a room with an hombre named Andres, he is studying physical education. I believe he is in his late 20’s possibly early 30’s, so he usually keeps to himself, does his studying in our room away from the other guys in the house. The other guys in the house range from about 18 to 24.
The University in Argentina is free for anyone who wants to attend, but its typical that most students will spend 5 years or more at the university, its not uncommon for some students to stay as long as 10 years studying. Depending on the budget of the students depends on how much time they can take away from work in order to attend classes.
My connection to La Plata comes from a relationship I have with an Argentine in the states. One of my best friends Roni married an argentine guy named Fede who attended school here in La Plata. After she graduated from Fort Lewis she married Fede. After meeting these two I had a huge desire to visit Argentina, so here I am.
Once my contract ended with the KIVU Gap Year I decided I was going to learn Spanish in 2012. While I was visiting Roni and Fede in Durham, NC I made up my mind that I was going to first go to Nicaragua, learn to surf and take Spanish classes and then go down to argentina and volunteer with friends or fede’s and learn Spanish. I decided this in December of 2011. So upon my return to Denver in January I took my old job at the Texas Roadhouse back for a few months until my departure to Nicaragua. And today… here I am, sitting in the pension; learning Spanish and having a lot of time to read, study and write.
My trip has been nothing short of amazing… Nicaragua was one of the most amazing times of my life. I would wake up, go run, go to Spanish class for 4 hours, eat lunch and then go the beach and surf. Life was simple, slow and had very few complications. All of my meals were cooked for me, Mama Che did my laundry… honestly I didn’t have a care in the world. I was able to hang out with people from the community (Alvoro, who showed me how to surf), build relationships do whatever I wanted, really. Staying at the Spanish school for 5 weeks allowed me to see other students come and go and do life with them for about a week during their epic adventures. I was so blessed to have spent time with 3 girls from Finland, 2 girls from Switzerland, 7 medical students from NY, and a beautiful couple from North Carolina. During my time in San Juan I also met an amazing couple who were leading the Christian Surfers Chapter there in San juan, I had so many amazing talks with Pastor Dave in the water waiting for waves. I was also blessed to meet Becky Funk and Amber Balzar from Abbottsford, B.C. I was blessed to travel with Becky and Amber to Ometepe Island, Rivas, Granada, and Laguna de Apoyo. During our time in Laguna de Apoyo we met a Danish man named Christian who had so many good things to say about life and his experience living in Denmark and many other countries around the world.
And then there are other experiences that require you to step back and ask the difficult questions… what am I really doing with my life: I can vividly remember seeing 2 girls in the streets of Managua dressed in old, dirty ripped clothes, who were asking for money from cars at an intersection. They would walk up and down the narrow aisles between cars asking for money. I can still see one of the girls stealing bananas from the truck in front of us… a truck stacked to the top with boxes of bananas, she simply stuck her hand through the bars and took as many bananas as she could before the truck drove off.
I just stood there, frozen in the car, not quite sure what I should do. My eyes were
Glued on them, but I couldn’t move. My mind was racing, but it brought me back to the reality of the world. It’s as though this image is burned into my brain and forces me to my knees.
My experience thus far has been dynamic, my eyes are continually being opened to the way the world actually is. I am learning and growing and have a deep desire to join the world. Luke Parrott said it best when he was talking to the students of the Gap Year… he said, “My hope is that you wouldn’t try to save the world, but that you would simply join the world.”
This past week I have been sick with a flu of some kind, so I have had a lot of time to read and write. I feel like I have opened up a door of thoughts and they keep flooding out, but I can’t seem to organize them in any fashion… but as they become somewhat organized I will share them along with what is going on here in Argentina.
Thank you for sharing in the journey with me, and like I said before I am committing to writing more.
-Bendiciones