" Dream. Commit. Succeed. "
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Things We Never Talk About
I have been keeping track of some things happening during my trip and thought it was time to share them. Because there isn’t always just the nice photos moments…
List of funny moments we never talk about:
– “lost” my only pair of short and my favorite travel skirt (which I had for over 10 years) when doing laundry in a laundromat during my first week in Argentina
– repaired my jeans 2 times
– ate so much meat I didn’t fit in them anymore.
– bought new jeans. Button broke after 1 week. Repaired jeans.
– zipper of my light rain jacket pocket broke
– my goretex jacket waterproofing is dying (time to test Marmot’s warranty)
– there are now holes on both my backpack (3 in total actually… including one of about 4cm long…) (time to test Osprey’s warranty!)
– I repaired my hand day bag which was falling apart
– I finally gave up my extra pair of boots that I had for teaching which were full of holes AND my old pair of jeans in order to make some room in my bags
– I forgot my favorite PJs pants and an Arcterix t-shirt in my host house in Bolson (duh – hey now I have more room in my bags!)
– my favorite MEC blue vest zipper broke
– lost one of my only ear rings while taking off dry suit for kayaking
– my hairbrush died… so now only using the brush part and threw away the handle
– after hiking without problem in the Andes alone, my hiking boots laces got strangled as I walked on the side walk with all my backpacks and I fell, resulting in lovely bloody knees and almost made a hole in my new jeans ah! Ego always hurts more than the injury itself.
– glorious moment hiking at 4000m where I used ibuprofen for a massive headache… and then got a never ending nose bleed… hands and face full of blood. That gets you close to your new friends.
– even if I really dislike biking (true story), I went on a 35km bike ride in Puerto Madryn, which resulted in me tweaking my right knee (and back to the physio for a few months!)…
– the day I was supposed to bus back to Santiago (22hrs bus) I woke up sick (diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps, you name it) and spent my last day in San Pedro laying in bed after I was able to walk to the bus terminal to change my bus ticket to the following morning (thank you for 24hrs exchange policy!)… all of it mainly 2 days before I fly back to Canada! Couldn’t let me go without getting me at least one, right, South America? The importance of always giving yourself some ‘extra’ time in your transit schedule… and carry good medication in case you need it!
– stopped counting the number of times I stepped in dog/horse/donkey/goat/llama/penguin/whatever animal poop… which takes me to
– never thought boots and shoes could smell so bad… mine and other dorms partners included!
Cheers!
5 Comments on “Things We Never Talk About”
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" Dream. Commit. Succeed. " 
Great post, its always the little things that make the biggest impact and cause the most distress isnt it? Crazy. Nice blog Anne-Marie.
Thanks Jonno! Definitely agree with you! I was heartbroken when I realized my rain jacket was damaged – in the end it is the only piece of home you have when travelling… took me a few minutes, and then I thought : ALRIGHT. This is just gear. Let’s move on!
Helps you put things in perspective!
It’s all only stuff isn’t it? We just have a small case each and that’s all we have in the world. Hardly any stuff really.
Wow – it’s a good list. How many kilometres do you think all your boots etc have done ? Sounds like they are all “expiring” at the same time. Louise
Louise – yes my gear has more or less about 4-5 years now! My boots are in good shape even though they’ve walked and traveled around a bit!