NovelJourney

Through Iguassu into Brazil
Thought Turds	By Augustin Bralley on 1/16/2008

The falls of Iguassu are deafening. It's nice, though, meditative- the vibrations pounding out all other thought... except for the random fantasies about what it might feel like to take that plunge, knowing that fish and other animals must find themselves in that unfortunate predicament quite regularly. How would you feel if you one day found yourself plunging down some great chasm of water and rock, unable to move in any direction but those imposed by the violent forces around you? Sound like it would suck about as hard as the Garganta del Diablo. Let's just hope we keep our eyes and ears open enough to avoid such situations. After blowing our minds at the falls, we hoped on a bus to Florianopolis, or Floripa, as it's affectionately called. Seven days later and we're still there. We found a hostel smack on the beach, where there are parties every night, chill people, excellent food, icecream buffets, beer, etc. And we swam, surfed, and played beach futbol. No stress, no obligations, no travel, no hassle... just pure relaxation. Just what the doctor ordered. Lada and I have decided to take it very easy these last few weeks. We've seen enough to keep us satisfied for a while... the need to 'see it all' has faded just about as fast as my worn tees. Now we're waiting on a bus to the 'Magic' city of Rio de Janiero... or Hio, as the Brazilians call it. We'll spend 4 nights there, then get a tour of the city from some of Jim's friends. And on the 21st, Jim and Deb arrive and we ride with them to his house in Tere! Two days there and it's back to Rio for the long-dreaded goodbye to Pootie. Don't expect to hear from me much between now and then... Lada and I want to say thank you to everyone who followed our ...

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Patagonia
Thought Turds	By Augustin Bralley on 12/28/2007

This country seems undiscovered. We spent two weeks driving down to El Calefate and back, through a massive chuck of Patagonia, all the while wondering where the people are… why isn't this country saturated by tourists, adventurers, opportunists, and entrepreneurs? It's not hard to spot these people in the streets of any major city, but the country is still so vastly unpopulated- and gorgeous… really, even the broad expanses of shrubbed desert are serene and attractive, spotted with estancias which managed to find a water source and irrigate their fields lined with massive, luscious tree towers. And driving just the two of us in our Volkswagen Gol made it all the more enjoyable. We pulled over just as often as we liked for pictures, pisses, craps, stretches, etc. Sometimes our curiosity took us down strange little roads, where nothing would disappoint because anything was expected. We slept in the car and in the hammock-tent at various spots: parks, campgrounds in little towns, and out in the middle of nowhere. And in between we splurged in the major towns getting double rooms in hotels and dorm beds in hostals. We had no set itinerary, mostly letting the decisions come when they needed to- occasionally using the coin flip’s insightful decisions making abilities to aid us. What an adventure that was… The day before Christmas we arrived back in El Bariloche. All told we drove 5603 kilometres or 3,481.54 miles with me behind the wheel and Lada at my side preparing snacks, switching cds, navigating, and generally taking care of me as only she knows how. It was the most pleasant time we’ve had on this whole trip- just the two of us with no one to rely on or worry about but ourselves. If you ever take trip to Patagonia, I highly recommend you rent a ca ...

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Three nights in the wilderness
Thought Turds	By Augustin Bralley on 12/10/2007

It’s strange how you forget that living takes a lot of doing in the absence of society’s conveniences. After over two months of traveling around South America we were beginning to tire of all our transportation, sleeping, and eating needs supplied to us by others. Is a South American adventure really that if you’ve nothing to worry about but where to go and how to not let your stuff get stolen? Hardly. I’d been feeling the urge to do some trekking on our own ever since we left Laguna Quilatoa in Ecuador. Venturing out into the wild in a strange country is more rewarding than blowing your money in a modern tourist town, that’s for sure. So we did it. We bought a couple sleeping bags and mats, rented a tent, stocked up on 4 days worth of food, and headed out by bus to a little lake nestled between rolling mountains. The first night was only a short walk from the road, in an organized camp site, that cost us 10 pesos each. Since you can’t make fire in the national park, we were happy to stay here and have some cooked food. Hamburgers, cheese, burnt potatoes onions and garlic, boiled eggs, and fresh carrots and green peppers filled our stomach throughout the night. We placed our hotdogs and sandwich meat under a rock and encased in a large branch in the lake so as to keep the meat cold… hoping to eat it the next few days. It was secure when we left it- no small waves from the lake would dislodge it, surely. But to our great dismay and repeated disappointment throughout the rest of the trip, we woke up the following morning to find the rock and branch 10 feet apart, and the bag of meat mysteriously gone. Thieves, we decide, were responsible be they quad or bi-ped… oh well, live and learn. That& ...

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Sad days ahead
Thought Turds	By Augustin Bralley on 12/3/2007

For almost my entire life it has never been very difficult to decide what to do at the next stage. As a kid, adolescent, young-adult, and early 20-something all steps were sort of laid out ahead of me... expectations were set, opportinities were given, and I was willing to follow the flow. Easy. I may have done many exceptional things in this short life, but I haven't struggled through tremendous adversity with the strength of my determination and overcome vast odds like the heroes you read about. The only thing that is exceptional about me and my life is the profound luck and fortune that constitutes the foundation of it all. So far in life, it seems that I have very good karma. So far... life has been a joy-ride. But now I'm sitting in a beautiful town in a spectacular country surrounded by happy people going about their happy lives, and I'm more confused and sad and heart-broken and scared than I've ever been. Now I'm thinking about what to do with my life, and there's no illuminated road infront of me. There's no path of least resistance. They all look dark and difficult. I'm overwhelmed by the feeling that no matter what I choose to do, there will be hardship and pain ahead. For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm having to make decisions that will affect the next 10 or 20 years! I've never thought more than a year in advance, and I've been quite happy as a result. I never cared about commitment, because change has always been so frequent and even welcomed. I've never worried about who I'm going to be in the future, because I'll figure it out when the time comes. And I've never had to decide whether or not I'm going to leave the love of my life, my companion, my other half, in the opposite side of the world. I've never had to worry about hurting someone I car ...

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