Denmark: Copenhagen...the beginning

It is difficult to determine when was the first time that the idea of leaving my job and travel to South America for a few months crossed my mind. What I can say for sure is that it was a sum of lack of satisfaction with my working situation and a need for a big change in my life that triggered this decision. For many years, there has been a struggle within me between what I'm supposed to do in life and what I really want to do, between the role of the worker in the financial industry and the more creative and artistic side of me. I must admit that reading the book "Screw work, let's play" by John Williams might have also contributed to gather the strength to take such a risky decision in these times of uncertainty and global economic crisis. John, if you're reading this by any chance, thanks. Same as Don Quijote was poisoned by the ideas of knights' books, I can say I was poisoned by your ideas and the encouragement to try to do what we feel passion for in life.

This decision wouldn't have come true either without the incredible support of friends, colleagues, family and especially the person who is suffering the most imminent consequences of my life changing decision: my girlfriend Lana. Well, thanks to you all guys, I'm confident this decision will pay off (or else I'll go and chase you one by one for not having given me a good shake when I needed to wake up from my dreamy state!).

As a first post, I would like to tell you all about how difficult it's been to decide about the itinerary (considering it's only three months to visit different countries in South America plus participate in a volunteering project), arrange bookings, vaccinations and ultimate some paperwork that needed to be completed in Copenhagen before taking off. I knew for sure that I wanted to cover some of the Spanish speaking countries in this visit and keep Brazil for another ocasion , amongst other things due to the size of this country and the lack of any Portuguese skills on my side. Not that I'm too pushed back by this, but there's plenty of other countries that I've always been more interested in visiting, and travelling accross the Andes has always been a project I wanted to carry out, so it made more sense to focus on the area of Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. I've always loved mountain landscapes and the smell of fresh air after a long day of trekking. Those crystal like waters, deep forests and steep cliffs...Sorry Denmark, you have never been able to please me with these requirements.

Regarding being part of a volunteer program, this is a natural reaction to the insatisfaction I've been facing in my working situation in the financial industry for some time. Tight schedules, pressure, arrogant types, ambition and attachment to power, they all play a part in the industry these days. Why not take a break in this busy life, grab a backpack, travel to a poor country and try to help those communities that really have a need for our work instead? Why not feel the fulfilment achieved by hard work and paid by the smiles of those around you? Why not leave aside all these items that grant us such "comfortable" lives, all those beeping and blinking gadgets, and try to go back to basics for a while? I decided to go for Bolivia as my target country for such project. Bolivia is a landlocked country in the middle of South America, and the poorest of the region. With a population of about 11 million people, two thirds of them indigenous population, Bolivia seems like a fascinating country to explore and an ideal place to try to make a difference. The project is yet to be decided, but the possibilities are endless.

The idea of the trip is to travel to Madrid for a week before departing for Peru. I will fly directly to Cuzco, from where I will explore the surrounding areas and do the Salkantay Trek to the legendary city of Machu Pichu. I will then travel to Bolivia via Lake Titikaka and spend close to two months travelling accross the country and participating in a volunteer project supporting a local community. The second part of the trip will involve Argentina, Uruguay and (maybe) Chile or the southern border of Brazil. I'm pretty flexible with the itineraries and I will decide according to what I consider interesting in every part of the trip. All means of transportation will be considered, from airplanes to donkeys, to complete my route.

As part of the medical preparation, I got vaccionations for Yellow Fever, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Hepatitis A and B, Cholera, Rabies, Typhoid, plus antimalaria pills, water purifying tables, sun creams, antidiarrhea pills, and a long etc. It seems that now I'll have to take back all those times where I called my girlfriend the "mobile pharmacy" for always travelling around with all sorts of meds. On top of that, I had to make an important purchase of trekking equipment to be on the safe side.

Several books have helped me to get inspired before starting this journey, being one of the most valuable ones "Understanding Bolivia" by Vivien Lougheed, where I could get a good idea of what to expect from this crazy country that has gone through approximately 200 coup d'etats since its independence from Spain in 1825. The Ché diaries have also given me an indication of areas to be visited when following the steps of Ernesto Guevara in his last guerilla fighting days. And, of course, some travel guides will be my companion when figuring out the practical things I should know about when down there. Although, it goes without saying, I'm planning to stay in contact with the locals as much as I can, and absorve all the knowledge that only life and experience can provide.  

Just to finish for today, and for those interested in other sources of information, I strongly recommend checking out some YouTube documentaries about South America and, especially Bolivia. From The Death Road to the Coca Wars or the main political issues of the country, such as the sensitive topic of the autonomy of Santa Cruz. In the era of technology, it's all there. Give up on some minutes of rubbish television and spend some time  discovering a bit about the world around. Your brain will be glad for it. Big Brother will probably not.

Tak for i dag, vi ses på vej....og farvel København!