I left Cartegena, Colombia on the 6th of December and sailed on Captain Daniel´s 40 foot sailboat, the Naylamp, stopping off at the San Blas islands and Cayo de Agua island, before finally arriving here. With a week to go before returning to the states for a break, my journey between continents was fittingly ridiculous. Encapsulating so many elements of travel, I was at the mercy of the travel winds and quite literally, just had to go with the flow. Out at sea, one has a lot of time to think, and between daydreams of Johnny Depp-ish pirates taking over the ship, I reflected on my last eight months of travel.
There are moments of travelling when I really have no words to explain the pure absurdity of it. It´s like the world is giving you a little nudge in the ribs, and exclaiming, ¨he he.¨ I often turn to share my astoundedness with others and find blank, puzzled stares. Equally, there are moments that take your breath away, make you want to whisper and suddenly remind you of the quiet beauty of the world.
And so, as a sad farewell to Central and South America; a goodbye to beans and rice; to the hunt for small change; to bed bugs and sand flies; to cold showers; to travelling Irishmen; to bottles of rum; to reggaeton; to ham and cheese sandwiches; to every identical travel conversation and to those few you meet, that count, along the way...here are my favorite WTF (what the fuck) moments of travelling; the ones that awed me and the ones that will never cease to be ridiculous...
(in reverse chronological order)
1. Sailing the Caribbean sea with this man:
2. Sleeping beneath the stars on the open sea, sailing with dolphins, eating seabass caught 10 minutes before, shooting stars, moonsets and jumping mantaray.
3. Breathing underwater.
4. Singing along to a medley of hits from the nineties sung by a Norwegian on a rooftop in Quito.
5. Juanes, live in concert. Drunk and surrounded by screaming teenage fans, I thought I had lost the plot when the Vice President of Ecuador came out onstage in between songs to bequeath Juanes ¨El Embajador de la alegrÃa¨ (ambassador of happiness). This actually happened.
6. Reggaeton. You know, I just have no words for this one.
7. Lunch, in Ecuador. 
8. Defending the goal as five Ecuadorians rush me and knock me down (let the record show that I blocked this particular goal). The last thing I heard was, ¨Como la jirafa cae.¨(how the girafe falls).
9. Travelling with this effin guy. A little bit of an asshole, a little bit of a sweetheart, and completely Irish:
11. Having a raunchy antiquated nineties Spanish pop song named after you in Argentina.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH3T1aQ2YSs
12. Sleeping with cockroaches in Antigua, Guatemala. I hear you eat about 20 bugs in your lifetime. I am positive that I have quadrupled my number just with my time spent in Maria´s house.
13. Being on the road for eight months with the same five pairs of underwear. Amazing.
There are more moments, so many more, and unbelievably, more to come. That is all for now.
