El fin de mi viaje

Last night in Ecuador. I really cant believe my trip is over! It doesn't feel like 120 days ago that I went with my family, Foxy included, to Newark with my way too heavy backpack in tow and only dreams of what lay ahead. I was terrified in the beginning. I didn't understand where the 'right' way to go was, how to get around with my poor, fragmented spanish, and how to make my money last when I spent 3x more than my budget for the first week. But I learned how to survive, how to make friends, how to be a real backpacker. I'm really proud of myself for somehow figuring out how to take buses from the southernmost tip of the continent all the way up to Ecuador {Ibarra is as far north as I got}. I know I've been trying to convince myself that I'm glad to skip Colombia, and I am even moreso after I met people today who had more horror stories about both Ecuador and Colombia, including people getting robbed in the Bogota airport, right in front of police!
I'm going to miss the amazement I felt every time I got off the bus in a new city {although I won't miss how tired I was from not sleeping due to the bumpiness of the roads on the overnight buses}. Getting to a hostel, making new friends, and wandering off to climb glaciers and set off into the jungle with them.  Spending this last week in Banos with Sarah and James, I realized just how much people you meet on the road come to mean to you.  Even though combined  I probably only spent about 2 weeks with them, I felt like I knew them for years and was so upset to leave this morning. I now have friends around the world, people like Cassie & Kenzie who I spent nearly 3 months with! There were people I spent just a day with but won't forget them just the same, it's such a different kind of friendship you build with people that are all in the same situation as you.
I put together a few little details that I found interesting from things I've done over the last 4 months.

Travel time: 503 hours. This # includes any ride that took more than 1 hour each way. Most of these hours were spent on buses, followed by boats, and planes. Hours spent trekking are not included, however if they were we'd probably have another 100 or so on here in total.
Books read: 29.5. Favorites - Love is a Mix Tape, and the Hunger Games Series.
Countries visited: 7.  Some I was in for almost 2 months {Argentina}, others for only 5 hours {Brazil}.
Cities visited: 50. Mas o menos
Entry/exit stamps into Chile: 8. Times actually in Chile intentionally: 2.
Attempted robberies: 3
Successful robberies: 1
Favorite cities: Buenos Aires (despite robbery attempts) & Cuzco
Favorite foods: dulce de leche, alfajores & empanadas
Least favorite place: Ecuador. Full of muggists, rapists and serial killers. Never again!
Top 5, in no particular order: Walking on the glacier in El Calafate. Iguazu falls. Galapagos Islands. Death road bike ride. Salar de Uyuni.

Now that I'm back in NY, I don't feel like I was ever gone. It's weird, I thought it would take me a while to adjust to being back in civilization, but not the case. The trains still have delays, Times Square is still full of tourists, and I still felt the need to go shopping the second I stepped foot back in the city. I will never forget this amazing adventure, and luckily this blog will help preserve my memories.

Hasta lluego!