So then, how best to summarise the best six months of my life?
I'm now back in the UK, lighter of pocket but heavy with memories of an incredible sabbatical.
On the plane on the way back I started jotting down some of the unforgettable times I've had, and a list of numbers started to form.
Here it is:
9 countries: India, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
3 treks: Ooty in India, The Colca Canyon near Arequipa and the awesome Ciudad Perdida in Colombia:
1 silly hat: Peruvian. With tassles.
$40 lost somewhere in Argentina, or Uruguay, or maybe Paraguay. One day it was there, the next it was gone.
28 steaks eaten (approx):
2 zoos visited: one in Mysore, the other in Asuncion.
8 bike rides: Hampi (x2), Bogota, Cotopaxi, Death Road, San Pedro, Mendoza, Salta:
3 winners at the Bangalore races:
1 paraglide:
100+ mosquito bites, with more than half coming on one night in the Bolivian pampas:
6 T-shirts bought, worn and discarded along the way:
13 flights: from jumbo jets across the Atlantic to a 20-seater military plane between La Paz and Rurrenabaque:
4 haircuts: thankfully none of them disastrous.
3 ziplines, all at the end of the Death Road in Bolivia:
Over 25 bus journeys, including 14 overnight sleepers:
10 journeys (approx) on the Indian railway, a mode of transport that deserves a blog all of its own:
1 messy birthday:
15 football matches:
40 goals:
1 anaconda wrapped around my neck:
3 days in the stunning Bolivian salt flats:
20+ military parades:
10+ militant protests:
3 sand dunes boarded down:
12 books read:
5+ mountains climbed:
3 pairs of trainers worn through:
40-60 hostels/hotels/hammocks/shacks stayed in. Some crap, some great:
1 skydive:
2 bouts of parasitic colon infection/salmonella, resulting in...
10 days in hospital:
4 cable cars:
3 Evertons:
1 guinea pig:
100s of new friends:
...and 60 posts. I hope you've enjoyed reading them all.
I'm now back in the UK, lighter of pocket but heavy with memories of an incredible sabbatical.
On the plane on the way back I started jotting down some of the unforgettable times I've had, and a list of numbers started to form.
Here it is:
9 countries: India, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
3 treks: Ooty in India, The Colca Canyon near Arequipa and the awesome Ciudad Perdida in Colombia:
$40 lost somewhere in Argentina, or Uruguay, or maybe Paraguay. One day it was there, the next it was gone.
28 steaks eaten (approx):
2 zoos visited: one in Mysore, the other in Asuncion.
8 bike rides: Hampi (x2), Bogota, Cotopaxi, Death Road, San Pedro, Mendoza, Salta:
3 winners at the Bangalore races:
1 paraglide:
100+ mosquito bites, with more than half coming on one night in the Bolivian pampas:
6 T-shirts bought, worn and discarded along the way:
13 flights: from jumbo jets across the Atlantic to a 20-seater military plane between La Paz and Rurrenabaque:
4 haircuts: thankfully none of them disastrous.
3 ziplines, all at the end of the Death Road in Bolivia:
Over 25 bus journeys, including 14 overnight sleepers:
10 journeys (approx) on the Indian railway, a mode of transport that deserves a blog all of its own:
1 messy birthday:
15 football matches:
40 goals:
1 anaconda wrapped around my neck:
3 days in the stunning Bolivian salt flats:
20+ military parades:
10+ militant protests:
3 sand dunes boarded down:
12 books read:
5+ mountains climbed:
3 pairs of trainers worn through:
40-60 hostels/hotels/hammocks/shacks stayed in. Some crap, some great:
1 skydive:
2 bouts of parasitic colon infection/salmonella, resulting in...
10 days in hospital:
4 cable cars:
3 Evertons:
1 guinea pig:
100s of new friends:
...and 60 posts. I hope you've enjoyed reading them all.