Expedition South - Episode 9 - Argentina to Alaska! Here we go!

Welcome to episode 9. I will conclude my Latin American journey starting in Cordoba, Argentina. I finally found a fellow tourist to buy my motorcycle to save money on shipping back so I drove us north to Paraguay for the exchange. From there I will visit the Brazilian border to buy some cheap goods. I will then fly back from Asuncion, Paraguay on a cheap flight that has an overnight in Mexico City. Then I'll head back home to the USA where I'll get my welcome back by being hassled by the TSA airport security. So I left Cordoba at sunrise, where I was working for a month at a hostel for free stay while I put up ads for selling the motorcycle. After 3 weeks I finally got lucky and found someone. So along for the ride was my future buyer Adam, which hitchhiked the ride with me all the way to Paraguay which took 3 days of driving. I let him for a test drive, which was the scariest experience of my life. So this is the last time you're going to see the bike. This is the end of it. This is Adam by the way and Adam is from Israel and we did an exchange so he is taking the bike for now and I am going back home. So that's it for the adventure for now but I'm sure it will continue at some point. And this is Mia, which is part of the hostel family that was sold to us. Finally Adam was off to Peru and I watched my trusty bike drive off into the sunset. I felt a bit sad but in the end it's only a machine. An end to a great adventure and the beginning of another for someone else. So I dried my sorrow by visiting the local presidential building in Asuncion and cultured myself a bit before I embarked on my flight back home, which lucky for me had a day lay over in the amazing city of Mexico and because I was so close I paid a visit to my fellow bike companion Samantha that accompanied David and I through our journey in the past. We had the best meal and buffet I've ever had. Through all my travels I've experienced much food and will say and this is confirmed by other travelers as well that the most delicious, most culturally diverse food in all Latin America is Mexican food. To dive back into the deep and exotic flavor of my native tongue after so many months of terrible, exotic and different food, it was a reminder of the beauty that is Mexico. While in the area I visited the world's widest tree that is 2,000 years old in Tule. The local school requires that the kids give tours of the church as part of their curriculum so we had a cute little guide explaining the tree and it's history to us. She was quite curious and confused about my monopod invention for my GoPro camera and had some fun filming us as well. Samantha also jumped on the bandwagon and had some fun filming the place. And finally the inventor himself, yours truly, also had some fun documenting the place for everybody to see for this video. Next to the world's widest tree was the world's largest chancla aka sandal. It was astonishingly huge and crazy. We then continued to one of two petrified waterfalls in the world called Hierro El Agua. I can say that this is definitely on my top 10 sites in all Latin America and worth a visit. It takes hundreds of thousands of years to form this amazing wonder. I then took a walk along the edge of this incredibly amazing photogenic pool, which was fun, while trying to keep my balance as I was not looking forward to a swim or free falling experience off the edge. Again the beauty of this place is tremendous and mind blowing. You may even have a spiritual experience while you're there due to the fantastic beauty of the place. I got a little bored so I decided to play some golf with my camera on a stick invention while at the waterfall. That later turned into some ridiculous freestyle frisbee throwing as well. In fact I would say it was a $300 game of death frisbee as any dropping of the camera and there would go $300. And finally some scary and dangerous aerial acrobatics. Welcome to Mexico City and this is probably the last stop. These little duct tape things so I can wrap up the suitcase. But this is probably the last city of my Latin American adventure and it's been fun. It's kind of sad that it's just a stopover before my re-entry back into the U.S. which is pretty sad. You see so many amazing things, you meet so many amazing people, you see amazing wonderful places, you have adventures that nobody else has, you have experiences you can tell your kids, future kids, or kids. You pretty much have a lot to say about an adventure and I'm glad everybody got a chance to stick around, check out the webpage and enjoy the recent videos and the pictures. So if you want to relive the moment through an interactive environment be sure to visit the webpage. There's so much on there just to keep you busy. And it's like an online book and it's free best of all. So I've been through danger, been through some awesome stuff, dangerous stuff, beautiful stuff, and I can say I am not the same person I started out. My whole perspective on life has changed very drastically and for the better I don't know. Is it different? Absolutely. Do I like it? I have to like it, I can't change it, right? Of being frustrated, of being happy, being odd, of having fun, of not having fun, going through some stressful times, some difficult times. Most of all, just getting out there doing something is great. Everybody commends me for it and I highly urge everybody to do it. Just get out. You know, take an adventure to your nearest grocery store if you can. Make something of your day. Don't be sitting at home watching TV and be reading the Expedition South blog too much. Gotta get your own stuff going. And thanks for the support, everybody's been following, everybody's been enjoying most of all. And that's it. That's it for now. I'm not sad, I'm not happy, it is what it is. So stay tuned for more adventures coming up, I hope. So coming up indeed. Too soon actually as upon my arrival home I was informed that I won an international photography contest sponsored by American Airlines. Guess what the prize was? A free all-expenses trip to South America for two. I couldn't believe what good and terrible luck I had winning a trip to a place I had just traveled to for a year. So I took my number one fan, my mom. We had a great time. I showed her around and she had a lovely time all together. It was interesting yet fun traveling with my mom. Decent sleeping accommodations, good food, first class flights, set itinerary, it was almost a little too luxurious for my taste. But nonetheless we had a great time and a bonding experience with the woman that gave birth to me. Just another check on my many things to do in life and invite my mom on an adventurous and extravagant vacation abroad. And unfortunately again upon my arrival home I was notified that my friend David that had accompanied me through my travels had recently committed suicide at his Arizona home that week. I was very saddened to hear about his passing and the way it happened. He had always told me that suicide was a long-term solution to a short-term problem. It seems that his operation from Peru, his stoma, infections when he got back home along with other problems with his son Colton and other personal battles seem to have finally gotten to a breaking point. I am deeply saddened I lost my friend. I hope that his suffering is now over and I wish him luck on his current journey wherever he may be. Rest in peace amigo. Because David and I had talked about driving to Alaska when I got back I saw it fit once again to buy another KLR, visit his family and pay my respects in Arizona, drop off a promised gift to a son that I brought back from Argentina and plan to head up to Alaska in his honor. I hope to find peace with his passing in this journey as well as complete a lifelong dream of making it from one side of the world to another. Now I depart from my hometown of El Paso, Texas to Alaska. So stay tuned for the next episode where I'll see the largest array of radio telescopes in the world, I'll visit the petrified National Forest, I'll do some couch surfing in Flagstaff with some great people, I'll meet a neat Spanish couple, we'll take a drive through Sedona, I'll take you to the Grand Canyon and abroad, and you'll join me for an amazing hike in Zion National Park. So thanks for watching, have a great day. Swim, swim, swim, and let's go!