And That's A Wrap - Back to BA for the Third and Final Time!

Excellent
Pub
Incredible
Conclusion

Back in Buenos Aires for the last time. It really is the end of the trip this time round - realisation is slowing dawning on me. I cannot prolong my little holiday and adventure bubble any longer, I will very soon have to return to reality.

For yet another final farewell meal, we headed to La Brigada restaurant after Geoff mentioned how when he was in BA back in November the waiters would cut the meat to be served with a spoon! Sounded nuts so we all agreed to check it out. The restaurant was like a museum for Argentine soccer with soccer jerseys and scarfs on the walls and ceilings, all collected by the owner.

We'd booked a table for 8pm, but the restaurant was still not open at this time. Instead we popped into the next door Achtung Bar for a quick drink to get the evening started. It still baffles me at how late people eat over here, especially when they seem to order huge hunks of meat as their main course at like 11pm.

On returning to the restaurant we discovered that the service was super attentive, perhaps a little too much so. Our waiter kept opening bottles and topping up wine glasses well before they were emptied, so we had no idea of how much we'd consumed. However, the wine was excellent, the meat superb and the company fantastic, so who cared! Speeches were made, stories reminisced, and future plans discussed. Worried that we had severely lost track of the wine bottle count, we settled up and headed for the bar again. At least that way we could safely not worry about overspending the last few remaining pesos that we had left.

The next morning again a lot of people were quite rough. The waiter was blamed, mixing drinks was blamed, even I was blamed by a cheeky few. Coincidently those feeling the roughest were those flying out that morning and afternoon - seriously what are the chances! (Ridiculously high I would have imagined). The rest of us fly out tomorrow morning and then the epic adventure will have reached its conclusion.

A few observations I've made on the trip: the media are often wrong; most places they deem “unsafe” are, in fact, very safe, (Colombia is my favourite country in South America). Travelling while sick sucks. Paying for toilets is extremely annoying. Sunrises are worth waking up early for, always! As we get older, a little more luxury is appreciated, (need I say 'upgrade': Tony, Geoff and Robin!). It is okay to say no to things that you don’t want to do. The more you travel, the more places and adventures you want to experience.

So to wrap up, over the past 28 weeks I've travelled over 35,000km around South America, seen 10 different countries, with 21 incredible fellow passengers, 4 Odyssey crew members and one amazing truck - all of whom are now considered my extended truck family! We've had highs and lows, sickness and health, incidents and accidents, fun and games, laughter and tears, and enough remarkable memories and 'best day evers' to last a lifetime. It's been emotional! Ciao for now chicas!!

(** Huge thanks to Francois for his photos **)