The Taurus & the Hare

On any given morning it seems (I think there was one exception, way back when in Rio...) Flo will be up well before the rest of us. More than once I've caught her early in the day in whatever hotel bathroom, quietly "catching the rays". Of her Mac, that is. Like Iris, she's an early riser, while Jas and I are known to enjoy our lie-ins. For me, 8am or 9am is luxuriant by the standards of the last decade's dawn vigils for work. But anyway I like my sleep. Florence by contrast has typically been up from 6am or 7am, working her magic on the web, weaving this amazing itinerary together like Ariadne in the darkness before dawn. 

When I tell travellers we meet that we've been effectively improvising everything but our book-end flights from-to London, they're stunned. Rightly so! This would have been simply impossible for example, when my parents visited Peru in the 60's. I'm stunned too. And if I was in favour of having everything - or at least considerably more - choreographed before we left London, the serendipity of the trip has made the frequent logistics stops (like the downtime I'm using now), well worthwhile. Who knows if we'd have made it to the Estancia Nibepo Aike or Valles Calchaquies otherwise. 

We've had to reconcile a difference of approach, but it's been a very rich and rewarding trip so far. I'm the Tortoise to Flo's Hare, happy to lounge and linger in fewer places for longer ("We could stay in Patagonia for another three weeks, no...?"). 

Sun salutation

But urged on by Peruvian and Columbian friends and recent visitors, not to mention her own inherent restlessness, we'll have acquainted ourselves with seven South American countries, and paid a visit to friends and family in four American cities before we return. "Chi va piano, va sano", I insist, but in getting to know an entire continent, maybe the Hare wins the argument this time. Certainly the Toirtoise would not have been able (or awake!) to find so many cabanas and connections in so little time, while on the move. And so the voyage continues...  

On the road again!