Two Months On
Two months on
The clocks have just changed to British Summer Time. But, despite the blazing sunshine last week and daytime termperatures into double figures - winter is back with a bang. The wind today was icy cold.
I spent my lunchtime reading more of "La Patagonia Vieja" by Andreas Madsen, a book in Spanish I started reading in El Chalten at the beginning of the year when Fitz Roy had greeted me on New Year's Day with a dizzying one degree Celsius and biting wind that blew down through the wide U shaped valley from the Southern Patagonian ice sheet.
Brexit
So, it is on April's fools day that I long for something I know is not a joke - Brexit. I wish it were an April Fool's. For now, however, we remain in the EU.
Speaking a foreign language
In South America, I spoke to the Quechua people on the salt flats in Jujuy, North West Argentina . I had been recommended to visit the area by an Argentine in Puerto Madryn, 3000km to the South two weeks earlier. I made so many friends and met so many people. These experiences would not have happened without fluency in Spanish.
Had it not been for a scheme such as the European Voluntary Service I would never have had the opportunity to volunteer for such a long period. I spent 12 months dedicated to a scheme designed to bring young Europeans together. The EVS is a scheme only available to young people in EU accession countries or EU countries, which we are told will be party to none.
I am thankful, however, for having had that opportunity. Not only to travel, but to be able to speak to the taxi drivers, to the ladies with the scarves around their faces, shielding themselves from the blazing sunshine on the altiplano, to the people in cafes, to the people in bars and clubs, to other tourists etc.
Had I not had an opportunity to learn Spanish, I'm certain my experience would have been completely different.
The clocks have just changed to British Summer Time. But, despite the blazing sunshine last week and daytime termperatures into double figures - winter is back with a bang. The wind today was icy cold.
I spent my lunchtime reading more of "La Patagonia Vieja" by Andreas Madsen, a book in Spanish I started reading in El Chalten at the beginning of the year when Fitz Roy had greeted me on New Year's Day with a dizzying one degree Celsius and biting wind that blew down through the wide U shaped valley from the Southern Patagonian ice sheet.
Brexit
So, it is on April's fools day that I long for something I know is not a joke - Brexit. I wish it were an April Fool's. For now, however, we remain in the EU.
Speaking a foreign language
In South America, I spoke to the Quechua people on the salt flats in Jujuy, North West Argentina . I had been recommended to visit the area by an Argentine in Puerto Madryn, 3000km to the South two weeks earlier. I made so many friends and met so many people. These experiences would not have happened without fluency in Spanish.
Had it not been for a scheme such as the European Voluntary Service I would never have had the opportunity to volunteer for such a long period. I spent 12 months dedicated to a scheme designed to bring young Europeans together. The EVS is a scheme only available to young people in EU accession countries or EU countries, which we are told will be party to none.
I am thankful, however, for having had that opportunity. Not only to travel, but to be able to speak to the taxi drivers, to the ladies with the scarves around their faces, shielding themselves from the blazing sunshine on the altiplano, to the people in cafes, to the people in bars and clubs, to other tourists etc.
Had I not had an opportunity to learn Spanish, I'm certain my experience would have been completely different.
The planning
The reality :-)
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