The People, the Countries

Carl, the twenty year-old Swede in Buenos Aires, who had been there two years before; the Israeli´s I met at Iguazu and then ran into again at the supermarket in Puerto Natales; Bob from Boston who I hiked in and around Ushuaia with; NoNeck, who has been to six continents in the last six months; the retired gentleman I met in Ushuaia who was about to travel to Antarctica, and who had been responsible for the bicycle policy in San Francisco; the teenagers I joked around with in Punta Arenas before my penguin tour; Renato and Willie, the owners of my hostel in Puerto Natales, and their whole family; Tine, my trekking companion who graciously shared a tent with me for 4 nights even though I refused to shower; the couple from Charlotte who I met in a restaurant 5000 miles away from home; James, who works for Microsoft now but only because they offered him 4 months vacation a year, and whose food was stolen while hiking the circuit in Torres del Paine; the couple from Brooklyn who bought me hot chocolate in exchange for duct tape (to fix some pants that caught on fire); Yuk-Sim, who told us about social work in Hong Kong; the Jewish hiker from Italy whose rabbi told him to go to North Carolina if he ever wanted to go somewhere without Jews; Andre, the head cook at Chileno Camp, who told us we couldn't possibly use the kitchen to wash our dishes, and who the next morning offered to wash our dishes himself; the South Africans who brought the Christmas dance party to life; the Spanish lady from France whose ipod made the dance party possible; Tyler from Oregon, studying in Quito and hopefully a contact when I made it up that way; Jeffrey and Jodie from Australia, traveling together for seven years now, who are taking the same ferry to Puerto Montt as me; Andrew from Australia who is working here in Chile for a year, and who bought me soda and ice cream with company money.

The United States, Norway, Sweden, England, Ireland, Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland, Italy, Czech Republic, South Africa, China, Korea, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil... and counting.