gerbie: (local)
gerbie ([personal profile] gerbie) wrote2004-07-27 02:12 am

Trip

36 hours and I will be leaving this country again. This time for a bit of old fashioned backpacking. I'll fly to Montevideo (Uruguay) where I'll arrive on thursday, then I've got exactly four weeks to get to Santiago in Chile.

I don't know how I'll get around yet. I don't even know what route I'll take, though I would love to go through Patagonia. That might be a bit expensive, probably takes a lot of time as well, but I don't think I might get the chance to get there someday soon again.

I guess I might be the only tourist around here who does go to an even colder place than the one everyone is complaining about...

[identity profile] oftherain.livejournal.com 2004-07-27 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
Have a wonderful time! I'm thinking of taking up Spanish some time soon. Can I ask how you learned? Are there any learning tools you would recommend? I want to be able to read Gabreil Garcia Marquez purely.

[identity profile] gerbie.livejournal.com 2004-07-27 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I started with some very basic Spanish during my study. But I had to learn when I did my final training in the Dominican Republic. I had to write my thesis in Spanish then. So I learned fast.

Learning tools: there is only one way to learn any language: Talk it a lot with native speakers. I.e. go there...

I'm afraid GGM might be difficult. I've got a dozen of his books on my shelf in Spanish. I have only read the small ones, the collection of stories and his work as a journalist. 100 years of solitude is still too complicated for me. I read it in translation :-(

[identity profile] oftherain.livejournal.com 2004-07-28 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
Yikes! Well, I'll keep dreaming. And learn for the fun of it. :)

[identity profile] gerbie.livejournal.com 2004-07-28 09:09 am (UTC)(link)
Good attitude. I keep dreaming. I read GGM, I will read more by him (probably soon as I will be travelling Latin America soon), I tried Neruda and failed miserably. But I like to aim high, so one day I will manage.

Good luck in trying, have fun while doing so, some day you will manage as well (start with: El coronel no tiene quien le escribe).

[identity profile] oftherain.livejournal.com 2004-07-28 03:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks. Have a beautiful trip.

[identity profile] jellyrose.livejournal.com 2004-07-27 09:06 am (UTC)(link)
Wow, 2 things:

1. Excellent to see you're still doing the backpacking thing!! I hope you have a really really wonderful time, send a postcard!
2. Heh. Was watching Dead ringers as well last night. There's nothing better than ending the evening with bbc comedy.

[identity profile] gerbie.livejournal.com 2004-07-27 12:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Let me check if I can find your post with your new address...