Whilst I had many more adventures in store for me here, I already knew that this country might end up tying with Colombia as my favourite by the end of my visit.

• • • The country: From the great city of Buenos Aires to the impressive Iguazú Falls to the majestic Patagonian and Andean landscapes of Ushuaia, I had simply fallen in love with it. That said, it was around this time that I suffered something of a writer’s block for the very first time in my life. I think it was the sheer overwhelm of everything I’d experienced. How the hell can one put into words things like the Iguazú waterfalls or the mountains of Patagonia? No words can truly do justice to such beauty. How many times can one use the word ‘incredible’ or ‘huge’? Perhaps it’s my own fault and I need to start relying more on a thesaurus or something of the sort, but the point is this – no written words can ever be enough to describe scenes like these. Unless they’re written by Tolkien, of course.

• • • The people: With their warm and friendly demeanour, the inevitable “¡No, por favor!” when you thank them, and their unequalled love for mate, football and pop music. I have to admit that Argentinians seemed like they had it all together. Not to mention their charmingly good looks. And then there’s the Argentine Spanish, with the ‘sh’ sound for y’s and that Italian inflection that sounds so damn sexy. And let’s not forget the cuisine. I swear, I ate an entire steak on a daily basis while I was there – my steak streak very much alive.

It was also here that I realised just how different Central and South America really are. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the atmosphere feels similar yet somehow completely different. Argentina felt like a nexus between three different legs of my journey:

• The past: As much as I was loving Argentina, I also found myself missing Central America – which by now felt like it might as well have been on the opposite end of the planet, somewhere I’d visited ages ago. What I truly missed, however, were two things that come in the same form – the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It’s not just the seas themselves, it’s everything that comes with them – the incredible sunsets that had, by the end, become part of my daily routine; the running into the sea, feeling freer than ever before; the constant search for every single opportunity to dive. Man, I missed the sea.

• • • The present: And yet, despite missing Central America, I was loving every single second of my time here. Especially the days I spent in Ushuaia – those three days of trekking opening up my world, effectively removing many of the limits that had once held me back.

• • • The future: Up next, I had something else in store for me. Something I’d thought of while I was in Utila, revamping my itinerary for the umpteenth time. Something I never imagined normal people could do. Something I’d never even considered doing before. Something I never thought I’d be able to do in my lifetime.

• Distance:

• • • Total walked: 124km
    • Total travelled: 5668km

• Books: 
  • • When the Air Hits Your Brain, Frank Vertosick