Leaving South America

We've been in South America for six months now.  Today we fly from São Paolo, Brazil, to South Africa.  Even though it will be sad to leave South America, I'm super excited to go to South Africa and Hong Kong.  Here are my top ten things that I will always remember from South America:

1.  Our river rafting trip on the Futaleufú river in Patagonia, Chile.  All of the extreme sports were so exciting, and that was definitely a highlight of South America.

2.  Machu Picchu, Perú.  Machu Picchu was so interesting.  We got to see so many cool Inca ruins.  Even though around Cusco, we saw other ruins, Machu Picchu was the greatest. 

3.  The Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.  The Galapagos was one of the places where it seemed like the fight to conserve the environment was actually winning.  There were so many exotic animals, I can't name all of them. It was so cool to just see a bird land two feet away from you, and not have them being scared of you.

4.  Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile.  This national park is at the end of South America, and we spent five days there, hiking.  Even though it was cold at points, the hiking was amazing.

5.  The Salt Flats of Uyuni, Bolivia.  These salt flats were AMAZING.   You had to wear sunglasses because the ground was so shiny and white.  All you could see for miles, was white salt and more salt.

6.  Climbing Volcán Villarica in Chile.  Climbing a Volcano is something that people dream of doing.  I'm so glad that I got a chance to, a d that we found a company that would take eleven year olds up to the crater.

7.  The violin workshop in Buenos Aires.  When we stayed in Buenos Aires for two weeks, my mom and I went to a violin workshop in Spanish.  It was a bit difficult to speak Spanish all the time, but it was a great experience.  I hope that sometime, I can go back for another workshop.

8.  Our four day biking tour in Ecuador.  This biking tour was hard at parts, but overall exciting and fun.  It gave us a way to see non- touristy places in Ecuador, while biking.

9.  The Otavalo animal market in Ecuador.  I didn't blog about this, but the animal market was so exciting, and I figured out that I need a pet pig.

10.  Being in all of the big cities in South America.  I loved all of the cities in South America, and will miss them.  We visited Quito, Santiago, Lima, Buenas Aires, and more.

Looking back to when we were in Ecuador, it seems like so long ago.  I hope to come back to South America sometime.