The flight to Colombia was via Santiago, and crossing the Andes in daylight was spectacular, even though it was summer. Being in Chile filled me with nostalgia, and I promptly ordered a pisco sour at one of the bars and sent a WApp to a family I had stayed with in Cochran, Chile, 6 years …
Author Archives: Mellamadness 2
23 March 2026 Montevideo
I had a very relaxed and interesting week in Montevideo, a city that epitomises the Uruguay approach to life. I’ll mainly post pictures, they depict what I experienced, but I cannot refrain from telling a story or two. The first one is about my arrival. The bus ride gave me the opportunity to re-establish my …
19 March 2026 Working
Truthfully? A tough experience last week, on different levels. And also a very enriching one, on different levels. I am reading An Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, and I was struck by the following: “All thoughts vibrate eternally in the cosmos. … Thoughts are universally and not individually rooted; a truth cannot be created, …
14 March 2026 Contrast
Working and travelling are contrasting activities. Travelling to me is about exploring, discovering, being attentive, walking, and sometimes interacting. It is mostly personal, invigorating and exciting. Working, on the other hand, means becoming involved, being open to forming relationships, sharing living- and life-spaces, learning about the culture and accepting that people do things differently. It …
3 March 2026 Wild and weary
Inspiration has returned, in the form of an elderly couple who decided to pick up a hitchiker on a boring, lonely, desolate and windswept road. Estela and Roberto, real angels, who then proceeded to take me with them on their yearly round-trip of the area north of La Paloma, where I’m now staying. What happened …
26 Febr 2026 A Glimpse into History
There are two companies that have ferries going from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, crossing the Rio de la Plata in just over two and a half hours. The one is the Buquebus, and the other the Colonia Express. I chose the latter as Mati had said it is slightly cheaper. An uneventful crossing, …
23 Febr 2026 Back to BA
It was so easy to go back to Buenos Aires, the route to ‘my’ apartment familiar to both me and Suerte, and a warm welcome by Mati, my Airbnb host. Just a quick stop en route at the shop where I’d bought Suerte, to return the ring that I had found on the farm. There …
18 Febr 2026 Living at La Aurora
There is something about living on a farm. It is not just about being there, it is about inhibiting the space, of becoming one with the buildings, the trees, the birds, the people, the pets, the garden, the animals, the night sky – every day and night, aware and mindful of all that surrounds you. …
09 Febr 2026 Sarie’s collapse
My host at my new Workaway job gave me an apt description when I told her the sad story of Sarie’s collapse. “Disgracia con suerte”, meaning “misfortune with luck”. It is a long story. I was pulling Sarie along in the street for the first time since I had started travelling. I couldn’t decide whether …
06 Febr 2026 These boots are made for walking
Two days of walking – my new Salomon Ortholites were being tested and found to be extremely comfortable. Thank you to a dear friend who suggested them – she and her husband successfully walked the Portuguese Camino last year, wearing Salomons. And I bought them in Mossel Bay at a doubly reduced price. Today, as …
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Mella Madness 