After spending the last night in Ushuaia with a big dinner and a long night out I continued to Buenos Aires to meet up with a friend. First of all I had a very important thing to do. I went to the German Embassy in Buenos Aires. My first time in a German Embassy. It’s a bit awkward to have a little Germany in the middle of a South American city. But if I don’t want to end this journey with the headline “He had to come back – passport was full!” 😂 I needed a solution. I am running out of pages in my passport – there are only 2,5 left. But I had to find out that the preliminary passport valid for a year does not get you in the US and the full one takes 2-3 weeks to arrive. So both were no options for me since I will not stay three weeks in Buenos Aires now and the US could play a role in my summer plans. But more to that later… I did get my passport pictures done – just in case. And the coolest thing ever is that I will have my new passport with these pictures for the next ten years – the beard didn’t even fit fully on the picture 🤘

#neverstopexploring hobo for life 😎
Due to massive laser strike actions I missed the ferry to Uruguay by ten minutes. But I was not the only one. Roos, a Dutch girl faced the same tragedy and so we started chatting. We left the terminal and explored the city together and had an amazing day. Coincidence? Destiny? I truly don’t believe in destiny but sometimes there are just very cool coincidences – all just semantic 😂
 
Well the next day I made it onto the ferry and when I got in line to board the ship (@Kasper: Steep Learning Curve, can you see?) I didn’t want to believe my eyes. Gundwin, a former colleague from work was in the queue with his wife for the same ferry. What a coincidence again 😂 We caught up on each others life and it was so funny to see them on board.
Gundwin & Mr. Beard

Well and then I linked with my friends again and started exploring the cute little town of Colonia del Sacramento. Founded in 1680 by the Portuguese and since then in various hands. A lot of old buildings and just a super chilled place which is well worth a visit even only for half a day. You also don’t need more to explore the old city. I of course was excited like a little school kid to start taking pictures after the inspirational three weeks with Dietmar. And I have to say I am very happy with the outcome!

On the way back we were again on the same ferry and continued our talk from earlier. I shared a lot of my amazing experiences, learnings and realisations and again received the feedback how interesting it is to listen. I have received quite a lot of very personal messages in the last weeks and month from friends who encourage me to continue writing because they take things out for themselves. But I also do receive more and more comments from people I have never met before and which end up on this site through the most different ways. Carola for example red the entire blog from front to back in about three weeks after she knew about it. I have to admit that enjoy sharing my stories and reflections more and more and also the writing has become a very important thing in my life. And I assume that not everyone who likes it also leaves a comment. Who would have thought – the guy who couldn’t write more than two pages in the high school German exams. On the other hand it also becomes quite a time consuming task. The more detailed it gets, the more focus lies on the photos now the more time it takes which actually prevents me from being present. Something I have to balance in the near future.

My office in Buenos Aires


On the next day we went for a city tour in La Boca. It’s the old working class area which was very important in the development of Buenos Aires due to the harbour. Now La Boca is known for the colourful buildings and the world famous soccer team Boca Junior where also Maradona has played. I opted for a guided walking tour after the really amazing experience from La Paz. I still like to explore myself but I usually would pass by a lot of places without even knowing. And it was really good. Just a few impressions from La Boca.


 

And then there is actually another topic that is pressuring me. I can feel the sense of heaviness again. I had hoped to have some more time on the ship to think about this but there was barely no single minute of solitude. Even though I don’t like to plan I soon have to take a decision what I will do during the summer. I am very tempted to go on another long distance trail – possibly the Pacific Crest Trail walking from Mexico to Canada. The traveler life is more stressful and draining then one would think. Not that I am complaining but the article I shared the other day “Corporate Skills of a World Traveler” pretty much nailed it”. It’s a permanent call of action, decisions, planing, reshuffling, firefighting. And also for the shorter hiking trips I have done in the past the organisational effort is always quite high compared to the actual time on the trail. I am craving for more time in my time and nature. I can sense this need… Doing a long trail again would give me again more peaceful time in the nature and less disruptions in between. On the other hand this would take up 5 month from April to maybe September. And with this all other ideas for the northern hemisphere like traversing Iceland, climbing Mt. Elbrus and Denali, crossing the Alps, Norway north to south, Nepal and what all more would be out for 2017. I am torn and actually afraid to take a decision. Any ideas? Any recommendations? Help…!

 On my way back to Cusco now. While I was sitting at the gate in Buenos Aires looking outside of the window – what did I have to see. Coincidence? Destiny? Tough to tell, but the little aircraft on the right hand side is the Lufthansa 747-8 on it’s way to Frankfurt…