John’s former flatmates let us crash on the floor after John produces a suitcase of the national beer. The scene here is pretty crazy with, as near as I can count, 6 or 7 people living in the house. Two are from the Patagonia region of Argentina and she is all Latin with a kiss on the cheek and Tango lessons for all who are interested. Another is a broken toed Taiwanese woman who is learning English and is contagiously fun to be around. Throw in a Canadian, an Aussie, and and a few Kiwis and you have quite an eclectic household. Everyone is welcoming and we have a good time hanging out and talking about travel plans.
We gave some Canadian trampers a ride into Kamemea and had a good time over lunch at the bush café. Then we gave a ride to a recently graduated German Dr. so she could continue her travels before beginning her medical practice full time. Some Germans are culturally tough for me to relate to and just often seem unfriendly. I know this is not the case, but it just feels that way. This woman was very demanding to the point of being harsh while we are giving her a ride, which is a very different characteristic from what I am used to. That is a good thing however as differences challenge my on perceptions, thus I can either choose to be self righteous or being open to the possibility of looking at the world and people differently. Hopefully, I choose the latter; not always…maybe not even frequently but maybe.
To finish off our few weeks of tramping about we stopped at a Japanese hot springs for a soak, a meal and a rest after a busy several weeks. The pools were hot and the food was good and during dinner we met some travelers who were in a much higher economic stratosphere. They had seen many of the same sites on the south island but where we had walked they had taken helicopters, limousines and boats. Not a bad thing, just different. But I sure would not want to carry even her jewelry bag let alone her wardrobe trunk.
Robert Francisco 