Any and all trips have their ups and downs (in this case, quite literally) and their collection of amusing, tedious, pleasurable or downright gross moments and incidents. Accomodations, scenery, food, professionalism, amenities and people met along the way vary greatly, and that's part of what embiggens a trip, and therefore the traveller. As such, I always hand out (completely virtual) awards in a number of categories, The Backpack Award. But before I do, let me list a few incidents, anecdotes, idioms and so forth and so on etc etc that helped shaping this trip. It's a tradition, or an old charter, or something.
The trip's....
....most frequently yelled name: Andy!
....unluckiest phone: Matthew's iphone had a bad toilet experience. Really bad.
....worst guide: The "snorkelling" "guide" in Rio Prata
....biggest time optimist: Carl and/or his dad
....keenest eyesight: Whether the driver or the guide, but whoever spotted the jaguar in the Pantanal night
....biggest city: As I flew in to Sao Paolo, the city sprawled as far as the eye could see, all the way to the horizon, creating an almost Coruscantian sensation
....fish: Piranha
....bird: Gentoo penguin
....rodent: Capybara, or giant guinea pig
....christmas wish: A hippopotamus. Nothing but a hippopotamus will do.
....sleepyhead: Our resident aussie doctor
....colour: The toothpasty menthol blue of the icebergs
....clothing: Lifejacket
....head wear: Gaucho hat
....foot wear: Thongs (or flipflops, if you will)
....most unexpected party: Truck breakdown at a service station, people got their drinks on right after lunch, because.... why not?
....pleasant surprise: Wasn't ill for more than a day, and that wasn't that severe
....trail of clothes: Carl's
....currency: [country]bobs
....spanish teacher: Ellena insisted on us having the entire conversation in Spanish. Porteñan Spanish, even.
....team colour (sports): Blue-white. Not only my baseball cap, jersey, the flags of Uruguay and Argentina, but of course also Racing, who won the championships while we were in BA
....team colour (trucks): Yellow, white and orange
....innovative idioms: 'Evolutionize', 'linguistic sponge', 'snorist', '[descriptive] shit', and so forth, and so on, in that manner, etc etc
Feel free to expand the list in comments below!
And the Backpack Awards for 2014-2015 go to:
The Cotton Backpack (for best accomodation) - Hostal Santa Lapa, Rio
The Plush Backpack (for best transport) - Speedboat by the falls
The Glass Backpack (for best hang) - Santa Clara in the Pantanal (other nominee: the game room in the estancia)
The Rubber Backpack (for best adventure experience) - Antarctica
The Copper Backpack (for most price-worthy experience) - Free winetasting in La Cafayate
The Brick Backpack (for best city) - Rio (other nominee: Cordoba)
The Granite Backpack (for best landscape) - Antarctica
The Terry Backpack (for best swim) - 'It's starting to rain' - 'Let's jump in the ocean!'
The Fur Backpack (for best nature experience) - Pantanal
The Khaki Backpack (for best guide) - Betty
The Silver Backpack (for best eating) - Steak, grilled to perfection (extremely rare), served with mash and a nice malbec at Viejo Jack's, Salta
The Malt Backpack (for best drink) - Boj smoked porter (other nominees: any malbecs)
The Gunpowder Backpack (for best fireworks) - New Year's in Rio
The Celluloid Backpack (for best photo) - Old nan peeking out from behind a wall
The Jade Backpack (for best cultural experience) - Favela tour
The Velour Backpack (for softest experience) - The Pantanal was as much about hanging in the pool and hammocking as wildlife
The Calico Backpack (for best surprise) - An underwater redeemer
The Magma Backpack (for hottest chick) - A certain dive guide
The Vinyl Backpack (for song of the tour) - Hey! Jiggity-jig: It's "Dominic the Donkey" (other nominees: "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas", "Fairytale of New York", "At the Copacabana")
The Worsted Backpack (for best penguin) - The cheeky lone Gentoo who fearlessly walked straight into our polar camp and waddled away, the way Gentoos do
and last, but not least:
The Frozen Gold Backpack (for best experience in total, Antarctica) - Polar Plunge
The Melted Gold Backpack (for best experience in total, South America) - Estancia in Argentina
To summarize: Awards and special mentions
Fun factoid: It is well-known, to those who know it well, that 'factoid' means a statement many assume as a true fact, but is in reality not. In similar vein, 'tabloid' means anything that looks like a table but really isn't and 'polaroid' essentially means 'tropical'.
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