Here it is, our very last video diary.

Not only does it have a clip of me on horseback (unawares), it also shows more of the estancia in San Antonio de Areco, some truly fabulous tango dancing, and clips from the Carnival in Gualeguaychu!
Irresistible!

Check it out on YouTube, or simply watch it below:

PS: We’re home! So happy!! So tired…

Six months ago, I thought that itchy feet were a genetic disorder, doomed never to go away, no matter how much I travelled.
I’ve always had itchy feet. I’ve always longed to travel.

But now, after nearly six months of being constantly on the go, living out of a suitcase, not spending more than 5 nights in one place and not knowing where I’m heading next, I can officially report: Itchy Feet Can Be Cured.

I’m ready to go home.

Yes, Real Life has a lot of admin to deal with – bills, work, shopping, washing up, cleaning, hassle. And of course I’m not excited about any of that. But Travelling also has a lot of admin, just of a different flavour – figuring out places to stay, trying to find the right kind of food (three times a day), finding out how to get from here to there with the least amount of hassle and the smallest cost, searching for an ATM that accepts international cards and will give you the amount of money you’re asking for. There’s a lot of inconvenience about travelling – you have to do things now because there’s no option to wait until later (even as I type I’m thinking that we have to go for dinner soon and I don’t have any food on me). When you run out of cash, there’s nobody to borrow from. When you need to get somewhere, there’s nobody to give you a lift.

I’m really looking forward to the ease of being at home. People speaking my language. Food that I recognise. A bit of good old-fashioned stability.

And yes, we will miss the adventure… It has been the most extraordinary adventure imagineable. But I think there are small adventures to be had in real life. I’ll keep you posted on that.

For now, I have to go and pack my suitcase (for the 1657th time), find some dinner, and go to bed early. 4.30am wake-up call tomorrow, for our 33 hours of travel till we reach Cape Town. We’ve just recorded our last video diary, so that will go up soon, and there are a few more moments to share with you.

But this is the Last Real Blog Post. After six months! Crazy…

Last night we had an absolutely marvelous dinner at the Faena Bistro. Seriously, it was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten – a glorious mix of molecular gastronomy and Argentinean traditional. So so delicious.

But I thought I’d use it as an example to show you what the difference is between going out for dinner with a working pancreas, and going out for dinner as a diabetic:

* 7.30pm: We arrive early to shoot a few of the dishes before the other guests arrive (nothing like a bright flash going off every 30 seconds to spoil the mood). I haven’t eaten for a few hours (in preparation of the big meal), and I suddenly start feeling a little light-headed. Turns out that walk to the subway station (which was supposed to be 5 blocks and ended up being 10) was more strenuous than I thought, and I’m going low. Fast. There’s nobody else in the restaurant and everybody in the kitchen speaks Spanish. I have extremely limited Spanish skills. I mutter the phrase, “Soy diabetico, quiero jus de frutas,” which I think means “I’m diabetic, I need fruit juice” to myself a few times, then brave the kitchen.

Thank goodness one of the chefs understands a little English and can get me a Coke. Crisis averted.

* 8.15pm: Our first course arrives – candied spiced walnuts, homemade pretzels, miniature cheese scones and a white martini smoothie (in a shot glass). While I’m enjoying the range of extraordinary flavours, I’m thinking to myself, “How many carbs are in this, I wonder?”

* 9pm: I decide to simply take the plunge and take a rough amount of insulin that will ‘probably’ cover most of the 6 savoury course tasting menu (I’ll deal with dessert later). Roughly two carbs per course, perhaps? Fried egg foam has me flummoxed. But there’s rice and breadrolls, both of which I recognise.

* 10.20pm: I realise I way under-calculated the amount of insulin I should take, and take a second jab, this time hopefully including the dessert, a modern-day interpretation of lemon meringue pie with a soft biscuit base, lime ice-cream and lemon cream (that looks a lot prettier than it sounds – see below).

I am given some top-class stares from the waiting staff and the other guests as I jab into my stomach as discreetly as possible while lifting my already-rather-mini-skirt. I calculate in the 10 blocks we’ll have to walk after taking the subway home, so take a little less insulin than necessary.

* 10.25pm: More dessert! Mini Magnums and three raspberries on a stick. It’s a once in a lifetime meal, so I eat it all…

* 10.30pm: And now it’s time for my long-acting night-time insulin, so another public injection. They must think I’m a heroin addict!

* 10.45pm: The subway that was supposed to close at 11pm actually closes at 10.45pm… So there goes my 10 blocks of walking! We’ll have to take a taxi.

* 11pm: Hop out of the taxi a few blocks early so we can walk off some of the feast. The few blocks are further away than we thought, so end up walking around our neighbourhood for half an hour; but with full bellies and happy hearts, we’re not complaining.

Let’s talk about exciting, shall we?

* In the last week, Mark and I have stayed at the lovely Casa Sur Hotel in Recoleta, and visited the somewhat-crazy Recoleta Cemetery (check out these insane mausoleums – beautiful and a bit creepy).

*We’ve travelled to Gualeguaychu (3 hours each way, at 5pm and 3am!) for the Carnaval, Argentina’s largest carnival and an impersonation of Rio Carnival (which we’ll be missing, alas).
It was incredible – such excitement and passion and energy in the air! I’ve never experienced anything like it. Check out our very abbreviated Best Moment (the battery died) and Mark’s pics – ooh la la!

* We stayed at the pretty amazing Faena Hotel and Universe, in Puerto Madero (also in Buenos Aires), where we watched a breathtaking tango show (truly – it took my breath away). Here are another couple of pics, and a moment – see them tango in action!

* And THEN, as if that wasn’t excitement enough, we find ourselves at the simply stunning Jardin Escondido, Francis Ford Coppola’s very own villa, and recently voted one of Tatler’s 101 Best Hotels in the World.
Wow.

* Tonight, we’re eating at the Faena Bistro, with a chef who trained and worked with Ferran Adria at El Bulli, for seven years.
Next week, it’s back to the real world.

But the excitement is not quite over!

That I am well aware that I’m the luckiest girl in the world, and I’m so deeply grateful for the last almost-six months of travelling, but…

I’ve had enough of uncertainty. We’ve had an incredible run of hotels lately – the El Ombu Estancia, the lovely Casa Sur Art Hotel in Recoleta, and now the fabulous Faena Hotel (and Universe) in Puerto Madero. It’s been simply sumptuous. But now today we had a bit of bad luck in that our easy route to Rio de Janeiro didn´t work out, so we have a fair bit of missioning ahead of us, and things are still up in the air.

And all of a sudden I’m longing for some certainty. We’ve started looking for work back home, so all that is hanging in the balance, and we’re still not 100% sure where we’ll be for our last week, so there’s that to think about. The idea of a home and a fridge and a whole lot of sameness all of a sudden seems very attractive!

Perhaps this is what happens at the end of a journey. You start to wind down, to recalibrate back to a real-life frequency so that when you get home you don’t long for adventure every day. I’ve started eating as healthy as possible and exercising so that I can get back into real life mode, as opposed to traveller mode (which looks a lot like eat-everything-in-sight because you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, a dangerous habit to get into!) And I’ve started thinking of home, and family, and friends, and how lovely it will be to be connected again.

Don’t getme wrong, it has been simply incredible, and I wouldn’t exchange a second of it. But one week more will probably be the perfect amount of time till my homebody self re-asserts herself!
And now? We´re off to a tango show! I’ll post a clip tomorrow.