El Fin. The End.

On the plane I wanted to somehow capture my entire trip before I got back to the United States, back to comfort, back to "reality." Here are my final thoughts:

Dear Self,
I thought about writing this letter several times during my journey in South America so I wouldn't forget all I've learned during the past four months. Many people said or suspected that this trip would change my life, and although it's cliche, this trip was the most amazing experience of my life thus far, and it has changed me as a person.
I spent the last four months dedicated to seeing some of the world. What is amazing is all that comes along with seeing new places. I met people from all over the world-not only that, but made some very special friends along the way. By simply meeting new people and talking to them, I learned so much about different cultures and how people live and feel around the world. It helped me leave the American bubble and realize how much of a world there is out there-and how much more I want to see.
Going into this trip, I saw it as a thirst I needed to quench before I started my "career." Well anyone who has done some long term travel knows it only piques your interest of the world even more. Now I want to visit Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Israel...some places I had never considered visiting before. This experience has truly awakened a thirst for knowledge about the world.
I don't plan to live the way I formerly lived. I think of how far my money went on this trip and all I can do with money in the future. I think of all the money I've spent on clothes, beauty products, restaurants, drinks. Backpacking humbles you. You have everything you need on your back, and the rest is extra and superfluous. I hope and plan to live more thrifty and money conscious.
But the best part of traveling is the lessons you learn about yourself. I never really envisioned myself alone in a Bolivian city, or journeying alone to a Brazilian island where I couldn't speak the language, but it happened. What's more remarkable than it happened is that I experienced it-it challenged me, scared me a little, and made me smarter and stronger. There's no way I can leave this trip not feeling like an adult. One of the biggest challenges is being sick and alone in a foreign country. Realizing there is "no one" except yourself to take care of you is humbling. Let me tell you from a very sick bus ride in Bolivia, been there/done that!
The point of this "letter to self" is to summarize and capture the importance that this experience has been for me. Faced with more options to travel and see the world, seize them. Faced with challenges and oppositions to future traveling, overcome them!
There is very little, if anything, that I have experienced this far in life that is more satisfying than following one's dreams. As Jack Johnson said, and has become my motto concerning this trip, "Don't let your dreams be dreams." Here's to making a dream come true. :)
Love, Melanie