Interview Time

Last year we didn’t manage to fit in our traditional end-of-expedition interviews, but this year we’re going for it big time! We’ve each prepared 20 questions for each other about the trip, to be answered blind and with no-holes-barred.

Jon’s Questions for Simon
Jon: Welcome to my large and intimidating interview panel, of Me, Myself and I. Thanks for coming, but even greater thanks for a brilliant time on this trip and for your invaluable blogging. There was an amazing amount of things to take in with regards to flora, fauna, languages, delicacies, sports, dances, music, and the list goes on. The blog has been a fantastic method of reflecting back on each moment and experience, be it joyful or sad, hilarious or serious, surprising or predictable; it’s kept our minds ticking and the folks at home entertained and in tune with what’s been going on. Now I’d just like us to look back at some of these moments and find out how the trip looked from your perspective, so think fast! What aspect of the whole trip did you find the most physically challenging?
Simon: Well funnily enough, not Roraima! We walked up and down with challenges, yes, but with relative ease. OK I admit that the final hour was punishing, but frankly that was solely from the psychology of receiving the t-shirts the night before and being lulled into the false sense of security that the trek was prematurely over. But all in all, I’m satisfied with my performance on this mountain. The biggest pounding was down in Chile. The hike up to the torres base camp made me just curl up into a little ball when you set of for Campamento Japones, whilst that long, long walk onwards to Italiano turned me into a zombie. But was it worth it? Absolutely!
Jon: Your words are true! Perhaps the Torres del Paine trek was more demanding due to having to carry more luggage for, perhaps when we talk about the most strenuous days, three times the length of each of the Roraima days. Plus, many of the ascents and descents were of similar gradients to the slopes of the Lost World. Now, out of all the things you brought with you from home, which single item could you not have lived without?
Simon: My money-belt. And that’s it! It’s a liberating feeling, walking through the Gran Sabana, knowing that round your waist is strapped your passport, cash and credit-cards, and that this all ALL you need to carry on and get back home. Everything else is superfluous, an added luxury. Even a few spare clothes; what you stand up in is all the traveller really needs.
Jon: How did the various South American cuisines live up to your expectations?
Simon: Complete, total and utter disappointment. I’m sorry, but the solid food was a disaster. But the fruit shakes, particularly in Colombia were amazing. And the Custard Apple we tried in Bolivia, fantastic, up there with our Cambodian Mangosteens and Rambutans.
Jon: Which of all the countries captured you most, and why?
Simon: I think it has to be Brazil. Because we MUST return, a.s.a.p. And then Colombia and Cuba come a close, equal second. But Brazil has made me eager to sample much more, from Salvador de Bahia down to your beloved Rio, and then to Ouro Preto and the rest of Minas Gerais, together with the beaches of Santa Catarina, the jaguars of the Pantanal, and the exciting railway journeys that are possible in Brazil. One of my biggest regrets with this continent is the lack of thrilling train travel. Just remember India!
Jon: When we set out on this adventure, we didn’t really have an understanding of Spanish. Do you feel that you have managed to get to grips with it a little? How much has your comprehension and active communication of Español improved?
Simon: Well, don’t forget that as a composer I was working quite closely with the poetry of Gabriela Mistral, so Latin American Spanish was fairly well established in my recent consciousness. But I certainly wasn’t prepared for the shock of how it sounds colloquially. Thinking back to all my visits to Spain, I was fairly lost even then, so you would expect that I would have been in need of some intensive remedial work. But the total immersion method in target language really does work: my passive vocabulary has expanded dramatically, and just by the very nature of being here for three months and listening to locals bringing me into a conversation, I’ve gained the ability to understand what’s going on. And I can look enthusiastic, pull the correct face and respond with “Si, claro…” So the next stage will be a stroll in the park…oops, losiento, un passeo en el parque…
Jon: If you could create a charity group to improve Latin America, what would it be called and what would it focus on?
Simon: I need to help address the single, most shocking problem of the continent, which is the grinding, pointless poverty of the massive favelas and barrios which radiate outwards from every single urban centre. Only occasionally can they be pretty; more often they are vile adjuncts to graceful plazas, and something needs to be done. Chavez has a building programme of social housing for the poorest sectors of society, but it’s hardly scratching at the surface of this issue; relentless urbanisation has proceeded unchecked, and the tragedy has a knock-on effect on villages and rural communities which have thus haemorrhaged their population and lost valuable traditions and techniques in the process. So my contribution would be in the establishing of tiny businesses with micro loans on minimal interest rates, to aid both urban and rural societies. It’s called Favela Umbrella…
Jon: Did any of the flora or fauna particularly impress you?
Simon: I really loved the bright purple which can be found everywhere: on balconies, behind the metal grilles of tiny, pastel coloured dwellings, and along the roadsides. And talking of purple, do you remember that massive, purple dragonfly we saw hovering just above a tiny stream as we were hiking in Venezuela? And it was in Venezuela that we saw the most impressive birds, from one long, elegant black and yellow, debonair specimen, to the green parrots and blue macaws. But the pumas and jaguars remained elusive, and, thankfully, so did the snakes and creepy-crawlies.
Jon: We’ve seen many wonders of the world on this trip. Which one exceeded your expectations most?
Simon: Interesting…well, here is one natural, and one cultural. If I had to single out just one experience as being more memorable than any other, it would have to be waking up at Campamento Italiano in the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, in the woodland dappled with sunlight and hearing the sound of gushing water, then immediately stumbling onto the little bridge over a truly spectacular stream slap, bang in the shadow of a beautiful glacier with wisps of snow blowing about it under an electric blue sky on the sheer walls of Paine Grande. This was unforgettable, and the type of moment where you wish for time to stop completely so you can savour it for hours! And the cultural experience? The churches of Cusco, with their massive, golden altarpieces and ornate carvings. These buildings sum up for me the entire ethos of the continent. And now I could continue and talk about Machu Picchu, but that’s not helpful in answering your question as I’ve already cheated by mentioning two things…
Jon: Any important money-saving tips for future travellers to South America?
Simon: Well, first and foremost, it’s important to remember that this is NOT Asia, and so the cheap five dollar rooms of India don’t exist, neither do the platefuls of Thai fried-rice for a few Baht, so budgeting carefully will be key. But we DID it! Virtually everywhere we managed to get a room for ten pounds per night, and by eating basic food, travelling on buses and buying a few, well-chosen souvenirs, we managed to do the whole thing on about £15 each per day. But that’s not including the £1,800 we forked out on flights during the planning stage…
Jon: Are there any moments that stick in your head when you felt threatened by something or someone?
Simon: well only the street boys in Buenos Aires, and I’m still not certain how serious they were, how much of a joke they saw the whole thing, or just how dangerous they might have been. But we were both terrified by Caracas, which turned out to be a fascinating, vibrant and visually engaging city.
Jon: I wasn't thinking of these aspescts, but they were threatening moments indeed. I have heard many bad stories about Caracas and thought it'd be a dive, but driving through it was stunning with the favelas and the cable car that ascended up the mountainside. The scary thing for me, was the risk of having to fight off rabid dogs. Tokirau, our dog on Easter Island, seemed to be a trouble magnet and we were forever standing between fierce groups of territorial hounds who sadistically enjoyed fighting among themselves. Let's continue. On such a huge adventure, what things did you miss most about home?
Simon: My mum! I’ve bought far too many souvenirs with her in my, considering her clear instruction to me was not to buy a single thing. Other than that, I’ve missed making music. But then over in Latin America, we’ve heard tons of the stuff…

Some time later, in Moscow, to be precise, the tables were turned…

Simon: Hello there, Jonathan, and thank you for all your hard work on this little blog over the past three months. It hardly seems like two years since we were finishing our Indian trip with a stopover in Jordan, so how has this stopover in Cuba been for you? Have you managed some deeper insights into Communism?
Jon: I love how your refer to our blog as ‘little’… It’s been the biggest yet! Hahaha! Cuba has been a real eye opener for me. I feel that I’ve managed to see communist ideas in action, but I feel more confused than before I arrived here. The two currency system (the peso nacional and the tourist’s, higher-value, peso convertible) has blown my mind because only those who are affiliated with the tourist industry can get hold of the tourist’s money. We find people in tourism earning far more than doctors or other healthcare professionals, and definite rich and poor divides. I was quite shocked to see poverty existing here, but what was even more astonishing was the ration book that our host family presented to us. I can’t believe that a modern day country is still rationing to this high degree. Very post-World War. Most people who visit Cuba are in resorts, far away from the real life in Havana, and I believe that I have learned an incredible amount about Cuban society (and improved my Spanish) by choosing the Casa Particular family home stay as opposed to a hotel. The day at the beach was a fantastic wind down, but no matter how many times I apply the factor 25, I get burned. Still, not as bad as some of our previous trips, but my legs are currently singed fast-food!
Simon: Good points, well made! Let’s turn now to languages! When we started out in Argentina, our first real experience of the Spanish speaking world, how did you handle the transition between speaking Portuguese and Spanish? Has your fluency increased?
Jon: Well, everyone was telling us that Argentinean Spanish was the most confusing and I understand why. But it helped me to learn Spanish quicker because the two ‘l’s (ll) make the sound of the Portuguese ‘ch’ as opposed to their normal ‘y’ sound. Take the word which means ‘to call’, for example. In Portuguese it’s ‘chamar’ and in Spanish it’s ‘llamar’. In Argentinean Spanish the sound didn’t seem different at all to the Portuguese that I knew already, and so I found myself speaking a lot of Portuguese in Argentina and being understood. However, when we ventured around the other countries, I was sure to pronounce correctly ‘yamar’ instead of ‘chamar’. I had already learned basic words and understood the fundamental differences between Spanish and Portuguese by this point, so I was able to communicate. These days my Spanish seems to be coming along quite well, but I still have lots to learn and I plan to watch films with Spanish subtitles turned on when we’re back home. It would be a shame to forget all what I’ve learned, and I believe that Portuguese and Spanish could be learned side by side, and they compliment each other very well.
Simon: Yes, and that’s precisely what I’m going to do when we get back, with the aid of dictionaries and great literature. Now how about food… On each of our massive expeditions, food has been an important feature of our experiences. What flavours and textures have struck you most this time around?
Jon: The Arepas of the Caribbean coasts of Colombia and Venezuela stick in my mind as a stodgy, tasteless staple, but the Peruvian guinea pig delicacy gets the world’s bitterest meat vote. These flavours indeed struck me, but not in the sense that you’re asking. The foods that I would gladly gobble again include the flimsy, tapioca pancakes filled with soft coconut and condensed milk, which we experienced in Brazil, but also the ‘rodizio de pizza‘ where we could eat all the different flavours of pizza we wanted (traditional savoury flavours plus chocolate, strawberry, coconut and more!); the saucy and spicy ‘hot doubles’ from the barraca in Trinidad; the juicy, succulent, rare steak that was delicately charred for us on one of the many churrascarias in Buenos Aires; the tantalising sauce, with the added crunch from ants, that we added to pizza and spaghetti in the Gran Sabana, Venezuela; but the Chinese restaurant in Lima probably served the best food of all!
Simon: I’m salivating now from all these memories. Seeing our travelling through your eyes, or rather tasting it on your tongue, it doesn’t sound so bad after all! But we always say that often a trip is made by the people we meet along the way. Which characters have made the deepest impressions on you in the last three months?
Jon: Hmmm… Difficult. There are always going to be some who I forget, but I’ll attempt. The entire group on the Roraima trek were just ideal and the best. I felt that I bonded mostly with the Japanese duo, Rachael, Lindsay, Moises, Francisco, Polly, Branni and, of course, Bruno, as conversation was always pumping around with these guys. And those of us who went to the salsa bar in Santa Elena just completely relaxed and I didn’t mind making a fool of myself during my salsa dance with two strangers and Polly… She’s a load of fun! Iuigi from Japan also had a great time with a keen Venezuelan woman, who wore him right out (and he’s used to exercise, what with being a second dan judoka!). Martin from the Salar Uyuni tour, Bolivia, was also very interesting and I hope that we can meet him in London sometime. Shirley from the same tour was actually hilarious and we strangely bumped into each other in the same hostel in Sucre, and at the Ecuador-Colombia border crossing. It was highly entertaining watching Shirley teach another guy from the tour, Christian, some Dutch phrases like “noke in de koke” (however you write it!). During our trek in the Parque Nacional Torres Del Paine, Chile, Robert from Oregon State, USA, was a great hiking companion and was a welcome third member to the team. When times got hard and food supplies scarce, he shared some pasta and ketchup with us. Life saver! And Marta, our Brazilian friend from the hostel in Puerto Natales, is just so cheerful and keen to teach me Portuguese and improve her perfect English. We’ll see her in Brazil, I’m sure!
Finally, the family we are staying with in Cuba at the casa particular is just fantastic: Sandra makes fantastic black bean rice and lobster, and Pablo converses keenly about the ups and downs of his country, in Spanish and English.
Simon: Wow, hasn’t it been a privilege to meet all these fascinating people? For me, the person who stands as an emblem for our wonderful encounters just has to be Bruno! Our local guide in Venezuela was of course the best anybody could wish for, but to be accompanied by a friendly and loquacious anthropologist, skilled in the tribal language of the indigenia, deeply familiar with the ethnography of the area and willing to share his skill, knowledge and wit was a mind-blowing, once-in-a-lifetime week!

Well, sadly, we've come to end end of our biggest ever blog, and longest ever trip. Thank you for following and supporting us, for helping us through the tough bits and laughing with us through the bizarre bits! But our travel plans aren't quite grinding to a halt over the next few years. Watch out for Poland, Germany, Guatemala and more, much more Brazil. But only in bite-sized chunks from now on, from weekends to a week. But by now, you already know just how much we can pack into just seven days. Bye for now...