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(526 words)
TRAVELS AND DIABETES: SOUTH AMERICA
Latin America was one of the most significant experiences of my travel around the world in 1,000 days without aircraft. Already crossing the customs between San Diego and Tijuana you began to breathe a new, different, crisp air.
Central America first and then South America welcomed me as if I were one of the family, with care and joy. Music in the streets at any time of day and night, street artists, dancers, village festivals, markets so rich in color, folklore, and traditions. And then that strong nature that manifests itself bursting into the Andean chain or in the woods of Patagonia, or even in the Amazon rainforest. The Oceans and those wonderful coasts in Nicaragua or those of the Pacific in Brazil. In this corner of the world, I spent fifteen months, learning the language, many customs, and gestures. Like Argentine mate, that infusion of pampas herbs that are drunk with a metal straw from containers made from pumpkins. Even at home, I often allow myself this moment, almost for myself.
I worked in those lands: I was a videomaker, cook, farmer, bricklayer, receptionist. I lived for about two months in a tent in the deep south of the world, often eating the fish I caught in the lake or stream in front of me.
I hitchhiked the entire Carretera Austral and broke my back on the Guatemala chicken buses.
The Perito Moreno, Machu Picchu, the ruins of Tikal, the Ciudad Perdida, the Quilotoa lagoon, the Acatenango volcano, the Chapada Diamantina are just some of the places that still tickle my imagination every time I think about it.
Diabetes has certainly benefited from this long stay among those lands, in fact, for almost all countries the typical diet consists of basic nutritional elements accompanied by vegetables and above all fruit of excellent quality. Sugar is excessively widespread and it is always necessary to remind the stall on duty that is preparing a fresh juice for you not to add sugar or honey at all. But apart from this, thanks to daily physical activity, healthy nutrition, and constant glycemic control thanks to apps like OneTouch Reveal, my blood sugar levels were almost always under control. In fact, the App contains a glycemic diary that summarizes the data of the day or the week and allows you to view them by organizing them in colored graphs, immediately interpretable.
Insulin and its storage gave me a few more problems because I often went on long treks and walks and one night in Patagonia some insulin pens were frozen.
South America was the place where I also experienced the greatest fears due to health risks: first in Colombia where I contracted Dengue fever and where, thanks to careful monitoring of glycemic values, I avoided the worst consequences. Or again, when I was in Patagonia, during the long Torres del Paine trek, I suffered strong hypoglycemia and, despite the necessary precautions, I found myself without sufficient sugar. Fortunately, in that case, the help of other people I met along the way was literally helping me.
South America is just that: a lively and colorful continent with friendly and affectionate people.
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