"As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise, you will miss most of your life." - Buddha
Pacaya Volcano. Antigua, Guatemala.
Seeing that this is our final post, we would be remiss to not start off with a few thank yous. First to our families: Thank you for supporting us in our crazy decision to quit our jobs and pursue this dream. Thank you for keeping our lives back home running- for opening our mail, for fielding phone calls and for filling out our tax returns. Thank you for making the necessary computer upgrades to be able to skype us. It was great to be able to see you when internet connections allowed. A special thank you to my Grandpa Skip, who not only gave us a short critique of each and every blog post, but also printed out every post and placed it in a binder (with an index and everything!). It is a keepsake that we will cherish forever. We owe you some ink cartridges!!
Thank you to the people that took the time to send us emails, post comments and facebook messages. Being on the road can be amazing and intensely fun but it can also be isolating. Each and every message was a link that made us feel a bit more connected to a home that, at times, felt very far away.
Pacaya Volcano. Antigua, Guatemala.
Also, a special thank you to the Liebl family in Managua, Nicaragua for taking us in and making us feel so welcome in your home. We also want to thank you for sharing your Christmas with us- it is one we will never forget. We love you guys!
With Maria at overlook of Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua.
Thanks to the people we met up with on the road: Meta, Uri, Rachel and Nick. It was great to see some familiar faces and share some adventures with you! We look forward to doing it again. Soon. Maria- thank you for driving us all over your country and introducing us to your friends. It was crazy fun! You are awesome.
The Pacific. Samara, Costa Rica.
Thank you to the new friends we made - and sometimes repeatedly bumped into along the way. It was always fun to meet fellow travelers and share recommendations and stories over a drink or two. We are appreciating the continued emails and shared photos from some of you! You are welcome in our home at any time.
Samara, Costa Rica.
Well, it's over. It's kind of hard to believe that we have already been back home for over 2 months. Every day that I wake up and get ready for work, the memory of our trip slips further into a distant haze of the past. It's hard to fathom all that we saw and did. Our adventure feels more like a dream every day.
At the same time, it has been wonderful to be at home again. We love seeing our friends and having our family nearby. Initially, it was an adjustment to not be able to spend every waking moment together but it has been great to have some variety in companionship.
The transition home has been pretty smooth. I was expecting it to be difficult and to feel sad and a longing to get back out on the road but that hasn't happened. It feels good to be able to put down roots. I feel a satisfaction for having fulfilled a lifelong dream and I also feel more calm about seeing the rest of the world. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have had itchy travel feet for years so this is a definite change. We'll see how we are feeling in 6 months.
I have decided to fill the rest of this post with things we have learned along the way- simple tips and deeper thoughts.
Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. Monteverde, Costa Rica.
The majority of people in this world are inherently good at heart. In a local market in Bolivia, an elderly indigenous woman refused to charge me for a single onion, even though there was nothing else I wanted to purchase from her. In Cusco, a local woman walked 5 blocks out of her way to personally lead a group of lost gringos to the correct street. These are just a couple of examples of the generosity and kindness of the people we met.
Moped rental. Boquete, Panama.
Certain areas of the world have a reputation for being "dangerous". I think that sometimes the level of real danger is overblown. I had to stop reading the safety sections of my travel book because it made every place sound awful. Undoubtedly, bad things happen to travelers all the time. Some of this is due to not being careful and some of it is just plain bad luck. However, we are not immune from many of these dangers when we are at home. In general, Central and South America felt a lot safer than we expected it to feel.
Starfish beach. Bocas del Toro, Panama.
When going on a longer adventure, try not to plan everything down to the last detail. We purchased two one way tickets to Guatemala and decided everything else as we went. This allowed us a great degree of freedom in our days. You sometimes don't know how long you want to be somewhere until you are actually there. By the end of our trip, we sometimes went to the bus station without really knowing for sure where we wanted to go. This was an amazing way to travel!
Japanese Garden. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
If traveling on a budget, don't forget to treat yourself from time to time. Whether it is a nicer room or a simple ice cream cone, occasional splurges and simple treats go a long way toward making the hardships of long term travel more tolerable.
Llao llao. Bariloche, Argentina.
When looking for a place to eat, choose a place that is packed with locals- you get a taste of the "local flavor", both food and culture-wise. Example: We ended up in a tiny restaurant in a town outside of Cusco that had a Sunday chicken special. It was filled with locals and the food was good. The waitress eventually put her two year old daughter to sleep in the corner and the rest of us lingered to watch Shrek (in Spanish) on tv. It was a great experience that could not have been had in the popular tourist bar down the street.
Spanish Plaza. Mendoza, Argentina.
Carry toilet paper with you at all times. It is not as widely available in hostels and restrooms. We became hoarders of it after a while.
Tilcara, Argentina.
When you arrive in a new place, take a walk to get your bearings. Walking is also the cheapest form of transport and a great way to get to know a city. We took public transport only a few times during our 6+ weeks in Buenos Aires and instead enjoyed hours of strolling around and getting a feel for the neighborhoods.
Lost in the Andes with only wine to drink. Tilcara, Argentina.
Don't cave in to travel peer pressure. If you don't want to see a certain place that everyone else is raving about, don't go just because you "feel you should". Except if you want to skip Machu Picchu- that's just silly of you ;)
Painter's Palette. Maimara, Argentina.
"Down days" are a necessary part of long term travel. Take a day and spend it reading in a park. Give yourself permission to spend an afternoon watching movies while laying in bed. You can't go full force at all times or you will burn out in a hurry. We enjoyed ourselves more once we learned to slow our pace.
With our favorite guide dog, Muri. Tilcara, Argentina.
Forget about phone cards - Skype is pretty much the best way ever to keep in touch with people back home.
Salt flat tour, Bolivia.
Bring along a few extra books to read and exchange in the book exchanges at hostels and cafes. Many operate on a system of leaving two books in order to take one.
Red lake with llamas. Salt flat tour, Bolivia.
Central and South America is not completely filled with bugs like I thought. Four bottles of 98% deet bug spray was overkill.
Red lake with llamas and our Spanish friends. Salt flat tour, Bolivia.
We highly recommend a pack duffel to anyone who backpacks. It is basically a duffel bag cover for your backpack. It also protects your bag from dirt, rain and general grossness as you haul it around bus stations and throw it on top of buses. You can also lock it shut so it keeps thieves out of your things. This was probably one of the most useful things we brought with us.
With baby llama shadow. Salt flat tour, Bolivia.
The world is a lot more connected than you might think. There was even wifi in a mud hut we stayed at in Peru. No hot water but wifi. It is worth it to bring a netbook or ipod touch in order to take advantage of the free internet. We loved our netbook- we saved photos on it and then backed them up onto an online photo site whenever we found fast internet. We were able to email and skype our friends and family from it. It is another thing to worry about losing. However, as we mentioned, it isn't as dangerous to travel as you might think!
Isla de Pescado. Uyuni salt flat, Bolivia.
Slow down and get to know the places you are visiting. You might see less in terms of checking things off of the "to see" list but you will see more in terms of the local way of life. Since we were on a longer trip, it was a good idea to stop somewhere for a longer period of time. (Buenos Aires for a month) This allowed us a much needed rest and a way to recharge our batteries. If we would have been on the road longer, we would have definitely found somewhere else to stay for another 3 or 4 weeks. Traveling in a foreign culture can be exhausting!
Sunrise on Uyuni salt flat, Bolivia.
Eat the street food. It is usually delicious!!
Sunrise on Uyuni salt flat, Bolivia.
Organized tours have their merits but it is often much more fun to do it on your own if you can! We still regret paying for a couple of organized day trips. We always had a lot more fun when we did things on our own- it was sometimes more difficult but always the better adventure.
Sacsayhuaman ruins, Cusco, Peru.
Take the local public transport. It is a colorful experience and a great people watching experience, even if you are packed in like a sardine.
Machu Picchu, Peru.
Instead of worrying about packing high tech, quick dry travel clothing, choose things you really like. You will be wearing them every day so it is best if you actually like them. You'll get sick of them no matter what. Another good clothing tip: try secret pockets! My mom sewed pockets into the inside of a few of my things and it was a great place to stash credit cards and cash. It allowed me to not worry about my bag when we were in crowded markets or buses.
Galapagos, Ecuador.
Galapagos, Ecuador
This trip reinforced to us the fact that you don't need a lot of material possessions in order to be happy. We live a life of excess in the US and we are trying to live a simpler, slower life. This can be challenging but it is something we believe in.
Galapagos, Ecuador.
Our trip in numbers:
Days spent on the road: 245
Countries visited: 10
Borders crossed: 18 (12 by land, 6 by air- 4 of which were crossed in one day on our flights home)
Days spent on organized tours: 28
Days spent "winging it": all the rest of them
Total bus rides: 90+
Longest bus ride: 27 hours (Iguazu to Salta)
Flights taken: 7
Taxis taken: 41 (including tuk tuks)
Shuttle buses taken: 8
Boat rides: 29 (19 purely for transport purposes; 10 for "pleasure" - including the giant fiberglass swan ride on Lake Titicaca)
Places we slept: 89 (including night buses)
Overnight buses taken: 11
Cheapest room: $6.00 total (Lake Atitlan, Guatemala)
Most expensive room: $30.00 total (Quito, Ecuador)
Number of places we found bedbugs (but avoided being infested): 3
Number of days we ate ice cream: 48
Number of times we paid to have laundry done: 27
Least we paid for laundry: $2.65 (Boquete, Panama)
Most we paid for laundry: 12,000 chilean pesos = $24.00 (Puerto Natales, Chile)
(All stats are thanks to the fact that we wrote down everything we spent in a small notebook.)
Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.
If you are considering a trip like this, just do it! Seriously. The hardest part was making the decision to leave. Everything after was an amazing adventure. We don't regret a moment of it! So, I guess that's all from the Wiscaminantes. Until, of course, the next time we decide to drop everything, dust off our backpacks and hit the open road!
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler." - Henry David Thoreau
