180 days and five years
Around the world in 80 days?
I guess we are 100 days late and no where near finished… that story was of a race around the world and I don’t think they saw all that much anyway. Yes, we are still in South America. We apologize if this “boring” some of you who have written to tell us to move on and entertain you.
For those of you who think South America is about as diverse as one state in the US, which it is not–Brazil alone is nearly the size of the US, we have some good news. We purchased a “round the world” or “RTW” airpass yesterday. So, on June 9th we will be off to a far away place and things will be moving more quickly for those of you bored with our one continent adventure.
To be more entertaining, we are not going to say where we are going next. We will post some pictures and see if you can guess where we are. Those of you who know (because WD was bursting to tell) don’t spoil it for the rest. We can’t say you will actually win something, but post your guesses on our blog and maybe when we are gainfully employed we will take you out to dinner or something… you’ll at least have our love and admiration for your knowledge of geography.
I wish I had something profound to say after 6 months on the road but I don’t–I still just want to see more and keep going. WD is not at a loss for words and wanted to share what we’ve done during our time of unemployment:
We have gone from poverty in Nicaragua, to Americanized Costa Rica and Panama, to fantastic wildlife and horrible rains in Ecuador, to the deserts and ruins of Peru, to the high costs of Chile, and to the fantastic diversity that is Argentina. We have eaten tuna out of the can and experienced five star dining on a backpacker budget. We have endured long bus rides, long lines at borders, and long stretches of time without communication home.
We have met travelers from Australia, Germany, England, Switzerland, Brussels, Belgium, Austria, England, South Africa, Holland, and Sweden that we feel fortunate to call friends. We have met locals who only want to rip us off, and locals who only want to help. We have slept in hostels I would not recommend to my worst enemy, and a top floor apartment in Buenos Aires. We have been sick and tired at times, and just plain sick at other times. I have cried out of exhaustion and have cried out of happiness, and overall I would not change a thing.
Today the six month mark of the trip.
Here is where we were five years ago today when the idea of this journey started to take root:
