Homecoming

How do you sum up the experience of 13.5 months of travel?

We certainly anticipate a lot of questions. What was your favorite country? What were the biggest highlights? What did you miss most about home? Each seems to have a simple answer (cheeseburgers for #3); but, in truth, it's impossibly complicated to construct an easy answer to questions that envelop such a diverse set of experiences.

When we look back at 13.5 months, spanning Central Mexico to the Southern tip of Argentina, we're filled with memories of happiness, surprise, frustrations, confusions, good days and bad days. This was not a vacation, it was our life for over one year.

Here we are, finally faced with the reality of going home, but we say goodbye to our current home which is the road. In the end it was - to sum as concisely as possible - one HELL of a Permacation.

Here's a short list of some of our experiences...



Permacation Factoids

We were off US Soil for 412 Days, 8 Hours, and 10 Minutes (if our cheapskate flight arrives on time).

We resided, at one point or another, on 2 continents; in 12 countries; in 96 cities, towns, villages, or municipalities; in 141 beds (that's 1 new bed every 2.92 days); in hotels, hostels, guest houses, tents, mountain refuges, buses, boats, bus stations, airports, and private residences.

We traveled by coach bus, minibus, microbus, minivan, chicken bus, pickup truck, taxi, train, private car, foot, airplane, flatbed truck, bicycle, rickshaw, bike taxi, colectivo, mototaxi (both 3- and 2-wheeled varieties), sailboat, ferry, motorboat, and horseback.

We met travelers from Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, North America, and South America, and locals from every country we visited including, but certainly not limited to, Mexican market women, Guatemalan textile weavers, Belizian rasta-men, El Salvadorian guerilla fighters, Colombian sailboat captains, Peruvian subsistence farmers, Argentinian musicians, Bolivian jungle-sound-imitators, and Panamanian indigenous islanders.

We experienced the following illnesses and afflictions, in no particular order: 6 cases of food poisioning or traveler's... ahem, diarrhea; 1 severe allergic reaction of unknown origins; several cases of heat rash, sunburns, and various heat related afflictions; 1 case of guinea pig-induced indigestion; bites from mosquitos, bed bugs, sand flies, horse flies, black flies, fire ants, spiders, and other unknown insects; 2 head colds; unknown quantities of blisters; permanent scarring from open sores exposed to sulfuric hot springs; all sorts of scrapes and scratches; and countless hangovers.

We survived tropical storms, volcanic eruptions, mudslides, landslides, rockslides, earthquakes, pickpockets, stray dogs, hail storms, bus and taxi drivers, and angry groups of Canadian hockey fans.

We ate crickets, grasshoppers, and termites; cow brains, beef hearts, and huge gourmet steaks; ceviche, fresh trout, red snapper, octopus, and lobster; guinea pig, rabbit, alpaca, and blood sausages and chorizos; churros, empanadas, arroz con leche, dulce de leche, sweet potato donuts, deep-fried bananas stuffed with black beans, and decadent cakes; cactus; new fruits and vegetables; salchipapas; quail eggs; high-end gourmet and street-deep-fried you-name-it.

We drank Mexican tequila and mezcal, Belizian rum, Guatemalan atol, Colombian aguardiente, Ecuadorian leche de tigre, Argentine wine, Bolivian fruit smoothies, Nicaraguan chicha, Peruvian pisco, horrible beer from every country, and unmentionable varieties of instant coffee.

We saw and experienced dry, cracked deserts, ancient ruins, enormous snowcapped mountains, crystal blue Caribbean waters, white sand beaches, tropical islands, rolling hills, active glaciers, Vegas-style lazer light shows synchronized to water fountains, coffee farms, live local music, banana farms, Amazon jungle, rushing rivers, spectacular cliffs, waterfalls, hot springs, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, cosmopolitan cities, tiny indigenous villages, quaint colonial towns, volcanos and crater lakes, highland mountain passes, and cloud forests.

We also wined, dined, hiked, biked, dove, rock climbed, climbed a mountain, rode horses, go-carted, shopped at traditional markets of all varieties, lied on beaches and in countless hammocks, surfed, white water rafted, snorkeled, sailed, ziplined, sandboarded, bet on horses, went to soccer (FUTBOL) matches, caved, took cooking classes, fished, paddleboated, kayaked, canoed, learned to weave, spoke English (American, Australian, Candian, and British varieties), Spanish, Q'uiche, Quechua, Swedish, French, and German.

As sad as it is to leave all this behind, we can't wait to see our friends and family!

See you soon everybody!

Hiking the Cordillera Blanca- Santa Cruz Trek

As our time is dwindling down, we had one last big “must do” on our list: hike in the Cordillera Blanca. As part of the Andes, the Cordillera Blanca has 22 mountain peaks that tower over 6000 meters (19,685ft). Everywhere you look you see white, snow capped mountains crammed together, separated only by dramatic valleys, lagoons, waterfalls, and hot springs.

We stationed ourselves in Huaraz to further investigate the trekking options in the area which range from 1 day hikes to week long ventures. We decided on the Santa Cruz Trek which is one of the most popular, for a total of 4 days hiking and 3 nights in a tent. We by-passed the tour groups and instead rented all the gear we would need for the adventure: a tent, sleeping bags and mats, camp stove, cooking pot, plates/bowls, heavy jackets, and hiking sticks. Add in 4 days worth of food and our bags were cramped to the gill....well let's be honest, Rich's bag was crammed.

The first day was a relatively easy 5 hour walk to the campsite, where we got the first look at some snow as the clouds drifted around the mountains. We woke up before dawn the 2nd day to start our hardest day, hiking 900 meters up in elevation (2,952ft) over the pass and into another valley. The hike up was challenging because of the packs, but our work was well rewarded when we crossed over the pass and saw the steep valley below, surround by enormous mountains on each side. The 3rd and 4th days were a breeze as we continued to walk down the valley, passing beautiful lagoons and crazy high waterfalls.

We were fortunate enough to have pretty good weather as we are still in the end of rainy season here. Although it rained almost every night, we were able to at least get our tent up, and usually get dinner made before getting soaked. And although we may have missed seeing all of the mountains in their glory at one time, we were ecstatic to see them individually as they would occasionally peak out from the almost permanent shroud of clouds.

It was an absolutely wonderful experience, and one we are both eager to repeat again when we get the opportunity.

The Adventures of Sam: Part I

When we were in Cuzco, our good friend Sam came to visit. We duct-taped him to a chair and forced him to write a blog post. Here's the first part of Sam's account of his visit, enjoy!

I arrived in Peru on April 8th or so. The five and a half hour flight down there was over quickly and there I was in Lima, bleary-eyed at 4:30 am. Rich and Kendra had been gone for over a year at this point. Leaving from the Miami airport to go visit them seemed reasonable - it was still in the US and I have other good friends that I have not seen in over a year.

Lima is often blanketed in fog and that night was no different. Nothing of the city or surrounding area could be seen from the glass-walled airport either. A short while after landing I thought that flying to Peru to meet backpacking friends would be a great practical joke. It is a little surreal landing in a foreign country, very early in the morning, with no clear idea of where you are going.

The flight from Lima to Cusco was great. Star Peru operates little quad engine jets with maybe 40 or 50 seats. Shortly after takeoff mountains became visible in the distance. As we flew over them clouds were flowing over ridges into valleys. Mountain streams and waterfalls were in each eroded valley. The scenery was beautiful. We didn't have to descend very far into Cusco, elevation 10,800 feet. As soon as we landed I felt like I was going to suffocate in the thin, rare air - turns out I was just excited to see Rich and Kendra.

Boy was it good to see Rich and Kendra again. They looked really really skinny, unhealthily so by American standards. Rest assured I tried to fatten them up as best I could, but they resisted my efforts at every turn - but I digress.

The drive to the hostel was exciting. The dogs and people were dodging the car as we were driven, in an unsafe manner of course, through the town to the hostel. The hostel was staffed by a number of friendly, perhaps even too friendly, Peruvian dudes of about our same age. When asked for suggestions of things to do or places to go eat/drink they invariably suggested the most casual tourist friendly place. We only asked them for suggestions one or two times.

We had a great private room in the hostel which even had it's own private bathroom - though this would become a bit of a problem over the course of the week. You see, the hostel only had water for parts of the day, so it was a gamble each time to see if you could take a shower let alone flush the toilet. Overall the Flying Dog hostel was a great place in a good location a short walk away from the Cusco main square. It was far enough away to not be loud, yet close enough that we didn't have to walk more than five minutes to be knee deep in the action.

Kendra and Rich suggested that we go to the local market shortly after getting settled in. The market was pretty crazy. It is arranged into sections which smell good or bad depending on what the vendors are selling. The produce and spices smelled great, and the meat... well it is hard for non-refrigerated piles of meat to smell good. Oddly, the fish section of the market smelled much better than the meat section. Fresh fish. Our favorite smoothie lady was also in the market. We stopped to get smoothies from her two days in a row early in my trip. They were delicious. We bummed around the city the rest of my first day in town and went out for a nice dinner where I discovered something amazing - the Pisco Sour (a traditional Peruvian cocktail made with raw eggwhite and Pisco, a local liquor).

We also hung out in Cusco for the second day of the trip, ostensibly so I could acclimatize to the altitude. Even though I live at 500 feet and Cusco is at 10,800 feet, the altitude was nothing that a fresh steeped mug of coca tea or a fat coca leaf wad couldn't fix. Rich and I took a long walk up a hill next to the hostel to an area that was well off the beaten path. We had some great views of the city from there and it was great to do a little exploring.

Machu Picchu: The Monster on the Mountain

Lots of new pictures happening...

After traveling the last 12.5 months, you start to get accustomed to hearing a lot of hype about particular places. In Guatemala, we HAD to see Tikal. In Argentina, we HAD to eat the steaks. But from the time we left perhaps we heard no hype greater than that for Machu Picchu... Inca ruin, perched on the cliff, mysterious and mystical, officially one of the new seven wonders of the world.

Some things live up to their hype, and others don't. The Machu Picchu verdict? Believe it. It's incredible.

With our good friend Sam in tow for the better part of two weeks (more on his adventures later), we hopped around the small villages of The Sacred Valley of the Incas for a few days before culminating the side-trip with a visit to the dramatic Inca masterpiece.

There's no road access to Machu Picchu, the mountains are too rugged. You can hike there along the famous 4-day Inca Trail, but we opted for style and comfort and grabbed the train from the nearby village of Ollantaytambo. The train winds it's way through the valley along the Rio Urubamba through amazingly steep mountains, and despite it's Peruvian-standard lateness, made for a fun and pleasant ride.

We got up early and arrived at the gates just in time for the opening around 6:30am. We grabbed an English-speaking guide for the 3 of us and began a two hour tour of the site. In the mornings, Machu Picchu is completely foggy and covered in mist, giving the place a mystical feel and obscuring most views... you're not really sure what you're in for. As the day moved on, as our tour walked on, the clouds began to lift to slowly reveal the surreal scenery. By 10:30, we were all speechless with awe at the surrounding beauty - and that's saying something for two travelers who've seen a hell of a lot in 12.5 months. Even despite the masses of tourists, the site retains it's beauty and impetus for creating awe.

Steep mountains and jagged peaks paint every vista. The clouds shroud some with mist and slowly burn off. The sun warms you and you can't help but realize that the Incas had kind of a thing for absurdly beautiful views from their front porches. The ruins themselves don't have the big temples of Palenque, Mexico or Tikal, Guatemala, but the architecture is advanced and the relative intactness of the entire city makes it special. Noone knows for sure, but the current leading theory is that Machu Picchu was a political, religious, and administrative center and connected the valley to trade with the Amazon. The Incas built the site in the 15th century, and their culture is still incredibly evident and important all over Peru, Bolivia, and other parts of South America.

After a 2 hour tour, we walked the site at our leisure taking in the incredible views and just soaking in the vibe of the place. We took hilarious pictures, walked out to the Inca bridge built along a cliff side, and played with the llamas (who, usually thriving at higher elevations, are only brought into the site for tourists but are still fun to mess with). Eventually, we made our way back to Aguas Calientes, the closest town for accessing the site, and had the perennial pizza and beer before taking the train back to Cuzco.

After 12.5 months traveling it's hard to be struck with awe sometimes, but Machu Picchu does the trick. After hearing the hype for so long, it was really the experience everyone claims it is. We were also happy to share the experience with one Samuel Baker, fellow Chicagoan, molecular biology genius, new lover of crowded colectivos.

Three more weeks to go... hasn't been too bad so far.

Fun Update

Rich is officially a published (and modestly paid!) travel-writer! Check out his article published on the popular travel website BootsnAll! A couple of the photos featured are Kendra´s as well.

It´s featured right now on the main page at www.bootsnall.com.

You can also copy and paste the following to go directly to the article:

http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/11-04/traditional-markets-in-latin-america-a-guide-for-first-time-shoppers.html

Enjoy!

Lake Titicaca: Side Peru

After our time on the Island of the Sun, and several more days relaxing in our amazing cabana, we crossed over to Peru and made our first stop in Puno. Puno is a much larger town than the Bolivian counterpart of Copacabana. It is a bustling little city, with few of the colonial charms that other popular Peruvian towns are known for, but we like it for it's character.

After one night we headed off on a two day tour of the islands off the coast from Puno. Each of the islands is populated with a different indigenous people-group. The first stop we made was to the floating islands of the Uros. These islands are man-made completely out of reeds that grow in the lake and can be moved if desired. In fact, most everything on the island was made out of reeds, which they also eat as a snack. The local people of Uros at one time fished out of reed boats, although they now use small metal ones. There's a lot of interesting history and there's little else like them in the world, but unfortunately the islands have become so touristy that they seem to barely resemble their original selves.

We stopped over for about 1.5 hours; however it was an interesting experience on many levels. Being the closest islands to the town of Puno, and also being such a unique culture, the islands have been a major tourist draw for a while. We could see this reflected in the setup of the islands. The 50+ islands were stationed in two neat rows that boats could pass down. Each island could take one tourist boat at a time and was equipped with a tower to view the lake from, a circle of reed bails to sit on, model size town to conduct demos, and stands of handicrafts to sell. After the demonstration, the women would show you their one room houses and outdoor kitchen (they also had a small covered one for when it rains), and then show you the various products they make, only a few of which haven't been copied in every tourist stand in Puno. You could then take a ride on a reed boat for a little extra cost. Even the reed boats have been touristified by adding dragon heads and tails when the original ones were plain. Their culture was one of the more unique ones we have seen on our trip, but we feel we may have seen it too late as it was extremely hard to tell what was original and what has been added for the benefit of our camera, which was probably most. We also felt the experience was somewhat exploitative for the locals.

From there we traveled 3 more hours to the island of Amantani, which was the highlight of our time on the tour. It's a much more culturally intact experience than that of the floating islands. On Amantani we signed up for a homestay with a local family. The family had a small hospedaje in which we stayed, but they still wanted to give us a personal experience as if we were staying in their actual home. We were also lucky enough that the husband and wife spoke Spanish in addition to Quechua, the local language. We were able to have some really interesting discussions with them about traditions and culture.

The husband, Edwardo, took us on a personalized tour of his community, telling us about their traditions and customs. He walked us through their local fields and he told us about the plants they grow, which they do not sell but use solely for subsistence, trading only with other islanders. The hills of the island are covered in pre-Incan terraces and the houses are surrounded by flowers. We learned during our walk that all of the plants on the island are used for food or medicine. Not one flower was planted just for looks. After the walk we “helped” cook supper (peeling some beans and trying to keep out of the way) with the wife, Juana, and her mother. The kitchen was a one room clay hut, the sink was a faucet and bucket, and the stove was a wood-fire clay box. The food was amazing.

That evening, the community put on a little party for all the visitors where they dressed them in the traditional clothes and danced in the community meeting hall. We stayed only long enough to get a few pictures and headed back to get some sleep for the following day. The homestay experience felt very authentic and we were lucky enough to be with a couple who really opened their lives up to us to see for such a short time.

After breakfast we traveled by boat to our last island, Taquile. The land of Taquile looks very similar to Amantani; however, we could instantly tell the difference in the culture of the people, particularly their dress. While the basics of the clothes were similar to Amantani, the details stood out. On Amantani the women wore black shawls with detailed embroidery at the bottom. On Taquile the black shawls had large puffballs at the corners instead. At lunch, our guide explained some of the differences in the clothing and the social status that each item reflected. When a young man was looking for a girlfriend, the top of his hat flops over to the side of his face. When he is dating, it flops back. When a man is married, he is able to carry a colorful pouch around his waist. We found their dating customs very interesting. When a couple is dating and thinking of marriage, they are obligated by the community to actually live together for several years first to make sure that the marriage will work, since there is no option of divorce later. If they decide not to get married, there is no problem. In fact, if they have a child during this period and the couple breaks-up, the child goes with whichever family has more money, not necessarily with the mother. We spent about two hours on Taquile, but have very few pictures to show, as the local community members discourage tourists from taking picture of people without permission and a tip (as we might want if hundreds of tourist were traipsing through our neighborhood with cameras!)

All in all, we were able to see some interesting culture and the islands and the lake are beautiful. It's interesting to see the difference between the incredibly “commercialized culture” on the floating islands and the more “authentic” lives of those on Amanatani and Taquile. You can really see both the benefits and drawbacks of tourism, which we live on the tourist's side every day. We then spent 2 more chill days in friendly Puno before we head off to Cuzco on Tuesday.

Lake Titicaca: Side Bolivia

Pictures and map are all updated, we cross tomorrow into Peru, our 12th and final country on this crazy journey. We've done a lot of “World's Biggest this” or “World's Longest that” or “This country's crunchiest this” on this trip, so why not one more?

The largest high-altitude lake in the world, Lake Titicaca (yes, Beavis, that is it's real name), straddles the Bolivian/Peru border and is a popular stop on the Gringo Trail for travelers crossing from here to there. It's no wonder, like so many things in South America it's wrapped in Incan history and indigenous culture, sits at over 12,000 feet in altitude, and is stunningly beautiful. We had three goals for our visit to the Bolivian side of this massive highland lake: first, celebrate our 1-year travel anniversary in style; second, visit the popular and beautiful Isla del Sol; and, third, celebrate both our birthdays with even more style.

Goal #1? Check. On March 25th we celebrated 1-year traveling on this crazy permacation. We settled into the lakeside town of Copacabana and splurged on a spectacular lakeside cabana. We had our own private room decked out in eco-friendly construction with it's own private bathroom, outdoor and indoor hammocks (in case ya get a little chilly at 3800 meters), our own private outdoor terrace with unbelievable views, and it's own kitchen! The amount of luxury the cabana has provided us in comparison to our normal digs is simply off the charts. We celebrated 1-year-gone by cooking a delicious pasta dinner, drinking a little Bolivian wine, and enjoying our first night in our beautiful cabin.

Goal #2? Done. After 2 nights in the cabin we took off for 2 nights to the beautiful Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun), an island considered sacred by the Incan civilization. It's a 1 ½ hour trip by boat from Copacabana out to the island and despite the fact that the island is a very popular stop with tourists, most visit on simple day trips. The island, with it's small population and zero-motorized transportation, retains a very tranquil, quiet feel. Indigenous people work their farms for haba (giant lima beans) and potatoes, move their llama and donkeys from place to place down the stone paths, and run the occasional tienda where Rich buys beers for himself and birthday-related Twix bars for Kendra.

We spent two relaxing nights, enjoying a sunset dinner at an organic restaurant where we ate trout (the local specialty) and handmade lasagna without electricity the first night, and hiking from one side of the island to the other and back the next taking in beautiful views and Incan ruins the next. As nice as Isla del Sol is, we had to return to Copacabana to accomplish one more goal.

Goal #3? Mm-hmm. One anniversary down and now two birthdays to celebrate... how? By going back to our awesome cabin for 4 nights more, that's how. Cheeseburgers, fries, brownies with ice cream... that's how. Gifts of artisan necklaces, Pringles, pens, Snicker's bars, bracelets, gum, magical beer. Rides in swan paddle boats. Kendra is now 27 and Rich 28, in case you're wondering. We're getting a little grey and a little cranky to show for it too but are still two very cool individuals.

We woke up this morning on our last day in our beautiful cabin, our last day with our beautiful lake view, our last day in Bolivia and on the verge of our last country on this trip to find a massive rainbow outside our panoramic window and we realize that this week of celebration was yet another in a long line of great permacation weeks.

The Amazon Basin

Big cities, small towns, high mountains, rolling hills, white beaches, palmed islands, volcano lakes, Caribbean waters, red deserts, salt flats, cloud forests, ancient ruins...

Been there. Done that.

We've even seen our share of the jungle, mostly in Central America. But this, this is the Amazon Basin and it's on another level.

Getting In

Transportation in Bolivia is always an adventure. To get to the jungle we had to get to Rurrenabaque, and from there take a boat 3 hours down the Beni River to the reserve we had arranged to visit. We'd been warned previously that the road from La Paz to Rurre was a difficult one, a friend of ours got stuck between 2 landslides and what is supposed to take 16-18 hours took him 40.

But we were naively convinced by the gentleman at our tour office that the unpaved road is in better shape now as rains have eased, and the ride would arrive in a normal-ish window. Being well-seasoned bus travelers by now, and reasoning that the 1-hour flight was not worth the extra $70, we opted for the more “local” route.

We left an hour late on the clunker of a bus, but that's standard Bolivian procedure. About four hours in we knew there was no chance in hell we'd make it in 16 hours. The road is an unpaved, one lane, cliff hanging adventure, passing the occasional wood hut village or small cement town. We rumbled along hot and sweaty, with the same 8 songs being played on a loop over and over at full blast – an amazing torture mechanism to be used for the entire journey. When a car or truck was coming the other direction, we all had to stop and back up to the nearest corner to create enough space for more than one car at a time to pass. At midnight, 12 hours into the trip, a truck broke down in front of us and we were forced to wait 6 hours at a standstill. The drivers laid out a tarp outside and went to sleep, as if this was a normal occurrence. To be honest, it probably is.

27 hours after leaving, we arrived dirty and exhausted in Rurre, having missed our boat to the reserve. It was the craziest bus journey we've experienced, but it beats the 42 hours it took the Aussie couple we'd meet a few days later. We arranged to leave on the boat the next day, and settled up for the night.

Rurre is a pleasant town, set up for tourist trips to the jungle and dotted with all the jungle staples: plantains being sold in the streets, coconut palms, banana trees, the works. It felt like we were back in Honduras. We were happy to take a full night's sleep, and the next morning we were fitted for rubber boots and took the 3-hour ride down the Beni River to Serere Nature Reserve, our home in the Amazon Jungle.

The Experience

Just in case the bus ride wasn't fun enough, we walked waist-high through muddy water from our boat to the trail to the reserve – these are the blessings rainy season travel bestows us. It also bestows mosquitoes. As soon as we were off the boat we were most certainly in the Amazon. The mosquitoes attacked in droves, the muddy trails wound through gigantic palms and unbelievably dense plant life. We would be at war with the mud and mosquitoes for the next two days, but our 100% deet and our rubber boots would serve us well.

We arrived at our lodge at the Serere Reserve, which is a private reserve for Madidi Travel, who does great conservation work in the area. The lodge consisted of a large main cabin that had the kitchen and dining table downstairs and the glorious hammock room upstairs. Our room was a private cabin a little further into the jungle. One of the reasons we chose the company is because our king sized bed, table, shelving unit, and bathroom were walled in only by mosquito screens, allowing us to more fully experience the sounds of the jungle at night. It also allowed the surroundings to experience us, as we found the first night when we caught a peeping possum chilling by our door.

Since the cost (and generally Kendra's hatred toward mosquitoes) prohibited us from spending an extended time in the jungle, we hit the ground running and packed as much in as possible. The first day we canoed out in a lake to search for wildlife and were rewarded with our first spotting of monkeys, birds, and pirhanas (although the pictures show Rich holding it, Kendra actually caught the fish and then dropped it in the boat swearing off the idea of any further contract with the thing). After an amazing steak dinner, we took off on a night walk and spotted giant spiders and a coral snake, which is apparently “muy toxico!”. The following morning, Rich braved the pouring rain for another walk and Kendra opted to make jewelery out of local seeds and nuts.

We both took another afternoon walk and spotted the elusive howler monkeys which fill the jungle with low grunting rumbles, and also tempted a huge tarantula out of its nest. Unfortunately we also made acquaintances with the local fire ant population. We were amazed by our guide who grew up in the jungle and could replicate animal calls to draw them nearer. As we walked, he would call jaguars (which thankfully didn't respond), wild pigs, a variety of birds. The most impressive calls he would make was to the monkeys. We saw five different types of monkeys and he could communicate with each of them. The final day, we were in a canoe in a lake and he called out a spider monkey family. He started by making the sound of a distressed monkey baby, and when they appeared from the trees he actually talked with them until they climbed all the way down to the nearest limb and started to swing around playing.

The whole experience was incredible. While we had been to jungle-like areas, nothing we had seen before compared to the Amazon Basin. In addition to the aforementioned creatures we also saw butterflies, moths, a jungle squirrel, giant dragonflies, a crocodile, colorful caterpillars, a leech, giant wasps, bats, tiny frogs, huge bullet ants, and these giant rat looking creatures the size of a large dog. We ate seeds, fruits, and termites (seriously!), saw towering trees covered in vines, and spotted the occasional vibrant flower. Everything in the jungle is jungle-sized... massive.

It was on our boat ride out that we had one of the most unique animal encounters. We were tired and muddy, and the ride was taking a particularly long time back since the river had risen with the recent rain and the current was swiftly against us. About half way back, we spotted a group of branches sticking out of the middle of the river. Hanging from one was a soaking wet sloth. The poor creature had fallen with a broken branch from the nearby shore and was too slow to swim back to shore in that current. Our guide took his machete and chopped the branch off, lifting it with the hanging sloth into our boat. We rode over to the shore and placed him back in his home, although it was the slowest homecoming we have ever seen and we struggled to keep the boat near the tree as he meandered over. It is one thing to see a sloth in the zoo, and it is another thing to see a wild one two feet from you.

Getting Out

Given that our bus ride in was an over-adventure, we decided to take the easy way out and splurge for a flight. But moving from Point A to Point B in Bolivia is never as straightforward as it seems.

We, of course, booked with the cheaper airline, which, is owned by the military. When we arrived to check in for our 9:30am flight, we were simply told to come back in an hour. Apparently, the normal 50-seat plane had some problems. So instead, they were making 3 separate runs with a much cozier 14-seater, and we were going to be in the second group. The apparent normalcy of these types of circumstances continues to astound.

The 1-hour delay turned into 3 hours, after which we were loaded with our luggage onto a bus with a taped-together windshield and driven to the airport terminal, a wooden shack in a field. At that moment, the skies opened up and it poured down jungle-sized rain drops. This prompted both indifference and panic. Indifference on the part of our van driver, who let our bags get wet on the luggage roof, and panic on the part of the pilots who rushed to move the plain off the grassy terminal field so that it wouldn't get stuck in the mud, and onto the head of the runway.

That meant that instead of boarding the plane at the terminal, we all had to pile back into the van and be driven directly out onto the runway. Just in case the circumstances weren't already ridiculous enough, we were delayed once more when the gate along the road to the runway was padlocked, and nobody had the key. The airline officials got out of the van, looked at the locked gate with both bewilderment and lack of surprise, and called the boss in with the key. The boss-man, in his jeans and New York Jets t-shirt, finally opened the gate 30 minutes later. We boarded the 14-seat propeller plane and survived the 1-hour flight back to La Paz and relative civilization.

All in all, the delays cost us 6 hours... but compared to 27 on the way in, it was pure luxury.

Check out a taste of the bus ride, some hiking, the sounds of the howler monkeys, and a close encounter with some spider monkeys in the video...

Life on the Road Part III: Adapting to Local Customs

One of the biggest reasons we love to travel is to soak up the local culture. Every day we hear different music, see people wearing different clothes, we speak another language. Traveling to one country is entertaining enough, but to cover 12 in a span 14 months involves a lot of adaptation.

Adapting to local customs is one of the more challenging, often hilarious, and most important things we've had to do over the last 350-plus days. The formerly simple is now confusing and bewildering in many circumstances, and the formerly mundane now provides a challenge or at the very least a good story or two.

Let's start with the most obvious. We don't speak Spanish. Sure, we've worked hard to learn our fair share over the last 12 months, we can buy a bus ticket, order food, and (on a good day) have a simple, slow conversation. But to really learn the ins and outs and to speak fluently takes years of constant immersion that we just don't have. The language barrier is both entertaining and frustrating. It's entertaining when Rich realizes he called a woman “fat” instead of “pretty” or when Kendra asks to “touch” a picture of someone instead of “take” one. It's frustrating when we don't understand why we're being charged twice as much as the locals for the same taxi and the explanation appears complicated. It's both frustrating and entertaining when we ask if the bread we're buying is cheese-filled, we're told yes and expect deliciousness to ensue, and the “cheese” turns out to be of the “Whiz” variety...

Latin America has it's similarities but every country is different. This includes the language, where the dialect and accent changes from region to region and country to country. Other basic customs change as well. We've had to relearn how to buy a bus ticket everywhere we've gone. In Mexico, you go to the office and the nice man in the nice suit prints one off a computer for you at a set price. In Colombia, you negotiate with psychotic competitors who will knock pennies off their enemy's price especially for you. In Guatemala, walk to the parking lot full of buses and get on the one whose engine is running. Pay later, if asked.

While from country to country and town to town we're constantly relearning how to shop, how to tip, how to say “good afternoon,” how to bargain, we've also had to deal with certain things as constants throughout most – we try to never say “all” - of Latin America.

Certain ways-of-doing are just flat out different. Crossing the street can be an adventure. Ever notice at home how those cars stop for you at intersections, crosswalks... hell, stop signs and red lights? Not here. Stay the hell out of the way because the cars ain't stoppin'. They'll honk at you to let you know they're about to run you down, but covering the brake is completely out of the question. Used to politely waiting your turn at the grocery store? Better not. Don't expect attention here without speaking up, and don't be surprised when locals step right in front of you with the full knowledge that you were there first. Sure, it's frustrating for us but here it's normal and it's not meant to be rude, it just is and if you stand idly by you won't get your mangos from the market stand anytime soon.

There are a number of cultural differences that when you look at them are fun, mostly in retrospect. In many parts of Latin America, you may sit on the bus uncomfortably close to, on top of, or underneath various individuals, for personal space possesses a very different state of being here. While we're on the subject of the bus, can we turn the music down please? Latin American's love their music and they love it loud, anywhere, everywhere. Wanna play “Spot the Gringo?” Look for the shorts and sandals, bikinis and tight pants, all rarely worn by Latinos even in the sweltering tropics.

There are also some situations where culture inevitably dictates some discomforts and inconveniences for us. There is generally less organization than we're used to, particularly in places like grocery stores, bus stations, post offices. We have to fight to have our voices heard. Another frustrating one is the tourist-local separation that often occurs: foreign tourists pay higher prices for many things. Sometimes this is standard, like at National Parks where the fees are fixed, and sometimes we can be flat out scammed, like on buses and in taxis or when we get haircuts. Usually we're not bothered to pay a higher price, we are after all far more economically well off than most locals we encounter, but we don't like being taken advantage of.

The local-tourist divide frustrates us in other ways sometimes as well, like the other night at a sporting event where the tourists sat in one section and the locals in another: we really wanted to sit with the locals to experience the event the way they do. There are also many restaurants and bars that cater so much to tourists that you'll rarely if ever see a local when you go there. Sometimes we head to these places for comfort food, other times we're frustrated when we want to experience local culture and find ourselves in a cafe full of Europeans and North Americans.

Sometimes we're forced to adapt to things beyond culture that are a part of traveling in less developed countries: Pollution being coughed up by traffic sometimes burns our eyes, it confounds us as to why the post office would notify us of a package that doesn't exist, and trash being thrown on the side of the road makes us wince.

But it's the culture that is the essential part of our experience, and we have a lot of fun learning all the little differences over and over again. We also just love to take in local music, art, food, and to sit out in a park or on the street and soak in the atmosphere which is always so different than home. After a year, we've become used to the constant change but we're always astounded by the little things that present themselves, and we're always forced to relearn our ways of being and doing things. Always good times!

The Rich Mountain - Potosi

Pictures have been updated for our latest two stops. We are currently in Sucre, a nice colonial city in central Bolivia. We have been spending our time here relaxing after traveling so much lately, only breaking our relaxation once to visit a near by dinosaur “park” that boasts a large wall full of various dinosaur tracks.

However exciting dinosaur tracks may be for some people, we wanted to share an experience we had at the town before this one, Potosi. Potosi is one of the highest cities in the world at 13,420 feet, every foot of which you can feel as you get out of breath walking up the stairs, and spend the nights shivering under every layer of clothing you own. However, Potosi is more famously know for the nearby mountain of Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain). Starting in the 1500s, the Spanish extracted unbelievable amounts of silver through indigenous labor, turning the city into one of the wealthiest and most powerful in South America. The conditions of the mines cost thousands their lives.

Presently, most of the silver veins have dried up and locals continue to mine for other minerals, always on the look out for smaller silver deposits. Uniquely, local agencies lead tours of the active mines. This allows others to experience the conditions of the mine and meet those who work there. The tours go into the mines while work is being done (although they steer clear of blast areas) which inherently poses some risks of injury from cave-ins or accidents. However, it is such a unique opportunity, we could not pass it up.

Don't worry moms, it turns out that the day we signed up for the tour was actually a once yearly festival day for the miners. We were able to tour the mines while they were not working, but partying inside.... much safer as long as you don't partake too much of the rubbing alcohol quality liquor being passed around. We started our tour up by dressing up in safety equipment, very stylish if we do say, and heading down to the miner's market. As part of the tour, you bring gifts to the miners as a thanks for them sharing their workplace with you. Normally, you can bring cigarettes, water, or even sticks of dynamite. However, being that the day was a festival, the market was filled with beer, balloons, and streamers. On this day the miners celebrate the brotherhood of the mining community, spending the day with their particular work group (4-12 people) drinking and chewing Coca leaves. Once we purchased our gifts (deciding against the dried lama fetus that is said to bring good luck for the coming year) we headed up to the mines.

Each area in the mountain is “owned” by a particular mining team. There are several mine access points, and each of those may be worked by a handful of teams, each working a different tunnel or area. Each team is paid by what minerals they extract from their areas and each team pays for their own equipment. As you can imagine, it is extremely important for them to find a good vein to be able to make money. Once we arrived to our entrance we met one team that was preparing to enter. They were sharing drinks, first pouring a little on the ground in appreciation of Pachamama (mother earth), taking some, and passing to the next person. They were also playing drums and pan-flutes, to which our guide pulled Kendra into for a dance.

We entered the mine, hunching over to avoid hitting our heads, and it was pretty much everything you would expect. Very dark, wet due to the rainy season, tracks for the carts, and various tunnels to get lost down. We spent some time with another group that was already in their area decorating. They also spilled a bit of their drink to the ground, but this time to their fellow miners, and also poured some on their tools, as a sign of importance for the tools. Interestingly, there were two areas inside the mine that they had set up alters. The first was close to the entrance were they set up a shrine for the miners' saint. The second was further back where they had a statue of Satan, who they refer to as “Tio” (“uncle”). It was explained to us that this duality between the alters to both saints and Satan started when the indigenous mixed Catholicism with their experience inside the mines (fitting pretty close to what they imagined hell to be). The miners feel that once you enter into the mine, you are actually under Tio, who can bless you with silver or curse you with an accident. Therefore, small offerings can be made to the statue in request for blessings in the following year.

We have to say that this was definitely a unique experience. We expected the experience to be very dark, to see these poor locals working in unsafe conditions for what we would consider pocket change. To be fair, the conditions are very unsafe and the workers scrape by to feed their families. However, we were surprised to be able to celebrate with them, to sit down and see them joke with each other and talk with us about their families. We were able to see their care for each other and their hopes for the coming year. We saw their pride in their work.

Welcome to Bolivia. Enjoy our Awesome.

Pictures are updated for your perusing pleasure.

Entering Bolivia from Argentina was a bit of a shock. Bolivia is a bit rougher around the edges: the roads are bad, the people work hard for just a few dollars a day, trash piles up on the side of the highway... not to mention gourmet ice cream shops and steakhouses are completely MIA.

But we've been amazed by the friendliness of the people and the unbelievably beautiful scenery. Our introduction to Bolivia was Tupiza - a desert town with beautiful red canyons and cacti dotting the landscape. But when we're talking of beautiful scenery, we have to focus on our 4-day tour of the Bolivian Altiplano and the Salt Flats.

This tour is a popular one and with good reason. The Altiplano ("high plains") comprises the Southwest region of Bolivia all the way up to the Capitol at La Paz. The area actually is home to the majority of Bolivia's population, but it's also barren in places and it's home to snow-capped mountains, smoking volcanic geysers, pre-Incan ruins, and beautiful flamingo-inhabited lagoons.

Sound cool yet? It gets better. The spectacular culmination is the "Salar de Uyuni," aka "The Salt Flats." The Salt Flat is actually a gigantic salt lake, but it doesn't look like a lake. There's a massive deposit of salt at the surface that's 2 feet thick. It's also perfectly flat. This creates 2 different effects: in the dry season, the lake is parched and you can see nothing but blindingly white salt. But now it's rainy season, and the rains have left a 2-inch layer of perfectly flat, still water on the surface of the salt. The result is a mirror effect, the sky reflects perfectly on the surface. Combined with the fact that you can see forever out into the horizon, you lose your orientation. You can't tell up from down, and it looks like you're literally walking on clouds. Stunning.

Words do no justice but we'll do our best:

Day 1
Bags thrown on the roof and us piled into the Lexus 4x4, a Swedish couple, our guide/driver Dieter and our cook Aidey. Crawled slowly out of Tupiza's desert on dirt roads, eventually reaching a flat grassy plain at 11,800 feet where llamas and donkeys graze. Several great lookout points with great views, including one with ridiculous wind. Stopped in a small village to take pictures, fascinating but don't like treating the locals like they're in a zoo. Settled for the night in a tiny village at 13,500 feet after 8 hours in the 4x4 sightseeing.

Day 2
Ridiculously early 4:30am wakeup call, lots of ground to cover. Bread and dulce de leche for breakfast reminds us of Argentina, but when we hit the pre-Incan ruins at sunrise you're instantly back in Bolivia. We get along really well with Joel and Ami our Swedish company, and we all enjoy the lookout point over the lagoon at almost 16,000 feet, not the highest we'll be. After 7 hours on dirt "roads" in the 4x4 we soak in the excessively anticipated hot springs and it's totally revitalizing. After lunch the highlight of the day hits us at 16,404 feet above sea level: a group of smoking volcanic geysers shooting steam straight out of the ground and causing the mud to boil... well worth tolerating our driver's latin club music for 10 hours. Tomorrow is for Ipods. Sleeping at 14,000 feet causes head and muscle aches for some.

Day 3
Another early wakeup call at 6:30 and we're tired from sitting in the 4x4 for 2 full days and have another long one. Flamingos at 14,000 feet in front of a snow-capped mountain is a new one for us. Rich survives a jump off a boulder in the Valley of Rocks. Kendra enjoys the sweet potatoes for lunch that are still good even in the rain. Lots of driving, snow-capped mountains in all directions. Beautiful. We settle in the tourist-trap known as Uyuni, settling for cold showers but they're oh-so-needed.

Day 4
The culmination and the highlight: The Salt Flat. Unbelievable. Incredible. Indescribable. It looks and feels like you're walking on the sky if it weren't for the salt crunching under for your feet. There is no horizon, it just disappears into the sky. The pictures are amazing. We spend well over an hour enjoying the surreal, unearthly place that's like no other we'll ever see. We come back to Uyuni and have some cold beverages with our now good friends the Swedes. We hit our pillows amazed, and exhausted.

Seriously, we have to come home in 2.5 months?!

Northwest Argentina: Wine and The Desert

Although it took much effort, we were finally able to drag ourselves away from the bustle of Buenios Aires and headed toward the northwest corner of Argentina, bordering Chile and Bolivia. Our time in Argentina was coming to an end, and although there is so much more to this country that we have to leave for next time, we have enjoyed what areas we were able to see and felt that some time in Argentina's wine country was a good way to say good-bye.

First, we stopped over in Salta, a nice medium sized city, to rest from our long bus ride. We then headed a few hours south to Cafayate. The area around Mendoza in Argentina is known for its red wine made from Malbec grapes, which we have sampled in restaurants throughout Argentina. However, Cafayate is known for its white Torrontes, although there are also a few red wines floating around as well. The torronte grape grows particularly well in the Cafayate valley. The small town itself is surrounded by miles of vineyards and miles of desert. We spent two days walking and biking to the various vineyards for tastings and then one day touring the surrounding desert.

After we felt well informed enough to settle on our favorite white and red wines to purchase, we hit the road again heading back north to Jujuy, another medium sized city. North of Jujuy are some beautiful desert areas and we spent one night Purmamarca. Although tourists may flock to this town, they are completely justified by the colors of the surrounding landscape. Most famous is a large hill overshadowing the town that´s known for having 7 different colors of rocks in various layered formations -- hence the name ¨7 Colors Hill¨. Although this hill was very beautiful, we were particularly struck by the hills we saw on an afternoon walk as these same 7 colors were repeated in more isolated forms. There would be one hill that was bright orange, while the hill next to it was purple (yes, it was actually purple even if the camera did not quite pick it up).

Some of our pictures have been updated from the past few days, while others we have not had the chance to upload. Additionally, more desert pictures are on the way as we are preparing for a 4 day tour of the Salt Flats in Bolivia. (And yes, for those who know Kendra well and have ever had the unfortunate experience of talking about the desert with her, she is in heaven here).

Buenos Aires

Having lived in a metropolis like Chicago, we love our big cities. We love the subway and the crowds, even the weird smells and crazy characters. We've had some cities we've really loved during our last 10 months travelling - Medellin, Cartagena, Cuenca - but until now we have yet to run into a truly exceptional, real metropolis.

Buenos Aires is everything a big city should be. It's diverse, beautiful, sprawled, and full of life and culture. There's a busy downtown business center and some really cool neighborhoods filled with character. It has a strong European influence and has great cafes, bakeries, restaurants, bars, and clubs. It's really, at the end of the day, a lot like Chicago and it's been great to pass the time in a place that feels both foreign and familiar.

In addition to it's familiarities Buenos Aires has unique characteristics as well. It's one of the world's Tango capitals and there are both those who dance on the street on a 5x5' platform and pose for pictures with tourists and there are the "real" tango clubs called "Milongas," where there's no sign outside, the real dancers show up, and the party gets started late.

The food is incredible, particularly the traditional Argentine Parrilla, the bakeries serving amazing sweets, the artisan ice cream, and the variety of international foods on offer. We are possibly leaving several pounds heavier than when we arrived but full of steak, sausage, and ice cream so you won't hear any complaints.

More than anything, there's just a great big city vibe here: wide avenues, big parks, great museums, and that big-city feel that we haven't found since Mexico City.

Here are some of our BA highlights:

- Staying in the character-rich neighborhood of San Telmo and the Sunday arts fair here
- Watching the outdoor Milonga for tango in the plaza
- Sipping on coffees in cafes, artisan ice cream in the park, and the best steak of our lives at a hole-in-the-wall local favorite
- Hanging out late with our local musician friend, Diego (who we met on our Panama-Colombia boat trip)
- Watching the horse races in San Isidro and losing our US$2.50 because "Stray Cat Blues" is slow as hell
- Wandering off the tourist trap blvd in historic La Boca to see the colorful neighborhood and avoid being asked to eat something, drink something, or take a picture of a "tango" dancer

Northward we go. Another 20+ hour bus trip. Sounds fun eh?

Life on the Road Part 2: The Budget

Bunches of new pictures up, and here's a nice looooong post especially for the Math Nerds in our families.

While on our journey we have met a lot of new people who inevitably realize that we are traveling for an extended period of time, and in turn we have encountered a good mix of reactions. Some people recall the time they went on a year long trip; others will joke about how jealous they are. However, one reaction which we have experienced regularly is “You must be rich!” or the even better cousin reaction of “ Your parents must be rich!” We count ourselves very fortunate to be able to able to travel this way; however, we have never really considered ourselves, or our families, RICH. We thought this would be a good time to lift the veil as to how we are still out here after 10 months and, as our parents can testify, have not visited Western Union once.

Before anything else is said, this trip has forced us to acknowledge how lucky we really are. Seeing the poverty of some of these countries has put our lives into perspective. We are rich, not only with our bank accounts, but the fact that we were able to attend higher education and have had good employment history. That said, you don't need to be Donald Trump or anywhere close to travel long term. The biggest factor in traveling long-term is to recognize that it's not a vacation. We had to adjust our expectations from what most Americans consider vacation to be. We're not here splurging on all-inclusive packages or drinking expensive poolside cocktails (though we have our moments), we're here to live a traveling lifestyle that affords us a great deal of freedom, but one that is not unlimited, and that is very different than a typical week at Disney World.

Pre-trip Planning and Saving

Our financial planning for this trip began years ago when we came up with our first budget. Choosing the destination was the first major step. There are travel sites on the web that give good price estimates for visiting various countries. For example, you might see a range for Guatemala of $20-40 per day. Your actual expenses will depend on whether you stay at the cheapest place in town, cook every meal for yourself, and never do organized activities; or if you stay at a slightly nicer place, go out to eat occasionally, and take a few tours. We quickly realized that we would not been able to afford certain regions or countries this time around. You can get a night's accommodation in Nicaragua for the cost of one beer in England. We had to put many of our travel fantasizes on hold...bye bye Italy. We then took the estimates for parts of Central and South America, factored in our tastes/desires, and multiplied by the number of days that we wanted to travel for, and we had our first budget. However, we soon realized that we needed money to buy gear for the trip, for flights, for travel health insurance, for replacement gear, for gifts, for unforeseen expenditures (and how there has been a lot of those), and to come back and live on for a while. All said and done our budged tripled.

It took us a few years and a lot of hard work to be able to save up enough for us to feel comfortable. To meet our goals we not only had to change our perception of “vacation,” but we also changed our lifestyle at home as well. We chose to do without many of the things our friends and coworkers were doing. We cooked cheaply at home for most meals, brought our lunch to work, we became frequenters of thrift stores, we didn't buy a new car, and most importantly we decided not to buy property and instead rented an inexpensive apartment way below our income level. We did make a commitment to enjoy our time in Chicago and went out with friends or occasionally for dinner and a movie. This may have possibly delayed our departure a few months but it was completely worth it.

Keeping Track of It All

As soon as we started actively saving for our trip, we decided to keep matriculate details of our expenditures. Once we left, we continued with this habit. This has turned out to be one of the most valuable tools to keep us on track financially. Before we left we had a target Cost-Per-Day average that we hoped to reach by the end of the trip. We also had a range for that target number that we felt comfortable with, including an idea of what we could possibly do if we came back with a bare bones return fund.

While traveling we keep track of every credit card charge or ATM withdrawal and add it into our spreadsheets. We calculate how much we are spending per day for each month as well as our overall trip daily average. Now that we are far into our trip we've been calculating more detailed target averages for different return scenarios. Sounds exciting eh? We told you not everything we do out here is for fun.

When you are planning to spend $X per day over the course of the entire trip, you learn that this is a large average. One day you will be way over and the next way under. Forget about days, some months we are way over and some months we are under. We have also learned that large excursions only add pocket change to our daily average over the long haul, and that small expenditures can really add up! A fact that's become very important to our daily lives on the road.

When to Spend and When to Save

If you are taking a 2 week vacation, you want to enjoy yourself with as much as possible. Go to a nice resort, eat out, stay at nice hotels. However, when you are traveling long term on a tighter budget, the number one factor that can make or break your budget is the type of lifestyle you lead. We won't lie, it has been hard trying to figure our what works for us. When we started out on this trip we watched every single dollar. We tried to stay in the cheapest places, cook cheap meals, and walk everywhere. We have come to learn enough to be a bit more flexible and have personally found that we don't really want to do things as cheap as possible. We will pay an extra dollar to stay at a slightly better hostel or we will pay a few bucks to take a cab from the bus station if it is a mile walk. At the same time, we still have managed to live very cheaply by making smart sacrifices that fit what our travel goals are. Here are the details of many of the things that we do to keep the costs down, keep us out on the road longer, and make the trip a Permacation instead of a Vacation.

1. Cooking. Depending on the country we are in and what is available, we have consistently only spent between $1-$3 per person per meal on the entire trip by cooking our own meals instead of eating out at restaurants. In some countries we have found this to be more helpful than others. In Guatemala you can get a good dinner for only $4, while in Argentina you will be paying $12. Thus, in some countries we have gone out to eat more than others. We also take advantage of cheap deals when we can, like splitting obscenely cheap, very hearty set lunches offered in many Latin American countries.

2. Housing. Hostels have cost us between $4 and $20 per person per night depending on the quality and location. As mentioned before, we tend not to stay in the cheapest place, but we are still very conscious of the choices we make. In some areas we can share a private room for the same cost of two dorm room beds; however, in other countries, a private room might cost us both double that of a dorm room. Even in those cases; however, we will usually pay the extra $1 per night to stay in a dorm room with 4 beds instead of one with 10 beds.

3. Tours/Activities. One of the largest considerations for doing activities while on a trip of this length is what areas you will be traveling in the future. We purposefully put off white water rafting until we got to Honduras where it is known to be cheaper. We absolutely loved it and want to go again, but we are bypassing the activity in Argentina and waiting again until Peru when it will be a fraction of the cost. We have also chosen to go without some activities that were simply out of our price range (who really NEEDS to go skydiving). Most importantly, we have taken the time to research the cost of the activities we have chosen to do. Sometimes you can get a discount going with your hostel group, other times the price is almost double just to have them drive you there and buy your entrance ticket. Sometimes we get guides, sometimes we go it on our own. Regardless, we try to eventually experience all the activities we have been looking forward to, we just have to wait until the right time, place, and method.

4. Transport. This one is tricky because we have to get from point A to point B and sometimes we don't have much of a choice for the cost unless we want to hitchhike. There have been some countries were transport will make a difference. In Guatemala you can choose to take an expensive shared private shuttle ($10-$20) or take a public chicken bus with several transfers, longer travel times, and possible tight space ($1-$5). In Colombia we found that the long distance bus fares are negotiable. We would get a dollar or two off every ride and it would really add up. In Argentina, the bus costs are a large chunk of our budget. To minimize the effects we take the cheapest bus available, which generally means that our seats do not recline back as far as in the more expensive options and we are served basic meals, but then again we are not sitting next to livestock so we can't complain.

5. Simple Living. This is general but true. We keep shopping to a minimum: if it isn't in chocolate form, we don't have room for it. We constantly fix our clothes and supplies until they are falling apart and we are forced to replace. Most importantly, we tend to have low key evenings at the hostel hanging out with others instead of spending every night out at the clubs.

There are other ways to save a bundle if they fit your taste: camp instead of hostel, work or volunteer along the way, couchsurf, hitchhike or rideshare (safer in these countries than you think), or travel to fewer locations and stay in each for longer periods of time. We've met bunches of travelers who use one or more of these methods to save cash and stay on the road as long as possible... some people have been out for years (don't worry Mom, we're still coming home in May!).

Hope this helps clear things up. No, we did not win the lottery. No, we did not invest in Apple when we were 4 years old. And yes, it is possible for many of you to hit the road if you want to.

How to Earn a Big Steak Dinner

It's been a big adventure since coming to Patagonia. The towns are remote, the bus rides are long and bumpy, the scenery spectacular. We've had our hands full with outdoors activities and have really soaked up the amazing landscapes. We've arrived in the "Lake District" of Patagonia and it's pine trees and blue lakes and very beautiful.

It's hard to imagine that the scenery gets more dramatic but to put it plainly, it does. Our latest venture was a three day trek through National Park Nahuel Huapi outside the lakeside city of Bariloche. After a couple of chilled out days in the city preparing, we packed our big bags with camping food and sleeping bags and hit the trails.

Being without a tent or camping stove, Nahuel Huapi is a perfect park for us because there are several mountain refuges that house hikers, providing simple beds and cooking facilities. We hiked 26 miles over three days and slept both nights at different "Refugios." The scenery was incredible with jagged rock formations, lagoons formed by mountain runoff, turquoise rivers, and spectacular vistas. Many of the views we've seen on our hikes have been amazing, but here the mountains just felt more dramatic, the colors more vibrant, the hillsides steeper, and the water crisper. The weather was brilliant to boot.

The hikes themselves were fairly easy on days 1 and 3, but our 2nd day's hike was the hardest walk of our trip. For 7 hours we climbed and descended steep ridges, many times scrambling over rocks using our hands and feet, all with our heavy packs. As much hatred as this produced in Kendra's soul, and as much as our quads burned we were rewarded at each peak with incredible views out over the mountain range. The refuges themselves were also fun with hordes of hikers crammed into bunks, tables inside and out for resting the weary, and just great outdoorsy vibes.

When we got back to Bariloche, which is touristy but pleasant and lined with breweries and chocolate shops, we were ravaged and needed proper sustinence. What better time to get our first taste of traditional Argentine "Parrilla?"

Argentina is famous for wine and giant, high quality steaks and it was just what our tired bodies needed. We headed out to the best "Parrilla," ("grill") in town, and ordered two massive steaks and a big plate of fries in addition to our tasty bottle of wine. We were first served a bowl of freshly baked bread with Argentinian "Chimichurri" (olive oil and herbs). Our steaks were then cut fresh and prepared on the huge, traditional open grill and could not have been cooked more perfectly. There's no steak sauce, just a little salt to bring out the natural flavor of the meat which was indescribably good. We gorged and soaked up this essential Argentinian experience and one which we intend to repeat.

Then we went out for ice cream. Not a bad day at the office.

Life on the Road Part I: Living in Hostels

When you read our blog or look at our pictures, it seems like all we do is sight-see. It looks like we never cease having fun and every moment is perpetual neverending vacation-induced bliss. The truth is that we love our life on the road and we've obviously had and continue to have incredible experiences, but when you travel for so long there's a "real life" aspect that is largely behind the scenes of our blog, our pictures, and our emails to friends and family. After almost 10 months our life has become a routine that's quite different from our life back home, but it's still a routine.

We decided it would be fun and interesting to show you some of the less glamorous, though sometimes equally entertaining aspects of the way we live our life out here as long-term travelers over a couple of posts. We'll start with the issue of meeting our most basic need that we confront each day: where to sleep.

What's a Hostel?

The majority of the time we sleep in hostels. Hostels are not fancy hotels; they are designed with budget-travel in mind. They typically stand apart from hotels in that the vast majority of spaces are shared; many rooms are dormitory style with between 4 and 12 beds (bathrooms are usually communal as well), they have common living areas often with TV rooms, game tables, or bars, and most good ones will have a communal kitchen where guests can prepare their own food. They're a far cry from Caesar's Palace or even the Super 8. We spend most of our nights in hostels, although we have on occasion stayed at slightly nicer "hospedajes" (really cheap hotels) when we have traveled in very inexpensive countries.

The Good

While traveling in hostels is not for everyone, they possess an incredible number of advantages over typical hotels. The first and most obvious is the price. A dorm-bed on our trip has ranged from $4US - $17US per person, per night. Often for only a dollar or two more we splurge for a private room with a shared bathroom. Even a Motel 6 in the USA costs at least $40, and many vacationers easily spend hundreds of dollars a night just on their hotel. Some long-term travelers choose to camp a lot, but for those who like a warm bed with a mattress hostels are a great option.

In addition, common areas like living rooms, TV and game areas offer the opportunity to meet other travelers and make friends, essential when on the road for months at a time. If you are lucky, your hostel may have perks like hammocks, pools, gardens, or even pets. Many hostels have book exchanges where you can trade books you've finished for new ones (Kendra goes through about 4 books an hour, Rich is on his 4th book of the trip). Communal kitchens allow you to cook your own meals which not only saves you an incredible amount of money, but allows you to eat healthy. Traveler's leave leftovers in “free” baskets for others to use and we carry quite a bit of food with us from place to place. We eat the vast majority of our meals at our hostels, not out as we would on a typical vacation, and we have come to realize that a well-equipped kitchen is one of our major pre-requisites when choosing a hostel.

Finally, given that hostels are geared towards independent-minded travelers, they usually offer tons of valuable information. They provide info and directions for activities in their area, can help you book tours and onwards bus tickets and many will direct you to other good hostels in nearby popular cities and towns.

The Bad and The Ugly

While hostels have their pro's there are definitely bad and downright ugly characteristics as well. Cleanliness can be a major issue when you share space with dozens of strangers. We've seen some spotless hostels but also others that should be condemned even if they were situated in the furthest circles of Hell. A good example was our hostel in Tulum, Mexico that didn't have running water, toilet paper, or employees who cared to fix the problem. The hostel made up for these deficiencies, however, with a plethora of broken bikes and cockroaches.

After months on the road it's often tiring to not have your own personal space. Sharing bedrooms and a kitchen gets old after a while and isn't fun when you're frankly just not in the mood for it. Sometimes you just want your own couch, your own bed, and your own pots and pans. We counter this by getting private rooms when we can, mostly so we can throw our stuff everywhere, but in some places (like here in Patagonia), it's simply not affordable for us.

The social scenes at hostels are usually an advantage and we've met lots of good friends, but you also have to share space with people that just flat out annoy you. Some people bug you with their political views or their views about how every other traveler should "eat at 'XXX' restaurant" or "not miss 'YYY' town." The unsolicited advice gets old after a while, as does the same old "where ya from, where ya goin, how long ya been traveling" conversation. You also have the adults who haven't seemed to grow up enough to do their dishes or pick up their dirty laundry.

Other common problems we have in hostels are indifferent to flat out rude staff members, ill-equipped or dirty kitchens, false advertising and incorrect info. Fun times!

Even at the best hostels, we still face a host of small challenges that you would never think about at home. For example, when you are sharing a 10 bed dorm and 3 people are trying to catch a 4am bus, you are probably going to be woken up no matter how quietly they pull their toothbrushes out of their ziplocs. Or how you have to bag and label all your food in the hostel refrigerator; when you are in a busy hostel you have to play “find my white plastic bag” amongst 20 other white plastic bags to be able to eat your food – and sometimes it's simply disappeared.

How We Find and Pick Hostels

So how do you go about finding and picking a hostel? There are tons of websites that are literally hostel search engines, just like Orbitz or Expedia are for hotels. They contain reviews, pictures, and you can make reservations. We also frequent online message boards for independent travelers, but by far the most useful tactic is simply to talk to other travelers at your hostel who have been to where you're going.

We almost never book a hostel in advance. We find that pictures and reviews can be deceiving, so whenever possible we just show up in a city with a few in mind and take a look around. Here's our list of important criteria we always look for when finding a hostel:

- Clean!
- A well-equipped kitchen
- Good sociable atmosphere
- Internet access
- Friendly staff and good information

Our next "Life on the Road" post will focus on how we afford this craziness. Look for it in the next few weeks. Later kids!