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!