First up: Argentinian wine country! We are more beer drinkers, but never turn down a chance to try the local specialties and expand our horizons. A fairly long drive brought us into Mendoza, our first big city in months. We spent two days checking out the city, running in the park… and not drinking any wine.
Continue reading “Argentina 3 – The Wild North”Torres del Paine was such a highlight that it was tough to head back north and backtrack through the Argentinian pampa. After the last few weeks, it was like coming off Cloud 9 and coming back reality. To soften the blow, we made one last hop into Chile to retrace one of our favorite stretches of the Carratera Austral and visit a couple villages we missed on the way South. We got to see the beautiful mountain peaks covered in snow this time which made the detour worth the extra pages in our passports.
Continue reading “Argentina 2 – Northern Patagonia and Lakes District”
Here we enter the border jumping portion of our trip! We now have pages of passport stamps from Chile and Argentina as well as a stack of export paperwork for Mitzi. Luckily, the border agents (with one minor exception) were all well trained and efficient. We probably spent more time at the border of Honduras than we spent on all the jumps between Chile and Argentina combined.
Continue reading “Heart of Patagonia – Chile Part 3 & Argentina Part 1”
The Lakes District of Chile is a beautiful area between Villarica and Puerto Montt full of… Drum roll please… Lakes! Gorgeous blue lakes framing picturesque volcanos and other mountains. It’s a lively area that reminds us a lot of the Pacific Northwest.
Continue reading “Chile 2 – Lakes District and The Carretera Austral”
The border crossing to Chile had us worried beforehand because of strict import rules regarding food and animals. We spent a full day preparing paperwork for Mitzi and cleaning the car. We made sure to eat all our produce and other restricted items like honey. The border was super busy with holiday traffic and the agents seemed exhausted, so in the end we only got a cursory look over and we were sent on our way!
Continue reading “The Long Drive to Santiago Continues”
While most people think of white sand beaches as their dream vacation getaway, we tend to see white mountain peaks as ours. It’s no surprise then that the Cordillera Blanca was front and center on our must see list in Peru. We arrived smack in the middle the rainy season, which lasts generally January through March. Generally mornings are dry, but evenings are rainy and the clouds are thick most of the day. In spite of the bad timing, we enjoyed this region and got to do some great hiking too!
Continue reading “Peru 2 – Cordillera Blanca and a Change of Plans”
The border crossing to Peru was simple and fast, and the road to our first destination pretty calm and eventless. The towns we drove through were drab compared to what we’re used to so far on this trip. But the landscape was pretty spectacular, as were our first two major stops!
Continue reading “Peru North”
We ended the last blog at 5100m below the highest volcano in Ecuador. So of course, next stop was to be the ocean! We haven’t been to the beach in a while, and spent a week with other travel friends in the tiny town of Ayampe. We didn’t do much beyond reading, playing in the water and watching the sunset.
Continue reading “The coast, Cuenca and final days before Peru”
In a valley below an active volcano is the resort town of Baños. It is a town well past its prime, with a number of abandoned buildings interspersed between the hotels and souvenir shops.
Continue reading “Ecuador 3 – More Mountains and More Hiking!”
We had booked ourselves an AirBnB in Quito over the holidays and had a few days left to kill before heading into the city. We decided to visit Mindo and ran into our overland friends Megan & Tyler (and Marley).
Continue reading “Ecuador 2 – Mountains and Hiking”