The Final Blog… for South America anyways

Since we leave South America in the morning, we thought that it would be worthwhile to provide some final thoughts regarding our many months on the road.

Looking back over the past year, we realized that Andrea had only been at “home” (in Rio Grande) for seven weeks since she left for BC last May. I was around a bit more, but between work, my tour of Argentina with Brandon in October and this trip, we’ve both been on the road much more than we had realized.

We’ve had an amazing time, not just on this trip, but over the last 3 plus years, and we realize how lucky we have been to have had this opportunity. We’ve seen many animals, from whales and penguins to condors and cougars, and more birds than we could have imaged – I had never even heard of a Blue Footed Boobie!

We’ve experienced pretty well every ecosystem on the continent, from ice and rock to jungle, ocean and desert. We’ve been as high as 5,200 metres and as low as minus 20 metres.
As far as ruins go, I think that we have hit most of the major sites on the continent, some on and others off of the gringo trail. We have had the opportunity to meet a lot of really wonderful people, some that have become life-long friends and others that we had the pleasure to simply cross paths with for a short time.
However, the best part of the trip was definitely sharing our experiences with each other. Although 95% of the trip has been totally positive, it certainly hasn’t been without its trying moments and discomforts. Despite the extreme heat, extreme cold, fatigue, occasional moments of fear and even the sea sickness, neither of us can imagine having made this journey by ourselves… after these many months, we are pretty pleased to be able to say that we are still best friends…

Thanks to all of you for sharing our journey with us. To our friends and family from North America, we look forward to seeing you all soon and to our friends from South America, Asia, Australia, Japan, and Africa we promise to stay in touch and hope that you do the same.
Chao chao, Ian and Andrea