Wow 1 year down, that’s 366 days of travel… that’s correct, 366 days and this isn’t even a leap year!
We reaped the benefit of the anomaly that is crossing the international date line (we lived the 27th of June 2014 twice).
It’s not all roses however, as someday, sometime, when we finally decide to head home, we’ll probably lose a whole day then!
Posing before a herd of Guanaco in Torres del Paine (also the 1st time I’d touched snow in 25 years)
Countries Visited: 2 (Chile & Argentina)
Only 2 countries, but wow, despite a ridiculous amount of travel, this one has delivered some of the highlights of the trip!
Some of the natural sights of both Chile and Argentina have proven themselves to be simply stunning…
The beautiful Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina
Cheapest Bed(s): Hostal Independencia, Punta Arenas, Chile $14,000.00 Pesos ($28.87AU)
So technically, this isn’t correct, as our 3 nights at Casa Daniela (a friends house in Ushuaia) were gratis… still, it doesn’t hurt to remember what was cheap, when we were paying!
Most Expensive Bed(s): 13 Lunas, Ancad, Chile $24,000.00 Pesos ($49.50AU)
Things got expensive in the south of Chile, but on the flip side, at least with the increase in prices, the quality of the hostels rose accordingly. Yes, in this instance we generally got what we paid for!
Highlight: Iguazu Falls
We were simply gobsmacked by this place, so I won’t really say too much.
The Iguazu Falls were visited on our 365th day of travels… they are possibly the highlight of the trip.
I think that says it all really…
The incredible grand scale and raw power of the Iguazu Falls (Click on image to enlarge)
Lowlight: Not seeing any penguins in the south of Chile or Argentina
Sadly, our dawdle south (although we struggle to think of what we’d have changed, we originally expected to make it to Chile for the southern summer…) has meant we’ve missed many of the Penguins we’d hoped to see in these southern reaches.
Looks like there might be a new bucket list item coming soon…
Favourite New Food: Choripán
Getting a bit of chorizo into us!
So the named doesn’t take all that much work to figure out… Chorizo + Pan (bread) = Choripán.
Our personal tastes would see a bit more charring on our meat, but there was much potential to be had (One of our Argentine friends is adamant that it shouldn’t include the lettuce and tomato we found in ours)…
Best Beer: Patagonia Bohemian Pilsener
A few decent beers to pick from this month, but in the end the nod went to this Argentine drop.
Most impressive Church: Iglesia Santa Maria, Achao, Chile
Although visited only days apart, we were able to give yet another of the wooden churches of Chiloé the chance to feature this month, as we were still on that charming island when we kicked off this month.
The Iglesia Santa Maria, yet another of the wooden, UNESCO World Heritage listed churches on Chiloé
Bucket List Items: 1 Observe one of the worlds great waterfalls (preferably Angel Falls in Venezuela)
Okay, so we didn’t get to Angel Falls, but there is no doubt between either of us, that Iguazu is well and truly another that qualifies as this.
New Bucket List Items: 0
Highest Elevation: 3,200m Quebrada de Humahuaca, Argentina
Apparently there was a point where we hit these heights on our day tour from Salta.
Little surprise we didn’t notice, distracted as we were by the amazing colours in the rocks…
Days in thongs (flip flops): 4
Okay, so this is very close to 5 days, as there was one day that I wore them, and another that Sarah did… maybe we should just go with 4.5 days?
Not a horrible effort, given the amount of temperatures close to, or below zero!
After all, I did touch snow for the first time since I was a child!
UNESCO Sites: 5 (Churches of Chiloe, Los Glaciares National Park, Jesuit Block and Estancias of Cordoba, Quebrada de Humahuaca, Iguazu National Park)
It seemed there’d be little contest for the most impressive UNESCO site this month, the Los Glaciares National Park seemingly having a lock on it after our amazing visit to the Perito Moreno Glacier.
Then, on the 2nd last day, along came the Iguazu Falls, and simply blew us away!
Number of towns: 15
Number of beds: 11
Nights in transit: 5 (5 buses)
Randoms:
- Laughter was had by me at the expense of our host (and Sarah) when I was headed through what the thought was a wrong door (I was headed to the banos (toilet) through the correct door) whilst they implored me to go upstairs! …perhaps they wanted me to pee on the bed?
- There sheer number of Mate drinkers in Argentina is staggering (although it wasn’t as present in the south). Online I’ve found no confirmation that Mate is addictive, however the sheer volume of drinkers, and their desire to take their gourd and thermos everywhere (I mean to the toilet, on the bus and at work everywhere) suggests otherwise.
- After meeting so many fellow Australians in the first 6 months, South America has seen them dry up, with us encountering only 1 in the past month!
12 Months by some numbers…
- 82,667.76: Roughly the number of kilometres (about 51,346.43 miles) we’ve traveled to date, not including walking. That’s just over 2 times around the earth at the Equator!
- 4: The number of times Chris has smashed his big toes (2 times on each foot), smashing the nail and making a bloody mess (incredibly, all were in the first 6 months)!
- 57: Number of UNESCO World Heritage sights we’ve visited on this trip alone!
- 12: Total flights taken to date. Melbourne-Sydney, Sydney-San Francisco, San Salvador-Havana (return), Managua-Great Corn Island (return), Guayaquil-Galapagos Islands (return), Piura-Lima, Lima-Iquitos and Santiago-Easter Island (return)
- 366: Total days since we left our home and lives in Melbourne!
- 171: The number of those 366 nights spent in a private room…
- 160: That’s how many times we’ve potentially shared with others in a dormitory (although in a few, there were no other guests)!
- 35: Overnight journeys thus far (an increase of 26 on the 1st 6 months). 31 buses, often frigid in Mexico (whilst they were roasting in Chile & Argentina), 2 overnight flights (although in truth, one of these was more on an airport floor) and 2 ferries where we camped on the floor…
- 2: Birthdays celebrated on this trip… Chris in August 2014 & Sarah in June 2015. For Sarah’s, we were on bus from 5am until 1am the following day (memorable), whilst for mine, we got off an overnight bus at 4am! At least we were able to head out for dinner for that one…
- 4: Trivia nights attended
- 1: The number occasions we’ve gotten sick from food on the trip. Although it ruined both of us for our afternoon in Papantla and the next day in Veracruz, we’re pretty happy that it was only once!
- 16: Total number of countries visited in 12 months… that means we’ve managed a mere 8 countries in the 2nd 6 months, the same as the 1st!
- 1: Number of times Chris has shaved on the trip…
- 0: Total number of haircuts for Sarah during our trip (in this time, Chris has managed 4)!
- 101: The number of different beers sampled across the 16 countries visited thus far (especially in Chile and Argentina, the wine consumption has certainly increased!)
- 6: Number of babies born to family and friends in the time since we left home (there are at least 2 more to come in the coming months)
- 1: Number of baseball World Series the San Francisco Giants have won since we went to watch them play (out of a possible 1)
