It’s hard to believe we’ve already been on the road for 4 months, but even harder to believe that we only have 4 months of this amazing journey left. We thought we’d put together a list of statistics and fun facts from our trip up until this point to share with all our readers (all four of you!).
Happy 4 months to us!
# of…
1. Days on the road – 122 .
2. Times we’ve been lost – Too many to count! We’ve never been to 99.9% of these places, so in a way we’re always a little lost.
3. Days we’ve been OVER our budget ($50 USD a day for the 2 of us) – 28. This is usually the days we have to purchase an expensive bus ticket or are traveling from one city to the next. If it weren’t for the people who have so graciously given us a place to stay along the way, we’re sure this number would be much much higher.
4. Days we’ve been UNDER our budget ($50 USD a day) – 94.
5. Items lost or stolen – 17…that we can count. These items include but are not limited to: earphones (2), earphone splitter, sunglasses, boxers (2), toothpaste, toothbrush, t-shirt, pair of socks, iPod, towels (2), soccer shorts, toiletry case (retrieved!), a single sock (2). A big thank you to Anna Cotton for donating her old iPod, and to Ben’s parents for bringing us several replacement items during their visit with us in Argentina!
6. Injuries – Ben: 2 (eye, knee), Ali: 3 (ankle, calf, multiple monkey bites). All in all, not too bad!
7. Flights – 3 total (DC to Bogota, Santa Marta to Bogota, Bogota to Lima). We’ve tried to minimize the number of flights and only take public transportation in each country, however sometimes it is significantly quicker and cheaper to fly. We were elated that this was the case in Colombia during the transportation strikes, especially after our experience with the 26 hour bus ride that was only meant to be 13!
8. Buses (3 hours or more) – 21 buses (193 hours total).
9. Hostels we’ve stayed at – 20.
10. Beds we’ve slept in – 44 (including overnight bus camas).
11. Nights we did not have a bed (overnight bus, flight, camping, etc.) – 10.
12. Volunteer opportunities – 2 “official” opportunities; volunteer work-exchange at Apu Lodge in Ollantaytambo, Peru and working at the La Senda Verde animal refuge in Coroico, Bolivia. Finding volunteer opportunties is not always easy as many places require volunteers to pay for their stay and/or require 2 or more weeks of your time. We’ve learned that even the little things can make a difference, like picking up trash on the beach while scuba diving or hiking in the Sacred Valley. Our goal is to find more opportunities over the next 4 months, and hopefully we can volunteer at the places recommended by our friends at www.1of7.org in the near future.
13. Books read – Ben: 4, Ali: 9. We have a lot of down time and it’s not easy finding an outlet to recharge, so finding a book exchange in English feels like Christmas morning!
Other…
14. Craziest thing we’ve eaten – A big heaping plate of tripe, espophogus, liver, stomach, etc. We do our best to try the local cuisines, even if they seem a little strange, and for the most part it’s turned out pretty well. In this case however, it resulted in the meat sweats, a stomach ache and a case of the heebie-jeebies.
15. Funniest sign/incorrect translation – Ben: The Wong Kok restuarant sign in Bogota, Colombia. Ali: A pamphlet in Ollantaytambo, Peru that claims they “help high Andean children and women”. There are a lot of words spelled incorrectly in South America on signs, menus, etc., but we haven’t seen anything completely outrageous so far. Hopefully we’ll find some gems during our time in Southeast Asia.
16. Favorite place we’ve visited & why – Ben: La Senda Verde because he had the chance to climb trees and play with monkeys, simultaneously. “Basically my Jungle Book dream come true.” Ali: It’s a tie between La Senda Verde animal refuge in Bolivia and Ollantaytambo, Peru. I was really looking forward to seeing monkeys in South America, so you can imagine how amazing volunteering with the animals, specifically the monkeys was for me. Ollantaytambo was also very special because of the small town feel, the ability to connect with the guests and staff at Apu Lodge, the incredible hiking in the Sacred Valley and the opportunity to practice my Spanish after a few lessons in town.
17. Most stressful experience – We booked our bus from Salta to Buenos Aires online, not knowing that we needed to print the ticket prior to boarding. With 15 minutes until departure, Ali watched the bags while Ben ran almost 10 blocks, in sandals mind you looking for someplace with a printer. Meanwhile, the lady at the ticket counter continued to remind Ali that the bus was leaving in exactly 1 minute with or without them and then mentioning we don’t need ticket afterall and asking, “Donde esta tu novio?!?” Ben arrived just in the nick of time, with no tickets in hand and sweating like a pig but fortunately they let us board. This was the most stressful experience because we had a tight schedule to get down to Buenos Aires to meet Ben’s parents, and we could not afford to miss that bus (or pay for another!).
18. Things we wish we had/had not brought with us – Ben’s survey says, “Less Stuff”, Ali: There have been a few things that we’ve thrown out along the way, for instance extra cords, chargers, etc. and we’ve donated some clothes, but for the most part, I think we did a pretty good job of packing. My only wish is that I had brought some newer clothing items, since most of my things are pretty worn, but we can always pick up clothing along the way.
This trip has really made us realize how little we actually need to live a happy, healthy life and we’re looking forward to getting rid of more of our “things” we have waiting for us back home.
Questions about our trip? Ask us!
greetings from blank 