OurBiggerPicture

First we drove to the end of the world, then we sailed off the edge of it. We can now say, unequivocally, we have gone as far south as possible. There are so many superlatives that could describe Antarctica but “otherworldly” seems to be the only one I can come up with. If the Uyuni Salt Flats and the Lagunas Route in Bolivia were the Moon and Mars, Antarctica is a frozen, icy, white star. Throughout much of our time on the world’s most southern continent, John and I kept sa

The road out of Chile was rough and bumpy. For hours we drove on washboard roads, snaking up through the mountains and then back down to the pampas toward the border of Argentina. We didn't see another car the entire drive. A few hours in we stopped to air down the tires and I picked my way through the grass to pee. I looked up as the herd of cows grazing close by all picked up their heads and stopped to stare. I said Hi. It hit me then that this was my new normal - bathroom

Patagonia. The land of the explorer, the outlaw, the exiled – people drawn to the sheer enormity of its physical space. This is where the rivers run turquoise and lakes are so clear you can see right to the bottom. Where condors fly overhead and wild guanacos join you for breakfast. It is also where the wind blows incessantly. Patagonia is one of the crown jewels of our journey and we were excited to finally get here. Patagonia covers about 260,000 square miles in size—roughl

I started this blog post writing about penguins. And eventually it will be about penguins. I have gone back and forth on writing about this here. But this week I woke to news so disheartening, so...disturbing, I have to deal with the emotions that are clouding my days now as we sit in one of the most remote places on earth. I woke to the news of the election, and as if I were a watching some “end of the world” movie - the evil villain had actually won. I don't recognize the c

We didn’t start out on this long drive just to end it in BA. We are going to Ushuaia, to the end of the world, and it’s time to make some pr

Long before our camper was loaded with our possessions and goodbyes were said back in 2014, I had dreams of Uruguay. I read loads of glossy travel magazines that described the coast of Uruguay as the next “it” destination. I had planned (but not taken) this trip multiple times. I dreamed of rocky hillsides, firelit estancias, and dune backed beaches. Then in 2010, John and I saw a film on Uruguay at the Mill Valley film festival called “Beyond the Road”. It was about a road t

We left the Iguazu Falls and headed straight south. We planned to stay in the northeast province of Corrientes for a little while longer to visit the Iberá Provincial Reserve—a 3.2 million-acre protected wetland area within the vast Esteros del Iberá. Iberá is one of the most important fresh water wetlands on the continent and the second-largest wetland in the world after the Pantanal in Brazil. These wetlands are difficult to get to - access is either by private plane (the p

After the incredibly beautiful moonscape that was the Salar de Uyuni, we were off to our next destination (or planet) depending on how you viewed the landscape – the Lagunas Route through the Eduardo Avaroa Preserva. The next several days were for me (as was the Salar) a highly anticipated mini adventure. During the years leading up to our 2014 departure from Marin, I read many blogs and lived vicariously through those travellers. I would follow their travels and make notes o

The route to Cusco takes us up over 15,000 feet through the Peruvian Andes, where small villages of herders occasionally dot the landscape. It seems an inhospitable place to live, so far up in the sky. But we begin to see green, not just brown, and we are finally in the mountains. Here we also finally see the rare vicuña, a wild South American camelid that lives in the high alpine areas of the Andes. Their long necks, gentle eyes and downy coats instantly draw me in. We drive

It was mid March before we ventured beyond a three hour radius of Quito. We hovered around the capital city waiting for a couple of small parts to be FedEx’d to the Toyota Dealership there. We killed time hiking in the mountains a few hours north, just above Otovalo, and then ventured down to Cotopaxi National Park. We’ve been to Ecuador before and we covered all the highlights then. The Galapagos, Amazon jungle, Otavalo market, and Quito. Now we are here after 15 months on t