Our 9 month road trip across the Americas
So a year and a half ago, while rock climbing in Squamish BC, my friend and I got to talking and started contemplating driving from BC Canada, to Santiago Chile. We weighed in the options and with little doubts, we set a date. November 10th, 2016. It was that simple, at first anyway. As the date neared, we decided to take a truck and camper for the trip.
Our expedition rig: “Paco the Camper” a 1993 Toyota pickup 4WD 5 speed, with a 1971 SixPack Camper, weighing in at only 1300lbs… We took a month fine tuning the truck and camper, replacing foreseen issues, like the clutch, and rebuilding our camper. We know now, that spending a little extra in the purchase price of your camper will save you hours and days of head aces fixing and updating an old camper, but hey, live and learn.
So we set out on schedule, not really understanding what we were getting ourselves into, only knowing that the road was awaiting, and it was with plenty of adventures too! Our understandings about the world, and our appreciation for life were some of our biggest lessons on this trip.
Details on the trip: The total trip was around 30,000kms, from Surrey BC, Canada, to Santiago Chile, crossing though 14 different countries. When I’m asked if I have a favourite country, I find it hard to answer as they all had something I liked. For the people and culture, Guatemala, Peru and Colombia. For the natural beauty, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. Each country has a gem to offer, it’s whether you are willing to look for it! My friend joined me from Canada for 4 months, in his last two weeks getting to step foot in Colombia, the so called promised land of the travelers of Latin America. After he left, I continued my adventure for 5 months, ending just south of Santiago, in Chile.
The Funds: planning out how much money was needed for the trip was hard. In the end, we were able to get away on $1100-1300 per month, for 2 people, including gas, insurance, food and accommodation, which was usually inexpensive or free as we slept in the camper most nights. When I made it to Peru, I was realizing my funds were depleting as I was now paying for most of the gas and expenses myself, so I volunteered at an eco-hostel in the mountains of Huaraz. This was an amazing way to experience the culture and see the country, while not spending much money.
For me, the trip was life changing. Something we had come up with while rock climbing in a little town in the mountains of Canada actually took us all the way across the continents. I learned that, no matter how crazy an idea sounds, no matter how unrealistic it may seem, if you have the passion and drive to make it happen, the journey of life will begin. Looking back on the trip, there isn’t much I would change, I would say that, in new experiences that we came across, always saying yes instead of no, gave us the chance to experience the world, in a truly organic way.
My intensions: This is the first of my posts about my road trip across the Americas. I’m going to be writing blog posts about each country, explaining the hidden gems, what it was like driving on the roads, the culture, and my experience.