Oh, the People you'll Meet!

Marc and Luc, Sommerwind, Ecuador

Our trip south was all about the places you'll go.  We saw fortified Caribbean cities, Dr. Seuss trees in living color in the rain forest, ruins of ancient civilizations, crashing blue glaciers, cute penguins, and incredible landscapes.  It was everything we'd imagined, and much more that had never before entered our heads.

Cartagena, Colombia

Any roadside

Vina del Mar, Chile

Otovalo, Ecuador

El Cabo, Peru

El Chalten, Argentina

Huanchaco, Peru

Puerto Deseado, Argentina

Perito Moreno, Argentina

Otovalo, Ecuador

Trujillo, Peru

Pucon, Chile

Torres del Paine, Chile

As the northern hemisphere holiday season approached, I got a little wistful for friends and family.  Luc even suggested sending me home for Christmas, but luckily Eric and Janique's separate plans to visit us panned out, and we had 5 weeks of Chilean adventures with them.  With Janique we visited San Pedro de Atacama with plenty of desert and ocean on the drive to and from.  With Eric, a motorcycle adventure in northern Patagonia.

WishICouldRemembertheNameofthisBeach, Chile

Isla Negra, Chile

Santiago, Chile

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Santiago, Chile

Lago Ranco, Chile

Pichilemu, Chile

The trip north from Ushuaia, our southernmost point, has been about the People You'll Meet.  The cornerstone of our trip was in Santiago with Diego Rojas and Catriona Moffat.  We set out from Vermont to reach them, and on our trip returned to them over and over again.  They adopted us as family (Eric and Janique, too).  When we build the map of our trip, with little dots for the places we stayed, we will mark their home with a shiny star.

Janique with Catriona, Ellie, Oso, Emelio, Twiglet, Sammy and half of Diego

As we traveled north, our focus on people increased, and the landscape receded into the fuzzy background. In fact, in Ecuador, the only "sites" we saw were in the company of friends.  We spent 4 days in Cuenca with Humberto and Maria and barely left the campground.

In Archidona we visited PlayaSelva, the rainforest eco-hostel of Margarita and her husband Rodrigo who we had met on the way down.

Manfrido at PlayaSelva

Luc at PlayaSelva

In Iberra, we stayed at the wonderful Sommerwind campground. We had met the owner, Hans, on our first trip through Ibarra, when he saw our rig at a mechanic and stopped to introduce himself and gave us his card.  On our journeys we met many people who had stayed at his wonderful campground, including the Lally's who had spent Christmas there.  We found many friends at Sommerwind:  Marc and Carina from Belgium - traveling together on the back of a Honda TransAlp motorcycle, Michele and Gaetan from Orleans, France, who sold everything and piled their lives into a camping van, Karin and Manfred from Germany, Elisabeth and Leo from Switzerland, Catherine and Nicholas and their sweet sons Alexis and Valentin from Belgium.  We stayed 5 days and only left the campground to run along the lake.

Carina and Marc

Our friends at Sommerwind

We have sorted out the plans for our return.  The vehicles are scheduled to sail from Cartagena to Fort Lauderdale, Florida on June 11.  We will follow shortly thereafter after reconnecting with our friends in Cartagena.  In Florida, we hope to help Alex and Katie celebrate their children's June birthdays.  Luc will collect all the gear he has just mail-ordered, load up the bike, and head west to California to visit Brendan and Gerry, Annie and Luca, Cathy and Philip, Janique and Paulius, and then west to Marc in Fernie... No doubt he will make friends more along the way.

For me, the family reunions begin today.  We will travel to Cali where we will stay with Ana Maria Casasfranco and her family, my exchange sister from over half a lifetime ago.  Last night we talked on the phone - it felt like the day before Christmas.  I am giddy with anticipation!

me with Ana Maria

Gallery of friends: