So picking up where we left off, we’d just spent the last week putting the van through some of the worst roads it’s been on for the entire trip. So naturally, we beelined straight for the closest mechanic in El Calafate to get her fixed up. The mechanic didn’t have a sign, but the oil stained pavement out the front of the GPS marker seemed pretty accurate. We slid through the side gate and found the mechanic leaning into the bonnet of an old, rusted vehicle. Barely looking up from the task at hand (which happened to be rebuilding an engine), he asked us what was wrong. My Spanish has improved throughout the course of the trip, but my mechanical Spanish is better than my mechanical English at times. I told him we had a few little problems. And then started reeling them off: a leak in our transmission fluid…

I don’t really know where to start with this one. There are so many different ways to say it:

• We did it!
• It’s over.
• We made it!

Each has it’s own connotations; it’s own underlying tones. “We did it!” captures the excitement – the excitement of eleven months of hard work, determination, planning and most of all… fun. “It’s over” captures the sadness of something that’s been such a huge part of my life in the past year; a huge part of my life in general as I’ve saved and planned for over three years and now… it’s over. And it also captures the relief – the fact that parts of this journey have been incredibly challenging and testing, and now… it’s over. And then there’s “we made it” – a shout out to the fact that there was a high chance we wouldn’t make it. Perhaps the van would…

One of the best things about this journey has been the fact that we’re doing it in a van. Don’t get me wrong, the motorbike brought a totally different aspect to the trip – challenge, excitement, adrenaline. Motorbike travel is a whole different ball game, and I hope to do more of it in the future, but #vanlife is something different altogether. For starters, it’s being able to share the journey with the incredible people we come across – whether it’s long-time friends, random travellers we meet in hostels or bars, or even hitchhikers on the side of the road. Secondly, it’s the experience of continuously moving – waking up in a new spot almost daily and having the freedom to start and stop wherever we want, not being restricted by bus schedules and locations. Lastly, it’s the simple joy the van brings to everyone we meet. Our journey to…

Nine years ago, I caught an old rickety train from the Argentinian-Bolivian border into the small Bolivian town of Uyuni – home of the world’s largest salt flat. The wet season typically offers a beautiful thin layer of water over the flat salt, resulting in stunning reflective photos where subjects appear to be floating in an infinite sky. The dry season offers endless hexagonal salt crystals and stunning blue skies to create mind-altering perspective pictures. If you’re lucky, you can land somewhere in between, with a thin layer of water and crisp skies to accompany the vastness of the salar. Unfortunately for me, nine years ago, at the end of May, Uyuni experienced an unseasonal and extremely rare bout of snow. Daniel and I were offered nothing but freezing weather, dull grey skies, and sludgey brown snow-salt. For a place that was supposed to be one of the highlights…

We’ve covered quite a bit of distance in the past few weeks. And I’m not sure if that’s due to the fact we have actually clocked thousands of kilometres driving through the south of Peru, or the fact that the majority of those kilometres were driving on a flat, straight desert road. And while that doesn’t sound all that enthralling (and in fact, it’s not), the simplicity of the desert is surprisingly beautiful. Our first stop after Lima was Paracas National Park where huge sand dunes shadow the road as it snakes its way along the cliff-edge with the roaring Pacific below it. With virtually no traffic around, a sparkling clean Dodge in our hands, and a sky full of pink sunset hues, we decided to take the drone out for a spin.

A trip through southern Peru wouldn’t be complete without a stopover at the infamous Huacachina Oasis. You…

Fewer things are more frustrating than cars. Their loud engines cut through otherwise tranquil surrounds. They are expensive to buy, register and run. They are causing the whole planet to die a slow and painful death. And they are responsible for traffic… and honestly, sitting in traffic is quite possibly the worst thing in the entire world. But, I tell you what is more frustrating than cars? … Cars with mechanical problems. And what’s even more frustrating than that? … Cars with mechanical problems in a country where you don’t speak the language. The past couple of weeks has seen us visit two different mechanics on four separate occasions… not to mention getting hit by a truck.

“I felt an overwhelming sense of calm and peace. The world was moving so slowly that I was forgetting to breathe. The visions were fading, and a black fog was seeping into my mind; leaving me in the darkness. At one point I remember thinking that this was it; this was how I was going to die… and strangely I felt at peace with that. And then I took a breath, all the light returned in bursts of rainbows flowing off the tails of macaws as they soared through the jungle. And I was back, swimming through this other dimension – conscious, but not present.”

Do you know what it’s like to be one kilo lighter than you actually are? Do you know what it’s like to rappel backwards down a cascading waterfall? Do you know what it’s like to try and explain what an “idiom” is in a language other than English? Or to have so many sand flies biting you at the one time that you just give up and yell “come at me, bro!”? No? Well, not to worry, while this isn’t a repeat of a classic 90’s rap song by Everlast (pause to appreciate that 90’s reference), I will be explaining all these phenomena and more in a journey that takes us across the Ecuadorean altiplano and deep into the Amazon jungle.

Travelling is all about balance. Balance between relaxing downtime and adventurous activities. Balance between warm weather and cold. Balance between raging hangovers and going for a run. Balance between the hustle and bustle of the city and the quiet serenity of the mountains. It can sometimes be a fine line, and finding the right balance can be quite the skill – but I tell you what, if our last few weeks in Colombia is anything to go by, I’m a bloody tightrope walker!

New Years Day was a bit of a surprise package for us. In a little groggy haze post our 5am jaunt in El Poblado we awoke at the appropriate time of midday and decided that today was going to be the day we would be productive. Not too productive, like going for a hike or anything, but you know, catching trains and cable cars to the area…