Our Trip in Numbers

Being married to a nerdy engineer has its perks. One of them is that he kept track of each mode of transportation and each type of lodging we stayed in while in South America.

This information isn’t useful for much other than freaking out our less adventurous friends and family with the number of beds we stayed in.

So without further adieu, here are the stats from our South American Adventure:

General Numbers

Days traveled: 91

Countries visited: 4
Cities explored: 33

Distance Traveled: 13,260 miles (21,340 km)

Times we got sick: Katie – 2, Ben – 0

Spanish words learned: muchos

Vaccines Needed: 2 (yellow fever and typhoid)

Borders Crossed: 3

Items Stolen: 4

Most empanadas consumed in one sitting: 6

Longest bus ride: 18 hours
Number of times we got lost: Ummm...

Pictures taken: 1,335,654,422,981

Lodging

Hostels/hotels/bungalows/bunkhouses slept in: 34              

Nights spent in Tents: 4

Transportation:

Airplanes: 11

Buses: 44

Taxis: too many to count!

Night Buses: 7

Boats: 23

Cable Cars: 4

Times we Hitchhiked: once

Back to “Normal” Life… For Now

We have truly fallen in love with South America.

Returning home to the United States after three months of traveling was not nearly as much of a culture shock as we had expected. In fact, we seemed to return to life as normal without missing a beat.

Well, maybe we missed a few beats… I guess we did have a short “transition period”.

Our biggest adjustments have been remembering not to throw toilet paper in the garbage, getting used to not spending every waking minute together, and to say “thank you” instead of “gracias”.

Our journey home began with an hour-long cab ride to the airport outside of La Paz. Halfway through the ride, our car got pulled over by the police.

For speeding.

In three months, we hadn’t seen any cops paying any attention to how fast people were driving, much less pulling them over.

With just a quick warning, our driver returned to the car laughing and we continued to the airport.

In the past, the La Paz airport was known as being frequented by drug traffickers. Many a kilo of cocaine has made it through those doors.

They have cracked down quite a bit in recent years, but as we found out, the security is not quite as thorough as in the United States (though I can’t think of many countries that are).

As soon as my backpack went through the x-ray machine, the woman working

security grabbed it and explained she would have to look through it. She opened the zippers and used her hand to feel in each compartment, but didn’t seem to be finding what she was looking for. She pointed to the computer screen and whispered something to the other agents. After a couple for failed attempts to find whatever she was looking at on the screen, she let us go.

I brushed it off, and we boarded our plane. Hours later, as we were about to touch down in Lima, Peru, I opened the front compartment on my backpack looking to find a snack. Instead, my fingers made contact with a large knife we thought we had lost just days before.

“Crap,” I whispered to Ben, “What are we going to do?!”

After disembarking the plane, we were immediately herded into the customs line where we had to send our belongings through the x-ray machines again.

We decided we had only one option. Ben snuck over to a garbage can, leaned over, and discretely threw the knife inside.

Our reasoning was that a lost knife is better than being detained.

After more than 26 hours of flying on four different planes, we finally touched down in Minneapolis.

Home, sweet home.

Our breakfast in the Chicago airport. Welcome to America!

We were greeted at the airport by my parents who told us they had an endless amount of craft beer and artisan cheese – the items we missed most during our travels – waiting for us at their house.

Thank God for parents!

Now that we are finally back to having a routine, and I can tell you we both desperately miss the utter chaos of traveling.

We were blessed to meet incredible people from all over the world who we now call our friends. And we saw some of the most amazing places. From the sandy Caribbean beaches in Colombia, to the Amazon Jungle in Bolivia, we were constantly stunned by how beautiful our world is. We were able to spend three months exploring, learning and growing together, and we know that this experience is one we will be telling our grandchildren about. We fell madly in love with South America, and can’t wait to return.

There are so many things we miss, but we are constantly being reminded how amazing home is, too. We are surrounded by the most supportive friends and family, and are enjoying being in one place for the moment.

Side note: We do have another adventure planned that will come to fruition very soon, so stay posted!

Things we miss about traveling:

-party hostels

-immersing ourselves in another culture

-fresh juices

-meeting people from all over the world each day

-waking up and seeing where the day will take us

-colorful markets

-street food

-exploring remote corners of our beautiful world

Things we don’t miss:

-party hostels (we love ‘em and hate ‘em)

-noisy dorm rooms

-not being able to sleep in our own bed

-hostel bathrooms (‘nuff said)

-night buses

-ordering something at a restaurant and having something totally different come out

-crappy beer

Death Road

During our time in South America, we did quite a few adrenaline-pumping activities including jumping off a bridge (see our post on Baños, Ecuador) and swimming alongside sharks in the Galapagos.

But Ben and I both agree that perhaps the most terrifying of all our risky escapades was mountain biking on Death Road (mostly due to the fact that it was three straight hours of fear as opposed to a short moment).

Notorious for being the most dangerous road in the world, it is an attraction for the daring, the reckless… and the crazy. At 26 years old, we were among the oldest in our 20-person group – the majority of which were 18-year-old backpackers.

Named aptly for the number of people who perish on this road each year – in the past, more than 300 people annually – we were a little wary about this activity.

The tour company, Downhill Adventures, dropped us off near the top of a mountain and we were instructed to put on all our gear – from pants and a jacket to elbow and knee pads. All I could think as I fastened the straps was, “I really hope I don’t need these!”

Everyone is excited and ready to go!

The first hour and a half was easy-riding down a paved highway. Though the road was winding, and we shared the lane with semi trucks, it was nothing compared to what we were about to encounter.

We stopped for a short breakfast, then hopped in the van to head to the entrance of Death Road.

There was no more pavement. Instead, we were greeted with gravel so coarse it hurt to grip the handlebars. Actually, the bumpy ride made everything hurt. Maybe we should have splurged on the double suspension after all.

The moment that I went from nervous to scared was when the group slowed to almost a standstill. I finally saw why.

A woman from another group was sprawled out in the path ahead. There was something strange about the way she was laying there, contorted almost, on top of the gravel.

As I got closer, I could hear her cries. She was cursing, asking her companions why they weren't on their way to the hospital.

If that scene wasn't petrifying enough, the road ahead certainly was. It turned so sharply that we all had to break hard, making our tires skid on the gravel. At this point, the path was so narrow that if you made one mistake, you would likely end up falling into an endless abyss.

You can't see very well, but that's us at the cliff's edge!

We were surrounded by lush mountains, waterfalls, heavy clouds, and a sheer cliff to our left. I am not afraid of heights, but looking over the edge made my stomach churn. It was absolutely the most beautiful part of the journey, but terrifyingly so.

And the graves along the road were a bit terrifying too.

On we rode, staying as close to the mountainside as possible. (Although we had earlier been instructed to move to the cliff’s edge if a car was approaching. You see, apparently the weight of a vehicle can cause the edge to crumble. Therefore, cars were able to hug the mountain as they navigated the treacherous road, and bikers had to give them the right away. This didn't make me feel very secure when I had to let a couple oncoming cars pass.)

Well, after three hours of hearts pumping and hands shaking, we made it to a village where we unstrapped our elbow pads and took off our helmets.

We made it out ALIVE!

We made it through Death Road unscathed, and now it was time for a beer.

Best. Feeling. Ever. 

Sweet, sweet victory.

Salar de Uyuni

There are few places on earth that make you wonder if you've somehow been abducted by aliens and transported to a far off planet.

The Salar de Uyuni is one of these otherworldly places.

Fish island is covered in cacti and has some of the most stunning views of the Salt Flats.

At one point in history, this region was a massive saltwater lake. The water eventually evaporated, leaving a thick layer of salt that stretches as far as the eye can see. Commonly known as the “Salt Flats”, this area is one of the most visited places in Bolivia.

There are two seasons in the Salar de Uyuni – wet and dry. Each year during the wet season, water covers the earth, turning the land into an all-encompassing, dreamlike mirror.

We were there during dry season, when you are able to venture into the middle of this strange, salty land.

Our journey to the Salt Flats started with a night bus that brought us to the sleepy little town of Uyuni. Situated on the corner of nothingness and oblivion, there really isn't anything to do in this town… well, besides drinking wine, of course.

The only other thing to do in Uyuni besides drinking wine? Playing with Tonio, the adorable little boy who was the son of our hotel’s cleaning lady.

After getting situated in our hostel, we made a trip to the market to get some snacks. We ended up with a bag of oranges, cookies, four bottles of wine, and a plastic Godzilla figurine. 

You will understand why in a moment.

After drinking two of our four bottles of wine, we ventured to town where we ran into some friends from earlier in our travels. We went to dinner at one of the thousand pizzerias in Uyuni. The pizza was actually shockingly good for Bolivia, and the specialty quinoa beer was quite tasty too!

After demolishing our food, we stuck around to play cards until we were encouraged to leave because the owners wanted to close. 

I guess the fact that the only other people in the restaurant was a table of three sleeping Bolivian men, made them eager to close up shop. 

The next morning, we embarked on our three-day, two-night tour.

There are somewhere around 80 companies in Uyuni that provide tours of the Salt Flats. Some of the companies are legit, and others… well, not so much.

We did our research and talked to other travelers, and the company name we kept hearing was Red Planet. At just $20 more than the cheapest of the companies, it was an easy choice.

And again, we were not disappointed with our decision to go with one of the “nicer” companies. While some of the other tour guides we saw along the way didn't talk to their groups at all, our guide was incredible. He shared a lot of history and gave us insight on what it is like to live in this region.

Our first stop was at the famous train graveyard. Years ago, Britain sent trains to Bolivia so they could export all the silver they were mining. What they didn't realize though, was that the altitude of Bolivia is much, much higher than that of England, and eventually the trains all died – leaving them useless.

Next, we made several stops in the Salt Flats, and took more pictures than I would like to admit. Our guides pulled out the floor mats from the Jeeps so we could lay on our bellies to get the obligatory perspective photos – which, as we found out is kind of an art.

This is where Godzilla comes in. Because the salty earth stretches to the horizon in all directions, you can take photographs with a distorted perspective. We were able to take pictures with this tiny toy figurine towering over us, which made for a fun little photo shoot! We shared him with the rest of our group so everyone could get a picture running from the “giant” beast!

This bottle of wine served two purposes: 1. Kickass prop. 2. Well, the second purpose should be obvious...

Classic evolution pose

These mounds of salt are a result of the mining process.

Just before lunchtime, we visited a salt processing factory – which ironically, is made entirely of salt. Our guide explained how the salt comes to the workshop in bricks that have been extracted from the earth, and is processed into what we use in our kitchens. Though the process is long and strenuous, they make just two US dollars for an amount of salt so large, no human being could consume it in a lifetime.

Salt bricks up close. You can tell how many years it took to form each brick by looking at the stripes. The brown lines are from dust collected each dry season.

Yes, this is a giant pile of salt!

That night we stayed in nothing other than a salt hotel. Everything – from the bricks to the beds – was made of salt. In the Salar, these hotels are not uncommon. We learned that they have to be rebuilt every 15 years, as the rainwater erodes the bricks over time.

Inside the Salt Hotel: even the tables and chairs are made of salt!

This is our salty room. The only things that weren't made of salt were the toilet, sink and mattress!

The next day we made several stops along the way at unique rock formations and different colored lagoons – red, blue and green – where flamingos gathered.

Famous "tree" rock formation.

Our hotel for the second night was dorm style, with 6 beds in each room. Five women and Ben. Lucky guy!

The biggest perk of this hotel (other than the communal sleeping arrangement!) was that it was situated just meters from a beautiful natural hot spring.

Natural hot springs

Red Planet is the only company that stays near the springs, so we were able to spend the night soaking, sharing stories, and passing around bottles of wine with our group.

Underwater, cartoon-y selfie!

As we were leaving the next morning, we saw all the other tour companies arriving and crowding the springs. We felt lucky to have it all to ourselves the night before. It was definitely a highlight of our time in the Salt Flats.

More photos from the Salar de Uyuni:

Our ride for three days

Tiny dancer

The Atacama Desert - the highest desert in the world.

Geysers along the way!

Hey, cutie!