Thank You and Goodbye, South America- by Leane

As we prepare to fly out of Santiago tomorrow, I am reflecting on our first 3.5 months of travel through Central and South America.

I am grateful that Steve has managed to capture our daily adventures on his Instagram page @puddy_steve. We often sit and laugh about the day’s adventures in the evening over a glass of wine as we troll through recent photos looking for the favourite 10 to post. The good the bad, and the ugly…it’s all there. I hope the kids will scroll through them every once in awhile when they are older.

Statistics

12 flights

28 accommodations

102 days

6 countries

Final thoughts on South America

-The people in SA are incredibly warm, friendly and welcoming. Colombians stand out above all in this department.

-We have had to navigate most of the past 3 months in Spanish. Most people speak no English at all. We have loved learning the language and trying out our new skills with the people we have met. These opportunities have created some of our favourite memories.

-Elise’s hair really stands out. Everyone wants to touch it, and she doesn’t love this. We bought her a hat in Colombia to help her blend in a bit. She never takes it off.

-Hot showers can be hard to find, especially in Colombia. I’m not sure I will ever take another hot shower for granted. Cold showers are one of my least favourite things, I’m not sure anything makes me crankier.

-The roads in Colombia can be treacherous! They improved the further south we went. OMG. Made for some scary travel days.

-Hiking: so many wonderful hikes everywhere on so many different terrains. We have hiked through rainforests, deserts, beaches, palm forests and mountain ranges. Some of the hikes have been through private property. We would pay a small fee to the family to walk through their property, and invariably, on our way out, they would be waiting with warm drinks.

-Many of our favourite travel moments have been in small towns and more remote places, rather than big cities. We prefer to be off the beaten path rather than in the really touristy spots. Staying at a family’s coffee finca in Jardin, Colombia and navigating our way through small towns of Maipo wine region in Chile are some experiences that come to mind.

Traveling through South America

-We haven’t met very many “gringo families”. In fact, we have been referred to as ‘La Familia’ many times, and it has often felt as though we are the only family traveling through SA.

-Buses are very reliable. And inexpensive. You must pay in cash.

-Rome to Rio is sometimes accurate and can give you a rough idea of how to get from place to place.

-Bus info (along with most other info) is near impossible to find online most of the time. And it is rarely accurate.

-Booking a bus: We would arrive at the bus station and divide up, each hitting lines of kiosks (depending on where, can be 50+ stalls) to find the earliest bus to your next destination, with the shortest travel time.

-It’s ok to get on a bus hungry. At every stop sign, people will hop on to sell drinks, snacks, and homemade pastries before hopping off again at the next stop.

-Uber is fantastic. One third the price of a taxi. Illegal in some places but often still used outside regulation. Uber drivers are fun to practice Spanish with ( I think that’s why Steve’s spanish has surpassed mine). No one has blinked an eye when four of us climb into the back seat. In fact, we are well versed in fitting 5 people into a Nissan Micro with 5 suitcases, 5 backpacks, and a driver.

-For flights, we like Skyscanner. Searches various places and inevitably finds the cheapest flights. We haven’t had any problems booking most things last minute, although we have traveled in low season and are somewhat flexible with dates and destinations. Air travel within SA has been reliable and affordable with some flights as low as $45. Most of our flights have been with Latam and we haven’t had poor service or delays. Yet.

-Accommodation: I usually use Airbnb and it is usually fantastic. Websites like Hotwire don’t really work for 5 people. Booking.com is ok. I’m still looking for a better option. Steve likes staying in hostels. Definitely higher end options than those I am aware of at home. Private rooms and en-suite are an absolute must. Great way to meet other travelers and accumulate travel tips.

-We have found a groove with packing up and moving now. Elise never unpacks, end of story. Amelie has slowly gone from throwing everything in her suitcase to every corner of the accommodation to keeping things loosely contained in one spot. Anna falls somewhere in between. Packing the night before an early departure helps a lot. We can now pull off a bed to car transition in 30 minutes when necessary. Minimal items have been left behind.

Traveling as a family

-I know my kids better now than ever. I feel so lucky to have this time with the girls. I feel a little sad to think that our nannies have had so much of this time with them in the past

-In the beginning, we needed to figure out how to work together and be together ALL THE TIME

-Three girls can be a challenge at times (the arguing!). We still have our moments. However, they are really amazing kids. I love every day I am with them.

-It is so nice to have Steve with us enjoying family time, without business travel and long work days. Awesome. So far, we still really like each other.

-We all have moments and days when we miss our friends. We LOVE the emasil, texts, and the occasional FaceTime dates.

Best last minute packing decisions

– Raincoats. Not used often, but invaluable when they were needed! The rainforest in Costa Rica alone was enough to put them on the top of the “best buys” list. I wasn’t going to pack these as my plan was to chase the sun for a year. However, it has been rainy season in SA for much of our time and they have occasionally come in handy.

-Amex card giving us access to airport lounges all over the world. Some of them charge for our fifth person. However, we unanimously look forward to travel days so we can indulge in lounge food, drink, and fast wifi. It also gets Steve to the airport before the flight leaves. Best. Thing. Ever.

-We left our sleeping bags at home last minute. Good decision- we would have shipped them home by now. We opted for sleep sheets instead (MEC), which took less space. We haven’t used them much, but they were great to have for an extra layer of warmth occasionally and for our one late night arrival at a seedy hotel in Ipiales, Colombia to provide a barrier between us and our leopard print bedding until we could get the $&@s out of there the next day

-Steripen water filter (MEC). We started using this too late…see our Guatape post. However, since breaking it out of its packaging, it has been a great addition and decreased the amount of plastic we were going through with bottled water.

-I still miss my tennis racket, but I would likely have played a total of one time in the past 3.5 months if I had brought it along. Will have to settle for some private lessons when I get home.

Other helpful travel items

-Skyroam. Saved our bacon 1000X over. 500MB daily of Wifi, enough to navigate new places, send texts and emails, or do a quick search (hello, trip advisor). Only a couple of extremely remote places where we have not had a connection

-iPhone X. Amazing photos. Lens kit from Amazon also a great addition and doesn’t take much space.

-We put our jewelry in the bank safety deposit box. I was reluctant, but this decision has saved me a lot of stress.

-Carry on suitcases. We love our decision to travel with Osprey carry on luggage. We have not lost luggage, been charged for it, or had to wait for it to come off the plane at ungodly hours. Yet. However, we are all incredibly tired of our wardrobes. Heading to the mall in Australia.

-Small 60 ml bottles. We can divide up our shampoo, sunscreen , etc and still get on the plane.

-Quick dry, full size towels

-We have gone through several corkscrews- they are a common missing implement in many accommodations- and they don’t travel well through airports.

Schooling

-There is no doubt in our minds about the value of the education our girls are getting this year.

-There are so many life lessons in every day of our travels

-There are so many teachable moments in every day

-We have given them small research projects about the countries they are visiting (I.e. geography, indigenous history, culture)

-We don’t spend a lot of time on schoolwork specifically. We do math on buses and in airport lounges. Each girl has almost completed the math book for their corresponding year in three months. I brought 2 grades of math for each girl. We should be able to get through these.

-We read books and the girls blog about our travels

-The girls worry that they are losing their French, but they will be fully immersed for the month of June in France. They have also learned Spanish, I don’t think they realize how valuable this is!

Health

-It’s hard to fit in regular workouts while traveling. Our days are full. We walk a LOT and hike regularly, but we both feel that a little more running or boot camp would be great.

-The girls and I were quite ill early on in Colombia for 48 hrs after drinking tap water on a weekend getaway from the city (you can drink the tap water in Medellin). We quickly recovered. Steve and I were pretty ill by the time we got to Cusco. We weren’t improving after a week so had to try out health services in SA. Our experience with the health care system in Cusco was great. Who knew you could have specimen results for salmonella and parasites within 2 hours? This generally takes 2-3 days in Canada. A couple doses of IV Flagyl and Cipro followed by a week of oral abx had us quickly up and running again. We knew this would be a risk while traveling. No surprises here, but parenting is HARD when you feel this way.

Food

-Tipico food varies slightly from country to country. Chicken leg, sometimes beans, rice. Soup to start. Plantain in Colombia. Usually eaten for lunch. Good sometimes but gets tiresome. I had to take a firm, no exceptions, hiatus from this for about 2 weeks around Ecuador time. Steve could eat this every day, forever.

-You can find pizza in most places, this was a staple for the kids.

-Many hotels include breakfast. Often this was eggs and white bread. Anna took a hard NO on eggs for awhile, around the same time that I put my foot down about tipico.

-Ice cream was an almost-daily indulgence for the girls.

-Steve and I preferred a mid afternoon cappuccino when we could find it. Good coffee can be hard to find in some places. We actually travel with a little jar of instant coffee for dire circumstances. My ex- barista self struggles with this.

-Good wine is VERY hard to find in Colombia and Ecuador. It gets plentiful, wonderful, and cheap as you near Chile.

-Having Anna take the babysitting course before we left was genius on our part. We have had the chance to sneak out for some amazing meals during our travels on nights when the girls prefer pasta or hotdogs at home.

Taking time off to travel the world was Steve’s idea. I was initially reluctant. Okay, I was a hard “NO” and he wore me down after 3 months. If he had listed half the things I have done in the past three months to entice me with the idea of traveling, I would have been a hard “NO” forever. Good thing I had no idea what I was agreeing to. The idea may have been his mid life crisis, but I am so grateful. The past 3 months have been the most incredible gift I could ever imagine.

In my retirement, you will find me indulging in 5 star hotels and fine dining restaurants. Just saying.