We are thrilled to announce we’re headed to South America!
This is the first time we’re going to explore a brand new region of the world since we returned from our Asia trip and we couldn’t be more excited! While we’ve both been to Brazil, there’s so much more to the rest of the continent that we can’t wait to check out, including some long-time bucket list items. It’s always a good time to check things off the bucket list!
Destinations
We’re most excited about our first destination – and one that’s been in our “Top 5” for a while – the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador! There are no words to adequately describe how much we’re looking forward to this. The wildlife and landscape will be unrivaled, a traveler / photographer / explorer’s dream destination, really. Definitely more to come about this!
The other locations are not too shabby, either. The rest of Ecuador – Quito and surrounding areas. Peru, to (finally) see Machu Picchu, as well as the Cusco and Sacred Valley region. Bolivia, for Lake Titicaca and the Uyuni salt flats. Then lastly to the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
All of our previous traveling has really shown us what kind of destinations excite us the most. We’re very hopeful that the contrasting landscapes and unique experiences on this trip will be some of the best yet.
Photography
Four years ago, we bought our first starter DSLR and tried to use more than just the auto-mode. Fast forward to now, photography has definitely grown into a serious hobby (admittedly more for Carlos than for Julie), though not as serious as traveling itself. Our gear has certainly improved (in both quality and in weight), but most importantly, the person behind the camera has honed his/her skills. We hope this shows.
In honour of going to the Galapagos, we are bringing a new telephoto lens, so there are no regrets about capturing wildlife to our hearts’ content. It’s a workout just to hold it up, and it kind of looks ridiculous, but we will see how it goes! This will be a good test run for future wildlife adventures to come. For us, it’s impossible to go out there, explore our world and not want to capture its wonder. Here’s to hoping we bring back photographs worthy of the memories we will make.
Reviving the Blog
Many of you may have felt like we had forgotten about and abandoned the blog for good since our Asia trip ended – that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, we haven’t posted any new posts until now, but we’ve quietly updated the design of the blog as well as posted some new photos. We never stopped engaging with this site in general – it’s still our baby and something we’re immensely proud of.
Ever since the trip ended, we’ve had the luxury of having this blog as a record of all the amazing experiences we’ve had that we often come back to reread and relive. That was the main goal all along, and mission accomplished! We’re so thankful now that we did this for ourselves – sometimes we catch ourselves reading previous posts and thinking, “Wow, these people are so cool! We want to be like them!” …only to realize that these people were/are us. 🙂
With all the new destinations in South America, we owe it to ourselves to have a record of these experiences to look back on, too.
Goals
Intrinsic to any traveling, there are always the basic goals – immerse ourselves in the culture, savour the local foods, being open to new experiences, etc. All of those apply here, but we have some other ones in mind specific to this trip:
- See how our traveling style has evolved. This is a big one and something we’re very curious about. The Asia trip was its own beast, and while we never expect to take a trip just like that one again, it’s always interesting to think about how we evolve as travelers. From how we trip plan to the itinerary we set to the way we perceive each place, this will provide an interesting comparison in retrospect.
- Learn some Spanish. Julie knows zero Spanish, while Carlos will probably fake-speak with Portuguese since the two languages are very similar – “Portuñol.” Having to navigate a new place with a language barrier can be fun in a challenging way. I’m sure we will pick up some slang by the end… at least we already know how to say hi 😉
- Take drool-worthy photos. This is obviously a part of basic travel goals for us usually, but the pressure is really on this time around. It’s not everyday we go to a “Top 5” destination (that we may or may not ever visit again) and have the chance to capture footage that lives up to its grandeur. Fingers crossed.
- Make South American friends! We love all of our friends around the world (though we wish we saw all of them more regularly!) and it can only be better to have more places to couchsurf to, especially in such a fun and friendly area of the world.
Thanks to everyone who has supported us all along – hope you’re as excited about following us as we are about this trip.