An American dream in Latin America (Part 2)

Young adventurers Chris Novak and his wife Kristin Brinner gave up their jobs in San Francisco, converted their quirky Honda Element into a pop-top camper, and set off to explore the Americas south of the USA.

It was a journey destined to last 16 months and cover 44,000 kilometers, plus an additional 6,500 km visiting apprehensive friends and relatives in the US before crossing the Texas-Mexico border to fulfill a dream.

The first part of their story was published last week as part of Newsroom Panama’s travel section (click here for part I of the story). It continues here in Kristin’s own words from the time they crossed the border into Ecuador.

Climbing into the highlands of Ecuador, we entered a totally different environment and culture than we had previously experienced. Snow-capped volcanos towered over the landscape, llamas grazed the fields, women wore colorful skirts and shawls, and people spoke the Incan language of Quechua.

By getting off the typical gringo trail in Ecuador and Northern Peru, we saw cultures that had retained much of their pre-conquest roots and visited amazing ruins.

In Southern Peru we were awed by the Inca agricultural terraces climbing up the mountains, cut stone buildings and giant religious complexes, all monuments to the amazing Inca empire. The pre-Incan Amayra culture of Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian highlands continued to amaze. Even in the capital city of La Paz, most women still wore the bowler hat, lacy shawl and ruffled skirt imposed on them by the Spanish in the 1700s.

After enjoying ourselves but freezing in the altiplano, we took a welcome break from the cold in Argentina’s and Chile’s wine countries. Heading south through the Lakes District to Patagonia, we drove through a wonderland of jagged alpine peaks spotted with emerald and blue lakes. Our ultimate destination was Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world.

Three days of hard driving through the windswept wasteland of eastern Patagonia finally brought us across the Straights of Magellan to Tierra del Fuego and Ushuaia. Since we’d come all this way, we paid the exorbitant $25 entrance fee in to Tierra del Fuego National Park so we could actually hit ‘the end of the road.’

On our way back North we visited calving glaciers and the world’s second biggest penguin colony before arriving in Buenos Aires. We spent a harried week there arranging for our car shipment back to the United States and then headed for some rest and relaxation in Uruguay. Between soaking in hot springs and riding horses on a working ranch for 3 weeks, we returned to our final week in Buenos Aires rejuvenated but ready to head home.

A quick trip to the port and we said goodbye to our faithful car that had carried us over 40,000 kilometers without any major problems. We boarded a flight to Florida less than a week later.
While we had mixed feelings about our trip coming to an end, after 16 months on the road we were ready to settle down with family.

It seems a little unreal to be back in the United States, and the reality of putting together resumes and looking for jobs isn’t exactly pleasant. But we have such amazing memories and photographs of our travels. I can now look back on our trip and know that it was one of the best things I have done with my life so far. Truly a dream come true.

For a full accounting of our travels, see our blog at The Darien Plan.

For those considering driving the Pan-American Highway, we have collected information on border crossings, car shipment, road conditions, gas prices, and everything else we found useful as road trippers driving Latin America at www.DriveTheAmericas.com

To view the photo gallery, click here