Adventure Travel Blog Posts

I’ve realized through several long duration and long distance adventures that adventures can be boring. Adventures for me are mainly about immersion. Immersion includes: Changes in routine and daily habits Participation in new cultures and subcultures (e.g. backpackers, touring cyclists, Airstream owners) New, unexpected problems, which sometimes require new problem solving skills Testing my ability […]

Chile has a trash issue. There’s a lot dumping in public places, especially along highways and in the outskirts of town. Looking beyond the obvious issue though, I see where Chileans outpace Americans in their elimination of single use plastics, reduction in packaging waste, and reduction in plastic bottles. For example, sodas are primarily sold […]

Every Sunday in Santiago, 30,000 people turn out with their bikes, rollerblades, skateboards, and running shoes to enjoy a five hour block of time in which certain roads in Santiago are shut down for recreation. We live within a few blocks of the route, and we had a chance last Sunday to participate. We cycled […]

Katie has shared a bit about our early struggles with grocery shopping, ingredient selection, and homemade cuisine while living in Santiago. She’s leading the way to figure out a rotation of home cooked meals that are both healthy and tasty, and she’s scratching together a MacGuyver-like cookbook that makes use of the best inputs available […]

Earthquakes are not a frequent occurrence at home in North Carolina. Every few years, we might hear about a barely perceptible earthquake in the American south, and once I felt one in Raleigh in 2011, reported to be strongest earthquake in Raleigh since Columbus arrived. Based on my quick research this morning, looks like earthquakes […]

Our home here in Santiago is fenced. It’s walled actually. An eight foot masonry wall surrounds the property, and there are spikes atop the wall. There are barred gates for entry and exit into the courtyard and driveway. I’ve yet to see a house without a similar wall and fence. Many homes have electrified wire […]

The roof in our house leaks in heavy rains. The leak is in an unheated space in the home, though it’s where the laundry room and a spare bedroom are located. The owners of the home are aware, and they seem to have very little concern. I thought perhaps our landlords were simply neglecting their […]

We rose early for a day trip our first Chilean national park, La Campana, about 90 minutes from the house. We hiked 10km on the out and back trail called Sendero Los Peumos. The trail was lightly trafficked, as most hikers opt for the trail that leads to the top of mountain La Campana, from […]

Wilson turned 8 today, the first birthday for the family in Chile. So far in Wilson’s life, he’s had two birthdays on our adventures. Here’s a picture of Wilson around his 2nd birthday at Olympic National Park on our 30,000 mile Airstream adventure around the U.S. He’s gotten so big, and he still loves sticks, […]