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Crossing to Ecuador

August 28 – 29, 2024. “Estoy borracho,” said the Ecuadorian man. If he had said, “Soy borracho,” we might have thought Borracho was his name. But no. He meant that he was inebriated. To put any doubts to rest, he…

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Leaving Colombia, Cali, Pasto, & Ipiales

August 19 – 28, 2024. Getting to the church was easy enough. We just ordered a taxi through Uber and had it take us to the teleférico (gondola). We rode the teleférico into the canyon where Santuario de Nuestra Señora…

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October 2025 Update and Van Build Expenses

We began the month in Hillsborough in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. There, we were house-sitting with a dog named Rakwa. We spent a lot of time working on the van, but also managed to get out a…

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September 2025 Update and Van Build Expenses

In September, we began a series of back-to-back house sits that will last until April 1, 2026. As with most things we do, we fell into this string of sits before we even had a plan. The first sit came…

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Expenses, One Year Backpacking in South America

We spent 362 days traveling around South America with backpacks. And although I wasn’t able to keep up with posts about all the places we went, I was able to keep up with our expenses. So here they are, the…

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June, July, August 2025 Update and Van Build Expenses

We arrived back in the US on May 30 after one year traveling around South America. It was good to be back in the country we are most familiar with and to start a new adventure. Greg’s mom, Dossie, had…

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May 2025 Expenses & Backpack Travel in Perú

On May 1st, we left Yanque, Perú, and headed for Arequipa, the second biggest city in the country. We spent a week in Arequipa before taking an all-day bus ride to Nazca – home of the famous Nazca Lines. After…

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April 2025 Expenses & Backpack Travel in Perú

After 10 months traveling through South America, we finally made it to one of the highlights of the continent, Machu Picchu, on April 1. Hopefully, there will be a full blog post about this later, but I will tell you…

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March 2025 Expenses & Backpack Travel in Perú

We spent the whole month of March traveling through the Andean mountains of Perú. It was often difficult, treacherous, stomach-churning, and exhausting. But it was also surprising, inspiring, joyful, and beautiful. The month began with our departure from Huánuco. Our…

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February 2025 Expenses & Backpack Travel in Perú

We finished our 5 1/2 week house sit in Lima at the beginning of February. It was sad to leave our new dog friends, but we were ready to get on the road again and do some more exploring. Because…

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