Friday, January 4, 2013

What is actually going on?

This will be a brief summation of what is actually going on during this trip.  Hans Shenk and Aaron Miller arrived at Lima, Peru on January 3rd.  Over the next several days they plan to bus down to Santiago,Chile and buy a 4x4 Subaru.  On the 7th Andrew Weber, Josh Gingerich, and Logan Stoltzfus will fly into Cuzco, Peru, tour Macchu Picchu and then bus down to Santiago to meet Aaron and Hans.  From there the group will start heading south to Puerta Montt.  This is the gateway to the Patagonian region of Chile and Argentina.  This is where the next 7 weeks will be spent.  The myriad of adventures planned for this area include driving the Carretera Austral ( a 2,000km gravel highway that connects southern Chile with the north), 5 day hikes both at Monte Fitz Roy, Argentina and Torres del Paine, Chile.  We will try to see some whales, otters, cougars, emus, and guancos, foxes, pengiuins, and much much more.  Hopefully we can catch and eat some of the biggest trout and catfish in the world.  6 weeks into this adventure in the Patagonia Logan will leave us in Punta Arenas and Sheldon Yoder will be joining us.  After this, the next goal is to get to the southernmost city in the world: Ushuaia, Argentina.  From the Patagonian adventure we will travel to Buenos Aires where Josh will bid us farewell.  We will then leave Argentina and cross into Uraguay and do whatever people do there I guess.  Honestly, I haven´t researched it much.  In Brazil we will vist Iguazu Falls, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janiero (where Andrew leaves), and La Pantanal.  La Pantanal is a area in western Brazil that has the wildlife of the Amazon jungle but is a grassland marsh, which gives you a view of all the animals.  There we hope to see aardvarks, anteaters, tapirs, macaws, caimens, oscelots, and if we are extremely lucky jaguars.  From Brazil we will cross into Peru.  In Peru we plan on visiting Cuzco, Macchu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Colca Conyon, Lima, and much much more.  In the Andes of central Peru we will do another 5 day hike.  Depending on time we may or may not travel north to Ecuador.  From Peru, however, we will cross into Bolivia.  In Bolivia we plan on another extensive hike, visiting their vast undeveloped national parks, seeing the salt flats of Uyuni, and whatever else we feel like.  Come the end of our trip we will resell the Subaru in Chile and then bus back to Lima for our return flight on May 23.  This is at least our plan at this point but who knows what can happen.

Here is a map of what should happen:


1 comment:

  1. Fantastic! Can't wait to read about all your adventures.

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