The End. August 2005-August 2006.

This trip is now over. My girlfriend Megan Lyles and I spent a year traveling all overland by bus and boat from our home in New York City to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We spent over 600 hours on busses, and boats. We wanted to see as much as possible, learn some Spanish, and eat everything. Over the course of the year we visited:


The United States
Mexico

Guatemala
Honduras
El Salvador
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Panama

Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Bolivia
Paraguay
Uruguay
Argentina

We have had an amazing time, and experienced so many wonderful, frustrating, frightening, and beautiful moments. If you have been following this photo blog all along, I hope you enjoyed it. If you are just now finding it for the first time, welcome, leave a few comments or questions and I hope you like what you see.

Megan and I are now engaged to be married. I proposed during our last days in Buenos Aires which for me made it a perfect ending to a fantastic year on the road.

La Recoleta Cemetery. Buenos Aires.

On our last day we finally made it to the famous La Recoleta Cemetery which was half of a block away from our last hotel of the trip. The cemetery is where a lot of notable Argentines are buried including one of the most famous cemetery residents Eva Perón. If you end up going, try to go when they offer the free tours. We strolled around, petted some feral cats, checked out Eva's grave, and then went to have a fine lunch at Hotel Etoile.

Lunch at the Hotel Etoile. Final Day in Buenos Aires.

Megan as Art. Last Day, Waiting for Our Flight Home.

Final Days. Our Last Hotel. Buenos Aires.

Our last days on this trip. We checked into a nice hotel in Recoleta to relax. Recoleta is such a great neighborhood and our hotel was 50ft from the famous cemetery.

From the Hotel Window. Buenos Aires.

Random in Montevideo, Uruguay.

I did not make many photographs in Montevideo. It was cold and Megan and I just wanted to eat well, drink well, and chill in our great hotel room. Here are some images from our few days in the beautiful, cosmo, sleepy capital of Uruguay.

Back of the Bus. Uruguay.

On our way to Montevideo. We scored the very back seats right next to the toilet, always sweet.

Iguazu Falls. Northern Argentina.

We really went out of our way to visit Iguazú Falls in Northern Argentina on the border of Brazil, however there is a severe drought in South America at the moment and it has brought the falls to its knees. For the first time in 20 years the 270 falls that make up the Igauzú Falls system have been reduced from the normal 350,000-400,000 gallons per second to 80,000 gallons per second. Many of the falls are dry and the main attraction, The Garganta del Diablo, from what we have been told, is paltry compared to what it can be during normal water levels. We still enjoyed our day at the park, and we were still blown away by The Garganta del Diablo. I cannot imagine all of the falls flowing at normal level, it must be truly incredible. These images are from The Garganta del Diablo.
CNN article on the drought.

Shave and a Haircut. Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.

Itaipu Hydroelectric Project. Hernandarias, Paraguay.

The largest operational hydroelectric power plant in the world.

River Boat to Asuncion, Paraguay.

We took a 22 hour river boat trip from Concepción to Asunción down the Río Paraguay. It was a really nice, easy, and slow ride.

When I Woke Up At 5:45am, in Ponta Porã, Brazil...

Sleeping Dogs of Paraguay.

For Jan.

Horse Carts in Concepcion, Paraguay.

Concepción is a pretty major port on the Río Paraguay. The horse carts carry goods to and from the port, and supposedly you can use them as taxis too.

Megan's Killer Face. Concepcion, Paraguay.

The only good mosquito is a dead mosquito. Sometimes our rooms are a little infested, and Megan goes to work. In certain parts of Paraguay, she is known as Megan "Dengue" Lyles.Git em, honey!

Italy Wins the World Cup!!!!!!!! Viva Italia!!!!!!!!

While the final match of the World Cup was being played we were on a bus to Concepción. When we disembarked in Concepción we were able to watch the final minutes of the penalty shoot-out with some grumbly taxi drivers at the taxi stand. They all wanted France to win, some of them had placed bets, and lost. We then caught a ride to a really shitty hotel, checked it out, and left to find somewhere else less prison like. While walking, about 20 minutes after the game, a mob of scooters came screaming by all carrying Italian flags and screaming VIVA ITALIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Filadelfia, and Loma Plata, Paraguay...Around Town.

These are towns in the Gran Chaco desert that were founded by Mennonites in the 1920's. We spent a few days strolling around. I did not see any traditionally dressed Mennonites, but their legacy was everywhere. Signs in German and Spanish, and a lot of German conversations going on all around us. The towns had a whole different feel from all of the other more Spanish influenced places. I was expecting a rather strict stance on alcohol and tobacco and various other material goods. This was not the case at all. Giant brand new trucks and cars, beer and liquor everywhere, stores selling all of the newest gear like Nike and Adidas. Every teen seemed to be dressed like any other suburban teen in the US or Europe and had a peppy scooter to cruise the town as well. We enjoyed our time there and met a lot of really nice people.

Anatomy of a 22 hour bus ride.

We willingly signed up for a 20+ hour, dirt road ride through the Chaco desert from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Filadelfia, Paraguay. The bus company worms were fast talking liars and ended up charging us the same price we would have paid all the way to Asunción, seven hours further down the road. They also promised us that Filadelfia is actually a regular stop, and we would be dropped off in Filadelfia proper.

Lies, all lies!

Around hour 21 the bus flew past the turn for Filadelfia, I had a nasty little voice in my head saying this was going to happen all along. I went up to the drivers and asked them when we would be stopping in Filadelfia. They conversed in Paraguay's mother tongue, Guaraní, and then laughed at me saying, in Spanish, we had passed it long ago.

I was tired, dirty, and sick of everyone on that bus. The dudes in front of us had their seats jacked all the way back for the entire ride, plus they loved to stick their hands behind the seat practically close enough for me to smell them. I wanted to fight the entire bus minus Megan, my only teammate. I hated the drivers instantly.

My Spanish is nothing to marvel at when I'm cool and collected, when I'm angry it pretty much falls apart totally. I stomped back to my seat to get Megan, I needed her decision making skills and her better Spanish.

We went back to the drivers together and she asked what the deal was. They told her the same thing, we passed it and no we are not going back. I then proceeded to yell about how the jerks 21 hours back at the station back in Santa Cruz promised us 5 different ways the bus stopped in Filadelfia. The ayudante, trying to deflect blame said they told me that just to get my money.

They so helpfully said they would drop us off at the next crossroads where we could catch a collectivo to Filadelfia.

They dropped us off, and managed to avoid my hate filled glaring choosing to deal with Megan and pretend I did not exist. It was night, and we had no idea where we were. There was a gas station across the road.

We stood there for awhile, I ranted and cursed feeling uneasy about the people lingering around in the dark. They just turned out to be kids hitchhiking, which is a common mode of transport in rural Paraguay.

We decided to go visit the gas station and see if they knew when the next collectivo would be passing by. On our way we spotted a little shed with a light on inside and a sign hanging on the outside that said Agencia NASA, it was the local bus company. The helpful old man inside sold us two tickets to Filadelfia for pretty much all of the local currency we had, 10,000gs each, about $4.00usd total.

We made it to Filadelfia about an hour later, all ended up being fine. I still have hate in my heart for those guys in the Santa Cruz bus station.The Picada 500. We spent about 15 hours on this road.
The view out our window for much of the ride.
We finally make it to the asphalt Trans Chaco Highway after 15 hours.
This little dog, with a monkey passenger just showed up while we waited at Bolivian Migracion just after dawn.
Our packs, covered in dust.
A beautiful view for 21 hours.