Aventuras de los cinco amigas!

This was to be my solo travel time. I had grand plans! Plans of Spanish classes and salsa dancing and exploring the colorful city streets of Cartagena and trekking through jungle trails in northern Colombia and watching the sunset over the Caribbean on empty beaches while reflecting on the last year of my life and thinking forward to the next. I had weeks to be alone! and it was going to be glorious!
In reality, my solo plans were completely derailed one fateful night in a hostel in Cartagena. Ironically, it was my first day traveling alone in South America.  I sat down at a picnic table (innocent enough) and was immediately tossed into an international game of King's Cup. I believe there were 4 languages being spoken at the table which made for pretty ridiculous and challenging rhyming schemes whenever a 9 was drawn.
Needless to say, beers led to more beers led to instant friendships and I found myself making plans to head north to Santa Marta with three Irish gals (Grainne, Odharnaith and Siobhan) and a British gal (Sophie). We all had similar general plans of the Lost City trek and Tyronal National Park and beyond.
I was hesitant to grab onto the first people I met but we all seemed to get along so well, I figured why not?! And I could not be more happy with how the last 2+ weeks have unfolded. I have without a doubt made some lifelong friends and we tore up northern Colombia together! 

Some highlights from the last few weeks.... 
First, we did a 4 day trek into the jungle to the lost city which I am hoping to do a separate blog post soon. After that we needed time to recuperate and we found the perfect places.

Tyrona National Park... we opted to hike into the park because it was the cheaper option to boating. It took only two hours to get to this paradise...

Cabo San Juan in Tyrona National Park

Tyrona

I don't even know how this happened... 

grrrrrrr

My modeling debut... 

The hut behind us is where we stayed, in hammocks

Fun with camera settings

Our own private bay... so beautiful!

Blue

After Tyrona we ventured a little further east on the coast to Palomino for some beach and relaxation time! I spent five days there but the best day had to be Monday.  The day started with run on the beach, then we got a moto ride into the jungle and tubed down the river right into the ocean (with rum in hand).  We went out for one more celebratory dinner and then drank and danced on the beach.  The night ended with a skinny dip in the ocean with phosphorescent algea! Just an amazing, unbelievable day I will never forget! THANKS GIRLS!!!

Grainne got a little behind... 

me and the irish gals... photo by Sophie!

Sophie thought it might be quicker walking?

The group... we are as ridiculous as it looks

Cheers!

Rain storm!

Siobhan hit some shallow water

some of the best selfies I have ever seen... 

potentially the best pic of the day... 

tubing right into the Caribbean! (those are waves behind me)

serious tubers

Celebrating our last night together

Palomino pirates

The fearsome five!

we had a lot of fun together :)

not appropriate for facebook... but figured I could sneak it on the blog... 

Sophie and I took surf lessons!

We definitely had the look down.. 

but that may have been all

knee boarding pro ;)

The Irish gals parted with us Tuesday morning to continue their travels.  I left Sophie in Palomino on Wednesday to head back to Santa Marta and then Cartagena and onto Bogota to start another section of my trip. 
I feel so lucky and fortunate to have met them when I did!  When traveling, timing seems to be everything. It will dictate so much of what you do and how you do it.  A five minute conversation with someone in passing can change your entire weeks plans. Had I gotten to Cartagena one day later or been staying at the hostel across the street, the last few weeks would have been much much different. Not better, not worse, just different. 
I think that is what keeps travelers going... the beauty and randomness of meeting the right person at the right time.  So far my timing has been impeccable and I'm excited and open to see what tomorrow will bring. 

Salud!

South America Ski Photos (Chile & Argentina)

I finally got a good internet connection so here is 2 plus weeks of skiing and fun wrapped up in one blog post.  I honestly could have done a separate blog post for every day on this trip. Alas, we were so so busy that there was no time for that and I am now sitting, sweating, in a hostel in Colombia trying to edit, organize, and upload photos whilst being eaten by mosquitoes. So you better enjoy them!

In an effort to portray what the trip was like I have selected the best of the best photos for your viewing as well as some day to day "van life" pics.

Day 1! Ready to Rock & Roll in our van!

 We arrived in Chillan to rain and a closed resort so we... 

went to the hot springs!

rocking the mud!

lunch time

Sleeping four people in the van was a work of art!

our kitchen

Just a koala and a panda hanging in a tree, no. big. deal. 

a bunch of wild animals

Surf town of Dichato in Chile, waiting out weather in the moutains

Beach hanging for a day 

Bottom of Pucon ski resort, our hopes for skiing were dwindling 

so we went to some hot springs instead!

Termas des Pezones, outside of Pucon

Best hot springs ever!

testing out the new waterproof camera, it works!

Chilean farm land

Hiking out to waterfall near Pucon

Waiting for better ski weather doesn't always have to be so bad

waterfall!

admiring the waterfall 

Pucon

Finally good weather! Hiking Volcan Villarrica 

Pucon ski resort, Volcan Villarrica steaming!

smoke is from the volcano

Rock formation on the volcano

Sam, stopping for a snack and pointing out some scenery

At the top!!! 

Skiing down!

View from Villarrica

We had to rest a lot... haha

Picking lines and dropping in

After Pucon, we headed straight to Bariloche, Argentina

 Nahuel Huapi Lake, Bariloche

Mountains around Bariloche

Walking around the city 

 We had a great time partying in Bariloche, but an unfortunate van break in lead us North to better snow, thankfully! 

Chapelco near San Martin, Argentina

Freshies, all day

Got to explore some bigger chutes 

The snow was amazing!!!!

Back at the van for the night 

Next day, bluebird pow day!

Top of the mountain, picking lines

Group photo 

Did some hiking to some even better snow and views!

Van living... on our way North through Argentina

Volcan Lanin

So many EMPANADAS!!!!

Intense game of Farkle 

Driving through Argentina

To the mountains!!! 

Into the mountains

and through the night... 

into the morning

almost back to Chile

quick stop

to take some pics of... 

Aconcagua!!!

Back in Chile at Portillo!

Beautiful day for some skiing!

Unreal

seriously, unreal

more unreal. 

nap time?

Independence Day Party!

Day 2 at Portillo

Rough life

mass stoke

Peace!

Wahhh???

Taking off... 

Road down from Portillo, crazy switchbacks!

and we landed back in Santiago for some last empanadas and "goodbyes"! It was, without a doubt, the trip of a lifetime but I can't wait to make it an annual event! haha