Monthly #8 December: Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Summary of 2018
For many people, December is usually a month full of festivities, good food, lots of alcohol and meeting with friends and family. For us, it has been another month we spent Christmas and New Year's Eve abroad. In the past, we already celebrated (or rather not celebrated) this time in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and this year, we are in Chile. It's quite different when we compare it with the last year. In 2017, Christmas in Calgary, Canada, were the real white Christmas we usually can see only in films. Snow, ice and minus 30 (sometimes even minus 40) degrees of Celsius. The Advent time in 2018 was the opposite. Plus 30 degrees and views of the snow-capped volcano across the lake in Pucon, Chile.
We can't say which Christmas we prefer more. Maybe those in the winter because here it does not feel like Christmas at all. To be honest, we are not very traditional when it comes to 'compulsory' celebrations, and although we for sure missed our families, and Czech Christmas cookies we know there will plenty of opportunities to make it up in the future. Even though places, where we celebrate Christmas change lately quite often, what doesn't change and what we are the most grateful for, is that we could have spent this time together again.
It has become a tradition to reflect the past year and set new goals for the next year.
How was 2018 for us? The first half of it was pretty tough. We were living and working in Canada where we were doing our Work and Travel Visa. It is not easy to move to another country with a different culture and to the city with such harsh weather during the winter. But we had the motivation to keep up - save as much money as we could to finance our travels in South America. When our visa expired in July, after a short holiday in the Canadian Rockies, we flew to Colombia, and from there we moved slowly via Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia to Chile where we are right now. We had an incredible time and hope that at least the beginning of 2019 will continue in the same old tracks.
In May 2018 we launched this blog, LaidBack Trip. The idea was to keep our memories in one place, keep ourselves busy on the road and maybe help other travelers to find inspiration for their adventures. What we did not expect was how much time (in case you want to run it properly) the blog needs and also we did not expect that someone will actually read it (how silly it might sound). At the moment, we are at 2 000 visitors per month and we are growing. Thanks to this success, we were able to secure several lucrative collaborations with companies we are very proud of. Read our 7 days Cruise in Galapagos.
For the next year, we would be completely happy if our numbers would still keep growing and if there is one thing we must work on, it is social media as until now we did not pay that much attention to it (and it is apparently important).
And how was the last month of 2018 for us?
At the very beginning, we did our last hike in Peru - we visited the Instagram-famous Rainbow Mountain, and it was the best way how to say goodbye to this colorful country.
Then we crossed borders to Bolivia, where we spent only two weeks.
Why that short?
To be honest, at that time, after almost six months of constant moving we felt a bit burned out and had a feeling that we have already seen everything. That's why we wanted to visit only places which will have added value for us. Without a doubt, the highlight of traveling in Bolivia was a three-day tour on Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat. We also visited Lake Titicaca, La Paz, Sucre, and Tupiza.
In mid-December, we crossed the borders of our fifth country in South America, Chile. Although we expected it is going to be different, we were actually surprised how this country looks like Europe. Tidy sidewalks, no trash, and high prices.
A bit of shock. From San Pedro de Atacama, we moved to the capital Santiago de Chile and later to Lake District defined by lakes and volcanoes. From here, we are just about to start our Chilean and Argentinian adventure through Patagonia. Our wallet will cry loudly, but there is no way we would have skipped it.
We want to thank you all for following our adventures, if you haven't subscribed to our newsletter already, make sure you SUBSCRIBE TODAY and see you next year!
