My Newest Adventure

Well, its been over 18 months since my last post after I returned from my three month trip to Ecuador. In that time I have graduated from college with a degree in mechanical engineering and spent another summer working on the Nantahala river. While life has been good here, I am ready to head south once again on another adventure.

On November 16th, I will be flying out of Tampa, FL and heading to San Jose, Costa Rica. I will spend 5 weeks in Costa Rica working as a kayak instructor for the Nantahala Outdoor Center. We will be leading week long trips ranging from class 2 to class 4 whitewater. The day the last guest leaves my family will join me for a week long tour of Costa Rica over Christmas. On December 30th, my family will fly back to Tampa and I will continue on with my travels.

From Costa Rica I will be flying even futher south down to Patagonia. I will end up in a small airport in very Southern Argentina and will one way or another be transported to the town of Futaleufu in Chile (about an hour and a half ride). Outside the town is a river which gave the town its name, most often referred to as simply the "Futa." The Futa is known to be one of the best rivers in the world and I am extremely excited to finally see it in person. I plan to spend a month or so living at the Futa and boating with my friend Jon Clark, who is building a house just off the banks of the river.

At some point after my arrival into Chile I will start heading North, more than likely through Argentina, Peru and maybe Bolivia, until I arrive in Ecuador. The trip from Chile to Ecuador will be one of the biggest aspects of my trip and will involve traveling over 3,000 miles by bus, train and probably a short plane flight as well. I am not sure exactly when I will arrive into Ecuador, but it will be sometime prior to April 18th because thats when my mom will be arriving in Guayquil, Ecuador to begin our tour of the Galapagos. On April 27th I will leave Ecuador and fly back to the states with my mom.

When the trip is all said and done I will have travelled for 5 and a half months, over 10290 miles and through 5 latin american countries. I have a feeling that this trip is going to turn into even more of an adventure than my last and I can't wait!

More to come when the trip gets closer....