From a Year on the Road to Our Own Abode (The End)

This year's team for the President's Cup


Who is the weird guy in the middle pulling the face?
And what is Craig looking for?


Peter thanking Troy for his work on Foster's

Foster's group reunited!

A game of twister gone bad

Lauren with Mom and Tom

Good old family fun

Sagalow family reunion

Spending a day at the waterpark with Dad and Jetsabel

Reuniting with our best friend, Allison

Hello Everyone!

It's good to be back in the good old US of A. What a fantastic trip it's been, but it sure does feel great to be home! We are relishing in all of the luxuries we once took for granted, but not anymore after our year on the road - air conditioning, working showers, toilet paper, sidewalks and driving a car. It's unbelievable how quickly we are adapting back to life in the Western world.

We arrived home three weeks ago and we have had plenty of time to reflect on our life this past year. We have shared so many amazing experiences, met people from completely different cultures, sampled items we didn't even know could be considered food, and enjoyed every minute of it!!

Backpacking is a constant adventure and there is never a dull moment. From skiing in Chile to camel trekking through the desert in India, from seeing Everest at sunrise to the sunset in Goa, from a live aboard dive trip in Thailand to a rafting trip in Nepal, from ancient ruins in Cambodia to the modern city of Bangkok, from Tibetan butter tea to Argentine red wine, it's been quite the journey, and one we will never forget.

As Green Day poetically said in their song "Time of Your Life":

"So take the photographs and still frames in your mind. Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time. Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial. For what it's worth, it was worth all the while. It's something unpredictable but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life."

Now, let us assure you, we did "have the time of our lives". Thanks to each of you, our friends and blog readers, for your comments and for experiencing this journey with us. We are looking forward to catching up with each of you in person. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Thank you again for logging in each week and taking a bird's eye view of what has been an important milestone in our lives.

Your Friends,

Lauren and Troy

From Nature´s Force to Back to the Source (Iguazu Falls to Buenos Aires)

And this could be all yours with no money down!


Welcome to Iguazu Falls


Panoramic view of the falls from Brazil


Picture perfect

Rainbows, falls and palm trees....what more could you ask for in a photo?

Fury of the falls from below

Who would have thought they could have made it?

Basking in the sun and enjoying the view

Tarzan swinging through the Argentine jungle

Happily back in Buenos Aires

Hola Amigos!

We are writing what will be one of our last blogs from Argentina. Before you get all teary-eyed though, rest assured that we will be posting a conculsion blog enroute back to the States.

Our last week in Argentina has been one of the best without a doubt. With only a matter of days left in our journey, we threw out the notion of a backpacker budget and rented a car to take us to some of the harder to reach towns in Northern Argentina.

Cruising the amazing desert landscape with wind blowing our hair, we had a blast listening to Coldplay on the CD player while we sang along in our best Chris Martin voices. Allison, this defenitely reminded us of our roadtrip to the hill together!

As the saying goes, the journey, not the destination, is often the best part of the ride and this was true for our roadtrip. The towns we made it to were interesting and filled with lovely people, but the ride was tops.

After being in the desert for the past few weeks, we thought it might be time to try something new. Something with a little more water. So, we decided to jump on a bus and head to Iguazu Falls, the largest in South America. Now lets not under estimate the bus ride, it was over 24 hours!

The long trip was worth it once we arrived at our destination in the very Northeastern tip of Argentina. We have seen our share of waterfalls throughout the trip, but none hold a candle to fabulous Iguazu. This remarkable waterfall system consists of 271 separate waterfalls along 2.7 kilomters (1.7 miles). In every direction that the eye could see, huge amounts of water were crashing down. The scenery and sound of the water is astonishing!

The falls can be visited from both Argentina and Brazil. Lucky for us, we were able to use our Brazilian visas from our trip a few years ago and saved ourselves the hefty visa fee. We spent the first day on the Brazilian side, which offered the most panoramic views. The second and third day of our visit were spent on the Argentine side which allowed us to get up close and personal with the falls.

One of the most amazing aspects of the waterfalls are the rainbows that are created on clear days. We really lucked out with all of our days being clear and were able to capture fantastic photos.

With all of the excitement of this impressive natural wonder, it was hard leave Iguazu, but we had to get back to Buenos Aires. We finally booked our flight home and will be leaving Buenos Aires in two short days (Aug 2nd)!

We will be writing our last blog from the comfort of our air conditioned house in Florida. We think we may even have a wireless connection to the internet instead of dial-up! Wow, the luxuries of home.

Lauren and Troy

From Seaside Delights to Flamingos in Flight

Just another colorful block in Valparasio


Bundling together to keep warm


Amazing landscape in Chile


If you are going to skate on thin ice, you might as well tap dance on it


Posing with San Pedro´s version of Zoro


Streets of San Pedro de Atacama


So this is what we woke up at 3:30am for.....


Sunrise view of the geysers


Giving a hug to an old mate


Hola Chicos!


We hope you are all doing well.

This week we made our way half way up the country of Chile and what a ride it´s been. After our week of skiing in Portillo, we made the short journey to the beautiful seaside town of Valparasio, located about 90 minutes north of Santiago. Valparasio is a unique place, extremely cultured and scenic. The city is built on massive hills that rise up from the ocean and the houses and shops seem to barely hang on to the steep ledges (think San Francisco). As if this weren´t dramatic enough, the buildings in the city are all brightly painted with colors such as pink, purple, blue, yellow, orange and green. It really is a sight to see.


After an active week of skiing, our plan for Valpo (as the locals call it) were to just chill out and enjoy some Chilean cuisine...and that we did! Our daily routine consisted of a long lunches and dinners for which we would always choose a restaurant high up in the hills with a great view. In between we would wander the streets and try to catch a musician performing in the square.


Unfortunately, while all this eating made for a good experience for us, it doesn´t necessary translate to exciting reading for you. So we decided to change all that and head for more adventure. After 2 days in Valpo we embarked on a mammoth bus journey of about 1000 miles and finally arrived in the small desert oasis of San Pedro de Atacama. We have to say that San Pedro is one of the most interesting towns we have seen during our travels. Every building in the town is built in the traditional adobe style, made of mud and hay. It is a very picturesqe town.

However, the main attraction of San Pedro is not the town itself, it is the huge range of activites that are on offer in the surrounding desert. San Pedro is located in the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world. From flamingo spotting to sandboarding (yes SANDboarding) to geyser walking, there is enough activity there to keep even the most picky tourist happy.


Among the many activites we enjoyed in San Pedro, the geyser tour was our favorite. Now we know most of you will not believe this given the fact that we had to wake up at 3:30am for the tour! Yes, we were dragged out of bed at this ungodly hour and stuck on bus for the two hour trip to the geysers. Why you might ask a 3:3o start? The geysers are most active just before sunrise, so all of the tours leave early in the morning to take advantage. But it was worth it to see the sprays of boiling water and billows of steam rising out of crust of earth, especially coupled with the pink sunrise that emerged from behind the snow covered volcanoes.


And if you´re like us you might be asking how does a geyser work? Geysers are fairly common in areas with active volcanoes. The magma under the earth´s surface heats up the rocks below the crust which in turn act like a kettle and heat the water. The water reaches temperatures of up to 800 degrees farenheight and finally bursts through the crust due to all of the pressure. These bursts of water and steam are known as geysers. Although the biggest geyser is located in Yellowstone National Park (Old Faithful) in the US, the geysers here in Chile are unique for a couple of reasons. The first being that they are the highest geysers (in terms of elevation) in the world, located at an altitude of over 4000 meters (about 13,000 feet). The second reason is that they are completely natural and unmanipulated. This means that none of the geysers have been sealed to produce more pressure and activity in the open geysers, such as what has been done at Yellowstone National Park.


Sadly, these geysers are also special because in about two months they will be closed to tourists. The land has been sold to an electric company which plans to harness the energy of the geysers. Unfortunately tourism could not pay the bills and the government had to look elsewhere.


While in San Pedro we also had the opportunity to visit the salt flats and see wild flamingos. They are such graceful birds and when they would take off in flight it was fantastic to see their bright pink bodies streak across the blue sky.


After 5 great days in San Pedro, it was time to say goodbye to Chile and make the 12 hour bus journey back to Argentina. The bus ride involved crossing the Atacama Desert, the driest and highest in the world.


The bus arrived at the station to pick us up and we were overjoyed to see that it was a first class bus, complete with reclining seats, a bar on board and DVD players. This bus was brand spanking new, what a way to traverse the harsh desert climate! We crossed the Chillean border and chugged along through the desolate desert scenery enjoying the ride.

After about two hours we started to hear weird noises coming from the engine and the bus started to jerk back and forth. We pulled over and all that could be seen were the billows of black smoke emerging from our fancy bus. We waited and waited, in the middle of the desert, while the bus driver tried everything to get the engine going. Finally, the bus came back to life and we turned around to make the trip back to where we started. As if this wasnt bad enough, because we had crossed the Chile border, but had not yet immigrated to Argentina, we were considered illegal immigrants and not allowed to wander more than 10 feet from the bus. So, like a bunch of refugees, we stood in the shade of the broken bus for 2 hours while we waited for our replacement bus to arrive. It finally pulled up and by this point, we didnt even care that it was missing all of the luxuries of the previous bus! We made it to Argentina late in the night, but were still able to celebrate with a huge hunk of beef and a bottle of red.

We are planning to explore a few of the smaller towns in Northern Argentina in the next few days. We look forward to updating you on the last few weeks of our trip.

Talk to you soon!

Lauren and Troy

From Fine Reds to Falling on our Heads (Mendoza, Argentina to Portillo, Chile)

Sampling aged reds in Mendoza


Home finally...amongst the wine barrels


Posing with the chocolatier in Mendoza

Welcome to Hotel Portillo!

Part of the backpacker clan, taking advantage of the free welcome drink

Dancing the night away with the Argentines

On the sun deck of the hotel after the blizzard

Sampling local Chilean drinks on the way to Valparasio

Hola Amigos,

We hope you are all doing well. And, to those of you in the US, Happy 4th of July! We missed one of our favorite holidays, but trust that you each had an extra burger and beer for us.

We´ve been having a blast in South America. It seems like the fun never ends. After writing our last blog update, we took a bus to the heart of Argentine wine country and traded our ski gear for wine glasses. Mendoza is a picturesque city, surrounded by vineyards and the looming Andes. We had no trouble filling our time or wine glasses while in Mendoza.

Our most memorable day in Mendoza involved bicycles, which make for a very interesting ride when wine tasting. With a couple of other keen backpackers, we went out to the wine district of Maipu and rented bikes to tour several of the wineries. The day began very nice and relaxed as we peddled our way through the countryside in search of wine tastings. It quickly turned into an all out party when we stumbled upon the whiskey distillery. Add that to the multiple glasses of free wine and chocolate liqueur and you´ve really got yourself a fun afternoon! ¨Drinks on Bikes¨!

We quickly got used to the high life of sipping wine in Mendoza and found it hard to leave. However, there was another adventure right around the corner, so we packed up yet again and set off.

Some may think that skiing in two resorts in Argentina would be enough, but we had other ideas. As our last ski hoorah in South America, we booked ourselves into the prestigious, world famous Hotel Portillo in Chile for one entire week with the white stuff. You may be wondering how we were able to afford to stay in a place with the word ¨Hotel¨ in front of it given all of our stays have been in backpackers (hostels). We´ll allow us to explain.

While this legendary 5 star resort charges upwards of $2500 USD per person for the week, there must be a softie on the management team with a heart for the lowly backpacker. The hotel opens up it´s staff quarters, which are dorms, and allows backpackers to take up the empty beds for $600 USD per week. This is quite the deal when you consider that this price includes 7 nights of accommodation, 8 days of lift tickets, 4 meals per day and use of the hotel amenities (heated pools, hot tub, gym, sauna, cinema, etc.). So we lived it up for an entire week; skiing in fresh powder, soaking in the hot tub, eating like kings, meeting heaps of backpackers and other hotel guests, slurping down Chilean wine and dancing until the wee hours in the disco. It was a fantastic week and one of the best experiences of our entire trip thus far.

The first few days in Portillo were picture perfect with warm temperatures and blue skies. However, towards the end of the week the weather changed and a huge blizzard brought 2 feet of fresh snow! This huge amount of snow resulted in the slopes being closed for a day, and in a round about way, was responsible for a couple of humorous stories.

Since we knew that the mountain would be closed in the morning, we all decided to have a big night out which included making a cameo appearance at the disco. As luck would have it, it was karaoke night and Troy along with another Australian backpacker (Mike) graced us all with his rendition of ¨Land Down Under¨. You should have heard the applause from the crowd, they were a real hit!

When the weather finally did clear late the next day, everyone had a bit more courage on the slopes due to all of the fresh powder. How can you be scared when falling feels like landing on a pillow? So, abandoning her usual conservative ski style, Lauren thought this might be the day to practice some of those daring jumps. We sailed over the snowbanks, launching ourselves in the air and had a great time landing on the ultra-soft snow. But, Lauren got a bit too brave the next time around. She decided to go for a jump that ended up being more of a wall made of snow. Instead of smoothly sailing over the snow, her skis went straight into the snow bank, her bindings released and she was catapulted like a cannon ball over the bank. She landed on her head, with poles still in hand, about 10 feet from her skis, laughing hysterically about the plunder. Upon looking back, she noticed her skis still stuck in the middle of the bank, suspended from the ground, bouncing up and down. Great times were definitely had in the fresh powder!

Reluctantly, we said our goodbyes to Portillo and all of the great friends we met, and took off to Valparasio, an artsy seaside town in Chile. Luckily, we didn´t have to say too many goodbyes straight away as our good friends Claudio and Adan from Chile kindly drove us to Valparasio.

The days are starting to wind down for us as our trip will be finishing up in early August. Time is flying at the moment, but we still have a bit more traveling to do before returning home. We will update you with more adventures from Chile soon.

Take Care!

Lauren and Troy

From Ice Walls to Snow Balls (El Calafate to Bariloche to Las Lenas)

We couldn´t resist posing with the mini icebergs!


And we complained that Milwaukee was cold...


Passing by icebergs on our boat ride


In front of the Spegazinni Glacier

Argentine patriotism with glaciers in the background

What goes up must come down

Taking a break from skiing to enjoy the views

Could the conditions be any better?

Skiing on top of the world (or at least it felt like it!)

Enjoying a well-deserved cerveza after a day of skiing

Troy preparing a traditional asado (Argentine BBQ)

Hola Amigos!

Brrrr.....we are writing you from the bitter cold region of Southern Argentina. This past week has been filled with loads of bone-chilling adventure!

After our weekend at the end of the world in Ushuaia, we took a flight to the quaint town of El Calafate. This little town is famous for one big attraction - a series of massive glaciers that surround the area. Our first encounter with these massive walls of ice involved waking in the dark in order to arrive at the glaciers in time for sunrise. Mind you, down here the sun doesn´t show it´s face until about 10am...so it wasn´t that bad! We quickly forgot about the cold and dark when the magnificent orange sun began to rise over the glaciers. The mountains and glaciers absorb the sunlight and cast beautiful colors of pink, orange and yellow as the sun changes position. It is truly a sight to see.

We spent two days visiting the glaciers and taking in the surrounding sights. We went out on a boat for most of the first day to access the hard to reach glaciers. The boat ride was fantastic as it allowed us the opportunity to get up close and personal with the glaciers and icebergs. It really was an amazing experience to be out boating among icebergs that have been frozen for thousands of years.

The second day of glacier exploration was no less impressive. We visited the Perito Moreno Glacier, the most famous in South America. This glacier is well known because it is so active. The glacier is advancing at a rate of about 6-10 feet per day. This means that enormous chunks of ice are frequently falling off the front of the glacier, creating huge crashing noises and gigantic waves in the water. We were fortunate enough to witness this spectacle a few times, but weren´t quick enough to capture it on photo.

All of the cold weather and snow got us really excited for one of our favoirte winter pursuits, skiing. We embarked on a 30 hour bus journey (that´s right 30 hours) from El Calafate and finally arrived in the town of Bariloche, an outdoor paradise. We wasted no time and were on the slopes of the nearby ski resort, Cerro Catedral, early the next morning.

The views from Cerro Catedral are absolutely spectacular. The Andes mountain range stretches as far as the eye can see and several of Bariloche´s blue glacial lakes sparkle at the base of the mountains. The skiing was challenging because it was icy, but the views more than made up for the difficult conditions.

Mid-June is the beginning of the ski season in Argentina and since skiing is one of our favorite hobbies, we were anxious to move on to the next ski area in hopes of better conditions. We made our way to Las Lenas, a ski resort famous for it´s powder snow. Las Lenas definitely did not dissappoint, it turned out to be the best skiing conditions we have ever experienced. As we swished down the mountain, sprays of fluffy white snow shot up behind us....absolutely brilliant conditions!! Although the powder snow was much easier to ski than the icy hills in Bariloche, we both had our share of falls and returned to the base of the mountain covered in snow. Good thing the ski lodges are masters at whipping up the best hot chocolate!

We are now making our way to the Mendoza area, which is the heart of Argentine wine country. We will be writing you next time with teeth 3 shades darker and red wine lips.

Hope you are all doing well, we miss you!

Lauren and Troy

Whale Tales (Puerto Madryn to Ushuaia)

Enjoying the Patagonian beach




Sea lion colony and and a row of penguins perched above


Patagonian coastline


Looking out over the colony of sea lions and penguins


Hoping to spot the big ones

Bus or whale? You decide.

Blowhole!

Typical backpacker whale-watching with champagne

Troy contemplating writing his resume

Enjoying the view of whales from above

Clowning around on Penninsula Valdes

Chowing down on Argentina´s finest beef (don´t mind the hat hair)

Hola Amigos!

We´ve had a whale of a time this past week in Argentina. No pun intended.

After living La Vida Loca in the Buenos Aires province we made our way down to Penninsula Valdes, the marine life capital of Argentina. Penninsula Valdes is home to whales, orcas, sea lions, elephant seals, penguins and an abundance of fish. We had the amazing opportunity to see many of these animals up close, in their natural habitat.

Our first animal encounter took us to a dramatic seaside location with massive cliffs looming over the beach. These cliffs created a protected environment for the hundreds of sea lions, seals and penguins that call this beach home. From a viewing platform 50 feet in the air, the incredible view of the animals, cliffs and sparking sea seemed to stretch on forever. It was quite a scene to take in.

The sea lion colony was just a warm up for bigger things, literally. The next day we set off on a whale watching tour. We were very excited, but careful not to get our hopes up as the captain said, "this is not an acquarium, sightings are not guaranteed." Well, boy did he undersell his whale spotting capabilities! Within minutes of leaving the dock, we came upon a pod of 5 whales, splashing and frolicing in the water. We have never seen creatures this huge, it was unbelievable! The whales must have taken a liking to our boat because they swam all around us, even under the boat. They were so close, if we wanted to we could have reached out and touched them. With only 15 other passengers on the boat, we were able to get a first rate view of these massive mammals. And just in case you are wondering exactly how massive, the whales were the size of a city bus and a half, weighing up to 50 tons.

The next stop on our Argentine itinerary was supposed to be Calafate, a 2 hour flight from Penninsula Valdes. The flight was delayed for many hours due to fog and bad weather and when we did finally board, we learned that Calafate was the second stop. At first we groaned because this meant more time sitting on the plane, but then an idea began to form. The first stop the plane was making was in a city called Ushuaia, famous for being the southernmost city in the world. We had wanted to visit Ushuaia, but the flights were very expensive for some reason and the bus trip was over 15 hours. So, knowing that our flight was making a stop there and then continuing on to Calafate, we wondered what would happen if we tried to get off in Ushuaia. Once the plane landed, Lauren was nominated to be the one with the "ear ache" that would prevent us from finishing the flight. We insisted that we get off in Ushuaia, visit a doctor, and reschedule the flight to Calafate for a few days later. Somehow, this brilliant plan worked and we earned ourselves free flights to Ushuaia and a weekend at the end of the world!

So, here we are in Ushuaia and it´s a pretty unbelievable city. The town is built around a beautiful lake, and snow-capped peaks rise up in the background. Tourism is big business at the end of the world, so there are loads of restaurants specializing in the regional favorite (lamb), as well as countless shops, coffee bars, wine bars, etc. This town even has it´s own casino where we managed to lose a whopping 100 pesos! Good thing the peso is still recovering from the massive crash as 100 pesos is only about $30 USD.

So now the only way to go is North, unless of course we want to go to Antartica. It´s not in the plans as of now, but who knows. Things can change at the drop of a hat, as we experienced with our weekend in Ushuaia.

We miss you all and hope you are doing well. Till then, let the travels continue.

Lauren and Troy