Blue Dot Explore

May 13, 2024 -  Laguna Colorada in the  Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve After our month in Patagonia, we returned the camper van and intended to spend some time checking out some spots in northern Chile, however, plans took a turn when I decided to accept a teaching position in DCPS for the next school year. You can read all about it here if you're interested (including what I'll be teaching), but the short of it was that I unexpectedly had to return to the US for a few days for my employment clearance. Leaving Santiago, Chile, I took a return ticket to La Paz, Bolivia for 6 days later in hopes that Johnny would easily be able to meet up with me there and we could resume our South American trip together.  Because our buses were booked separately while Johnny was trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his few days of "freedom" as he called it, we ended up on two different overnight buses from Puerto Varas to Santiago, arriving just 30 minutes apar...

May 2024 - Random solo shots from around Bolivia, after my return from DC. When we began this journey we were thinking maybe a year, but that quickly turned into plans for a year and a half once we saw the pace we were moving. Now month 17 into our trip, I think we both agree that we could easily keep going another year, especially given that the money we had set aside for this experience has lasted much longer than either of us expected. With that said, I know that at SOME point we will need to return to the real world, which got me thinking about what I'd do for work once we got back. The plan has always been to return to DCPS within 3 years so that my pay level, leave, and benefits would all be restored to my pre-vagabond status. This left me with the dilemma to keep going with the trip and try to find a position mid-school year when we finally returned, or end my very extended vacation in August so that I could start a job with the new school year.  I told myself back in Februa...