Backpacking South America

We’re Jared and Carra and this is our blog about our experiences and impressions while traveling through South America. In all, we hope to visit Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

Our plan is fairly open with the general timeframe of being on the road for 6-12 months. We hope to remain open to opportunities that present themselves during travel, whether that means a side trip or an extended stay in a particular city, town, village or region.  We love food and we love wine.  We also enjoy meeting new people and we truly believe everybody has a story to tell.  While we travel, we hope to meet new people and to better understand different cultures and traditions and bring light to our readers through our writing and photography.

By the end of our trip, we hope to have covered much of South America (preferably from Ushuaia to Cartegena), learn a fair amount of Spanish, understand the people and cultures we encounter, and by the end, to still be best friends and maybe even learn a little more about ourselves and each other.

Regardless of what happens on the road, this should be a fun adventure and we will keep you updated on the highs, lows, successes and failures as we go.  We hope you enjoy our photos and find our blog entertaining and informative.

The History

Prior to our current adventure, we were living in Boston for a while.  Carra went to school there and just stayed after graduating, while Jared moved from the west coast to the area in January of 2004.  He just couldn’t stay away from Carra any longer.

We first met while on a study abroad trip in Russia, dated for several years…and eventually decided to get married.  In the meantime, we learned a lot about each other and grew together in several areas of interest.  In early 2007, we decided we wanted to take a trip to learn more about the wine country of Mendoza.  Then we soon realized just how big Argentina is and decided we needed more time than just three weeks and we wanted to explore more than just Argentina.  Russia was life transforming for us and we enjoyed our time there and really got to know the people that we decided that while traveling through South America, it would be wonderful to learn the language so that we could connect with people and communities.  The decision to visit all of Argentina, then the majority of South America, and finally to learn Spanish is what made our trip grow from three weeks to almost one year, and it’s made all the difference.  So, we started to save…save…and save and RESEARCH!

After two years of saving, a wedding, and many other life changing moments, we finally picked a departure date.  We were ready to give up our comfortable lifestyle of knowing what was going to happen day after day.  So we bought one way tickets to Buenos Aires and gave our two weeks’ notice at work.  We untied ourselves from our routine and began soaking in every day as new and unique.  A day that will never happen quite the same as any other day.

After all, life’s all about choices. “Choosing to live your life by your own choice is the greatest freedom you will ever have”  - Dr. Shad Helmstetter. So far…it’s been one of the best choices of our lives.

Please feel free to contact us at jaredandcarra (at) gmail (dot) com with questions or to just check in.