End of trip wrap up

Well, that's it. One year and a whole lot of memories. We have been back in New Zealand for three weeks, but have been putting off our final post as it is hard to believe it is over. 

We saw two continents. We learnt (some) Spanish. Most importantly we met some amazing people on the road, and caught up with old friends and family.

We thought we would pull together some statistics and facts about the trip, in no particular order:

• Distance travelled: 29,000 miles or 47,000 km
• U.S. states visited: 28
• Countries visited: 16
• Gas tanks guzzled: 75
• Estimated fuel cost: $10,000
• Flat tires: 5
• Couches surfed: 14
• Bribes paid: 1
• Birthdays celebrated: 2
• Illnesses: 0 (excluding mild tummy bugs and hangovers)
• Mild tummy bugs: 3
• Fluency in Spanish gained: 5%

You may also be interested in how the van performed- here is a list of things we had to fix on the road:

• USA: new front tires
• Mexico: new alternator, fixed holes in radiator hoses, welded muffler back on
• Guatemala: replaced seals in rear axle
• Panama: repairs to air compressor
• Colombia: repaired drivers side power window
• Ecuador: new front brake pads, roof repainted
• Peru: four new tires, crown wheel and pinion replaced in rear differential (by far most expensive and time consuming repair)
• Argentina: bearings replaced in air compressor

Here are some lessons learned (don't be expecting anything deep and philosophical here):

• Mexico is not as dangerous as Americans claim
• Colombians are the nicest people in the world, but the worst drivers
• If you see something you need/want, buy it- you probably won't find it again
• If you have duct tape, WD40, and two-pot epoxy, you can fix anything
• Pretending not to speak spanish is the best way to handle dodgy road cops
• Probably best to invest more than in a week in spanish classes if you want to learn the language
• Our parents are amazing and very supportive (as if we didn't know that already)

Thanks for reading! We need to get back to planning our next trip....

Thirteen hours in Chile

After a quick two hour flight from Buenos Aires, we landed in Santiago, the capital of Chile, with thirteen hours to check out this lovely city before our flight to NZ. Ringed by snowy mountains, it's a beautiful city with plenty of character and old colonial buildings. 

We walked up Cerro Santa Lucia for a fantastic view of the mountains and the city. We visited the main plaza, and the presidential palace. We then spent a good few hours drinking beer, playing cards and eating wantons before our flight back to Aotearoa at midnight.