After spending a few weeks at home with Dylan and Stephanie (thanks you two!) catching up with friends and attending to various matters that are more difficult to do from the road, we’re leaving town again on February 2 (coincidentally, the same date as our wedding in Paraguay way back in 1984!). We have sold our truck (sigh…), and this time we’re taking only what we can carry.
We truly loved exploring our country last year, and there’s much more we want to see and do here, but we plan to spend most of 2018 abroad. We’re taking our backpacks, tent, and new hiking boots so we can continue hiking as much as possible. But we’ll also be looking for places to stay awhile—generally three to six weeks—as volunteers. We hope this will allow us to learn a bit more about some of the places we visit than would be possible as casual tourists passing through. There are several organizations that help connect hosts and volunteers–our daughter Elise did it through WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) over a decade ago. We found our first opportunity through www.WorkAway.info.
We have updated our website www.BobandLorrie.xyz (thanks Hans!), and I’ll drop a pin on the map on our home page to mark our stops. We will also continue to post pictures and blogs from time to time. We always love hearing from our friends, so please stay in touch. And let us know if our paths will cross or you would like to join us for a few days or more. We’d love to see you!
At this point, our plans are open-ended, and we have only sketched in the first few months:
First stop, Argentina. We’ll spend a few days in Buenos Aires, where it’s sunny and warm, before flying to southern Patagonia to go hiking and camping in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park and Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park. We’ve seen friends’ pictures, and are very excited to hike in these places ourselves.
By February 17, we need to be in San Rafael at the southern end of Mendoza province, where we’ve signed up to work for a month on a farm/vineyard/orchard in exchange for meals and a place to pitch our tent. This is grape harvest time, so we expect to be very busy while getting an up-close look at what goes into all that Malbec wine we’ve been drinking.
We’ll leave San Rafael in mid-March in order to make our way overland to Cusco, Peru by April 6 to join a guided multi-day hike on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We have been talking about doing this hike for over three decades, so we’re super jazzed! We may do another hike in the Peruvian Andes, and we’ll probably look for a volunteer opportunity in Peru as well before re-crossing the equator into the northern hemisphere in time for summer.
As we did last year, we’ll follow the sun. This time we’ll be in Europe, most likely Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece into the fall. After that, who knows? Any suggestions? Care to meet us somewhere?
Best wishes to all and please keep us up-to-date on your news and ideas.
Dear Bob and Lorrie,
It was so nice to see you both when we were visiting Matt. I will look forward to following your adventures and living vicariously! Hope you are enjoying Argentina.
Great seeing you too Erica! How can we follow your adventures? Are you active on Instagram or Facebook?
Oh sad about giving up the truck ?
Hi Bob and Lorrie! So excited for your next chapter! In terms of your planning, we will be in Spain in June from 6/14 to 6/24, flying into Barcelona and venturing northward along the coast then up to San Sebastian for a few days. Who knows, maybe we can join up! Looking forward to your next post.
Love
Deirdre
Again, your trip sounds amazing. Wish I was young again, maybe this time I’d be more adventurous. Your old folks were in Ushuaia boarding an ice breaker ship for our journey to Antarctica. Sorry you aren’t going to walk with thee penguins. I shall follow your trip with awe. Love you guys. MOM
What an awesome plan! And I so appreciate your blog as I am enjoying your adventure vicariously. I used to have a good contact in Cusco Peru so let me know if you want me to find out if he is still there. His name is Jean Jacques and he is a French national relocated many years ago to Cusco. He was at the university in Peru (sociology education) but he also ran an organization for tourists, mainly individual students who came to work and live in Cusco. He is very women-centered and tremendously entertaining. Let me know and I will see what I can find out. Love and good luck to you both. Kerri
Hi Kerri! So sorry for the delay in responding. J have had some technology issues that I am just getting a handle on. Yay!! I was so happy to hear from you and realize that you are following us on our blog! I hope all is well with you! We would love to hear more about your colleague Jean Jacques…is his last name Paul perhaps? If yes, we would love to reconnect with him—it’s been literally decades! If not, we would also like to meet a new friend . ?. We arrive in Cusco around April 2. Much love, best wishes, and thanks again for writing! Xo Lorrie
Sounds incredible! Any chance of being in the Hudson Valley the 1st weekend of Aug for 40th FDR’78 reunion?
Hi Beverly! Unfortunately we won’t be in the US this summer. We’ll likely be in Europe. I’m so sorry to miss the reunion. Hope you and Bill are doing well. Feel free to communicate with me via email as well if you like—lorriekaplan@gmail.com
What an experience!! Lots of good luck on this leg of your trip. Torres del Paine is amazing. Have some crab in Puerto Natales. There is a beautiful natural park up of Punta Arenas, not very far, and the city suffers flash floods generated in that park. Many years ago we tried to do a program in Chile to help control those floods but the Government finally decided to do it on its own. Hope they have done something about it.
I just bought tickets to go to Portland for our annual biking trip. This year it will be in Oregon.
Sergio
Thanks for the tips Sergio. Alas, I won’t have a bike along this year, but we’re looking forward to some awesome hiking. Cheers!