Living the Dream: Wonders of the World
“Momma, I’m living my dream,” I texted her as we SMs left for vacaciones on December 21 (South American summer break is December-January). I’ve always envied backpackers, those super cool, college-aged people who have figured out that life is an adventure. I’ve always wanted to be them. “Now here I am!”
Disclaimer: in living said dream, I’ve had zero time to write about every glorious experience a second time (as I have my journal), so consider the phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
After twenty hours in a bus, record-setting the worst bathroom experiences ever, and two hours of sleep, six of us arrived in Santa Cruz to spend a few days catching our breath. We visited T. Abi’s home and her beautiful church, enjoying her friendship in another context.
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| Standing outside our bus on a raft across a mosquito-infested river |
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| Never have I ever felt more spoiled than laying on these beds in a room with air conditioning and hot showers |
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| T. Abi picked us up and took us to her church! |
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| Sabbath lunch with T. Abi |
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| Christmas Eve dinner before a red-eye flight |
Merry Christmas from an Airport
A few hours in Lima, Peru, blurred into fifteen hours in the São Paulo, Brazil, airport. Merry Christmas from a bench nap!
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| Christmas dinner: Olive Garden in São Paulo |
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| Airport naps (unseen: armrest under Treson) |
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| Cheap flights = long nights |
Rio de Jainero, Brazil
Imagine taking a European city, smashing it between stunning tropical mountains, and plopping it all next to a white sand beach. There you have Rio. Incredible. Included in this dream combo is the Christ the Redeemer statue, a wonder of the modern world visible from all around the city, and Sugarloaf Mountain, a wonder of the natural world with a gondola taking us to see the best views ever.
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| Sugarloaf Mountain (photo: Treson) |
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| Royal Portuguese Reading Room (photo: Treson)
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| Ipanema Beach at sunset (photo: Treson) |
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| Girls from Ipanema (photo: Treson) |
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| Jardim Botânico |
Maddy in the succulent house
in Jardim Botânico
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| Christ the Redeemer (photo: Treson) |
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| “Oh my goodness, there’s backpackers!” -American lady at Christ the Redeemer |
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Spanish! Praise God! Portuguese in Brazil was not our favorite. For three days we loved the city of good air, featuring quaint, tree-lined city streets, lovely architecture, and getting lost in the metro. We closed 2022 in a city square with fireworks and an oddly calm crowd of people who rolled their eyes at our virgin mojitos.
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| Emilianne in a Buenos Aires cathedral |
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| Good flag in the good air |
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| Cutest colors and best market in La Boca |
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| El Ateneo, a book lover’s dream: theatre to bookstore |
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| New Year’s Eve Sabbath picnic with aggressive guests |
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| We are the best metro riders… as long as I’m not the one with the map |
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| Celebrating 2023 with fireworks in Plaza Serrano |
Foz do Iguaçu / Iguazú Falls:
Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina
Another of the seven wonders of the natural world is Iguazú Falls, shared between Brazil (the panoramic viewing side) and Argentina (the up-close hiking side). We stayed in Brazil and traveled between the two countries, as well as throwing a day of Paraguay in. (Paraguay isn’t famous for a reason.)
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| Wow, God! (Brazil side) |
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| Emilianne |
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| Carlo |
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| Lisiane |
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| Sierra |
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| Maddy |
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| Elizabeth |
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| Zoro |
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| Treson |
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| We deserve wonder of the SM world status |
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| Iguazú from the Argentina side |
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| Prettiest boardwalk system over the falls |
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| Represa Itaipú, Paraguay (better than the Paraguayan malls) |
Patagonia, Chile
“When God takes something away, He puts something better in its place.” This was the thought that kept appearing in my devotions just days before we left for this adventure. That same day, Peru (where we were scheduled to spend 12 days) became a Level 4 Do Not Travel, and we were sent scrambling to change our flights and Machu Pichu tickets. “Lord, how could You make our plans any better? This was on such a good budget and we were planning to see so many amazing things!”
Long long story short, God plopped PATAGONIA in our laps! Not only is this a backpacker's dream, it is also known for being incredibly difficult to get to and expensive once you’re there. But God also knew what He was doing, giving Sierra a friend who not only let us stay in his fishing cabins for free, but also chartered a flight for us, arranged taxis and rental cars, and gave us all the best sightseeing suggestions! And as a merry Christmas gift to us, my dad pitched in to keep the whole thing under budget for us pobre college kids living on stipends!
Patagonia is where my soul found a home. Wow, that sounds so middle-aged-white-woman-phrase cheesy, but it couldn’t be more true. Every breath I took there seemed to fill me up for the months ahead, and I felt God closer there than anywhere else on this trip.
Lesson from mountains:
I looked up at the absolute grandeur of the peaks towering above our cabin and said out loud, “WOW GOD! You created something so beautiful!” This is perfection to me. Then I thought, “Oh actually this wasn’t created originally; this came from the flood!” So if this beauty that I view as perfection is really a result of God destroying the world, imagine what He considers perfect! He can make sinful situations beautiful like this, but He also has perfection waiting for us!
Lesson from a glacier:
When God says He will make our sins as white as snow, I always picture a lovely dusting that covers everything and turns it white. But staring up at a glacier, I noted how all that snow fills in all the rugged peaks below, smoothing them out. Not only that, but I realized how glaciers are powerful. Slowly but surely, that snow changes the entire terrain below it, smoothing edges, moving impossibly giant boulders, carving new pathways and changing old ones. When God covers our sins in snow, I think it's more like a glacier.
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| Best flight of my life: chartered propeller plane from Puerto Montt to Chaitén
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| The cabin a friend let us stay in for free with a million dollar view |
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| Prettiest hike in history, straight up though |
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| Pretty hikes also require bench naps |
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| Volcán Chaitén |
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| Backpacking friends we picked up |
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| Playa Santa Bárbara |
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| 10/10 devotional spot |
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| Not a bad refrigerator |
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| Post river-bath warming |
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| Driving in freaking Patagonia, ft. Treson |
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| 13.4 mile hike to Michinmahuida Glacier |
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| Ford rivers, army crawl through the woods, tromp through the swamp, sweat uphill…hike. |
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| Carlo enjoying very nice grass |
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| Maddy and wildflowers picked while we got lost |
La Paz, Bolivia
Being back in our country with our words like “no ve,” “chompa,” and “barbijo” with our currency and conversion rate, our accent, our carnets, our traditions…it’s like coming home. We spent almost a week here, some fighting altitude sickness, others spending money in cute markets and five meals in Cafe del Mundo.
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| Market street ft. Lisi and Treson |
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| Combine Bryce, Zion, and Badlands and drop it south of La Paz |
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| Valle de la Luna |
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| Pretty moon-like I suppose |
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| Teleférico magic |
Daydream
Four weeks is a long time to live out of one backpack. It’s a lot of CashApping, Ubering, packing and repacking, checking in at airline desks, checking into Airbnbs, taking midday naps after red-eye flights. It’s a lot of memories, a lot of photos, and a lot of jokes (and enough time to turn us into a “hive mind”: the nine of us are all morphing into one joint personality). And it’s a trip that’s met every expectation I could have daydreamed up!
As we’re heading back to the heat, rustic lifestyle, kids we miss enough to cry looking at pictures, and a new semester of school, with new kids and new house parents moving in, our daydreams are taking a shift back to Familia Feliz. Fear of the unknowns mingles with the comfort of knowing more than the first time we arrived. And the shortness of our remaining time rises up before us like a bad dream; what can we possibly do in just four more months?
The world is full of wonders — of which we’ve seen three — but at the end of the day, the best dreams come from our kiddos. We’re like the parents that can’t take a trip without talking about their kids, constantly wondering what they’d think if they could see all these wonders, swapping stories about them daily. And we’re also the people who see babies and immediately notice their cuteness, personalities, and presence of their families. It’s a wonder what we ourselves have become!
My bucket list for life had “backpack between countries with friends” at the top, followed by “visit Patagonia.” The fact that I’ve checked off both top goals makes me think of “Daydream”, a song with powerful lyrics I’ve fallen in love with:
When we were kids in the backyard
playing astronauts and rockstars,
no one told us to stop it,
called us unrealistic.
Then suddenly you're 18,
go to college for your plan B:
what you want is too risky,
live for weekends and whisky.
playing astronauts and rockstars,
no one told us to stop it,
called us unrealistic.
Then suddenly you're 18,
go to college for your plan B:
what you want is too risky,
live for weekends and whisky.
We all got these big ideas,
one day they're replaced with fears.
How did we get here?
Darling, don't quit your daydream.
It's your life that you're making.
It ain't big enough if it doesn't scare
the hell out of you.
If it makes you nervous
it's probably worth it.
Why save it for sleep when you could be
living your daydream?
the hell out of you.
If it makes you nervous
it's probably worth it.
Why save it for sleep when you could be
living your daydream?
Thirty-one, waiting tables,
she has the voice of an angel.
Out of money and power,
she only sings in the shower.
All these things we say we'll get to
shot down by the reasons not to.
So scared of failure that we fail to try,
turning around before the finish line.
Gotta fall for a minute before you can fly.
turning around before the finish line.
Gotta fall for a minute before you can fly.
So daydream.
It's your life that you're making.
It ain't big enough if it doesn't scare
the hell out of you.
If it makes you nervous
it's probably worth it.
Why save it for sleep when you could be
living your daydream?
the hell out of you.
If it makes you nervous
it's probably worth it.
Why save it for sleep when you could be
living your daydream?
should be living your daydream?
Love from the wonders of the world,
Katie-Jane
🤍
