This is the blog of Josh Johnson, who left New York City in September 2008 to vagabond through Latin America. Thoughts, feelings, impressions, photos, video and audio are all posted to give friends and family a feel for the journey.
I began the trip by enrolling in six weeks of Spanish school at Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. I lived with a Mayan family and made some great friends during that time. With that bit of Español under my belt, I spent the next five months exploring Central America. I saw most of Guatemala, part of Belize, most of Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. I passed through Costa Rica quickly – too expensive and too many gringos. I spent a fair amount of time in Panama before jumping the Darien Gap into Colombia. I ended up spending four months in Colombia before finally moving on to Ecuador, where I spent four and a half months. As of this writing (March 2010) I have been in Peru for nearly five months (!) but am about to leave for Bolivia. I plan to explore the whole of Bolivia before needing to assess my financial state at that point. I would like to explore northern Argentina, but may not have the funds. I will definitely skip Brazil and Chile on this trip, since they are the most expensive countries in South America. I plan to end this leg of the journey by living and working in Buenos Aires, probably sometime around May 2010.
Here are some of the books, websites, and people that inspired me to take this trip – or things that might inspire you to do the same.
I hope you enjoy the blog. Please leave comments, so it’s not all one-sided!
Josh,
It is wonderful to be see someone like yourself just get out there and do it rather than talk about doing it.
Good on you!
I really enjoy your blog.
Hey, found your blog after seeing your post on Thorntree. Really interesting reading! Nice to see someone a little older like me travelling and their impressions of things. I’ve done a few solo trips to Latin America myself, but never for as long as your gig. Keep posting, it’s a great read!
Josh … clicked on the blog after seeing the Lonely Planet post. Heading to Ecuador in November for five weeks and it’s great to get a little taste first … well done, and thanks!
Kate
Darling, hope you are doing well…I’m sorry for not visiting this incredible site as much as I should have. You adventures look and sound inspiring. It’s snowing this New Years eve morning in Brooklyn. Quite beautiful actually. I’m heading to Buenos Aires at the end of January. I doubt you will be there by then but if you are, a rendez vous will be in order. Much love from the northern hemisphere.
Your dude John