Author Archives: Nathan

About Nathan

Nathan currently lives in Cuenca Ecuador as he explores South America for the next few years. His writing and photography are greatly influenced by the diversity of his background. He has at one time or another worked as a nurse, commercial diver, IT consultant, and for a while was a Buddhist monk in the Khumbu region of Nepal.

Moving on from Ushuaia

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Fall has arrived in Ushuaia. The town is quiet and snow is falling almost daily. The last cruise to Antarctica for the 2023 season has departed and far fewer gringos walk the streets. Ushuaia is a beautiful small city with mountains on 3 sides and the Beagle Channel to the south. It is known as FIn del Mundo (the End of the World)., While the locals do seem to love the slower pace that winter brings, they recognize that the life blood of the town is summer and the tourist dollars it brings to the area. There is some winter tourism for skiing and other snow sports, but it is not really what most people … Continue reading →

Four Months Riding in South America

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Exactly four months ago I rode my motorcycle south from Ecuador and started a trip without any specific route or schedule. Through Peru, Bolivia, Chile and now in Ushuaia Argentina, I am probably near the halfway point of the trip. It isn’t possible to be any further from Ecuador and still be in South America. It has been a good four months.  Traveling by motorcycle enables access to places that planes and tour buses pass by. From the mountains of Peru, through the flat barren landscapes of coastal Peru and Argentina, and the high lakes of Bolivia speckled with flamingos.  The incredible traffic on the roads of Lima and La Paz. The coastlines of Paracas … Continue reading →

The Sacred Valley – Cusco Peru

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I recently saw someone on Facebook post that they were considering visiting Cusco and not going to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. I am not sure what the thinking was, but as I suggested to them, I think it would be a crime to come to Cusco and not explore the Valley. Even if you choose not to visit MP, which is somewhat expensive, there are many other things in the valley worth seeing.  The Sacred Valley is about an hour from Cusco by bus or shuttle. It is at the heart of the former Inca empire. Unfortunately, when the Spanish entered the valley in the early 1600s, looting and destroying the Inca civilization … Continue reading →

The First Month…Cuenca to Lima…30 days by motorcycle

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A month of high mountain passes and Pacific beaches. Cold rainy afternoons and warm desert evenings. Hostels for 20 soles (7+ USD) a night and AirBnBs for 120 soles. And way too many french fries (papas fritas). The journey started exactly a month ago. Leaving Cuenca and everything that did not fit on the motorcycle was in storage. To be honest, there wasn’t that much going into storage.  Heading south, up and over the mountains that surround Cuecna (cuenca translates to basin).  Southern Ecuador is mountainous, but more like very high rolling hills than the jagged Peruvian peaks to come. Passing through the hills of southern Ecuador you start to get a feel for life … Continue reading →

Una Gran Aventura – The Goal

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My goal, explore South America. Such a simple, concise statement for something that could easily take months if not years to accomplish. Of course, the “what” is almost always easy to define. What Columbus wanted to do was find an easier way to get to the Far East. What NASA wanted to do was land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth. And all I want to do is explore a continent. However, when you start getting into the “how”, things can get a bit more complex and as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. Step 1 – Retire ✔Step 2 – Hike the Pacific Crest Trail (just … Continue reading →

Barebones Galapagos

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The Galapagos Islands, with their incredibly abundant and accessible wildlife, should be on every traveler’s bucket list. As there are literally hundreds of blogs, videos, and websites dedicated to convincing you of this, I won’t duplicate their efforts. I want to focus on helping you get the most out of your trip while minimizing the cost. For those of you wanting to see the Galapagos Islands on a true backpacker budget, I am going to disappoint you. For a number of reasons that I will explain, there is no dirt-cheap way to do this. You can keep costs down, but nobody can really describe a trip to the Galapagos as cheap. Two Ways to See … Continue reading →

Traveling By Foot And Why We Do It

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In the beginning…traveling by foot was the only option. Then came horses, camels, carts, boats, bikes, planes, trains, and automobiles. While traveling by foot is some part of most travel, in today’s world it is almost always a very small part. The world is just too big, and we are generally in too much of a hurry, to see much of it by foot. So, we choose faster modes of travel. However, there are a few of us that from time to time will revert back to the ways of our primitive ancestors and just set out across the face of the earth on foot. For about 5 months starting on April 19th, I will … Continue reading →

Why Ecuador?

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As some of you might know, I plan to retire to Ecuador in the fall of 2022. I have retained an immigration attorney (Sara Chaca, www.ecuadorvisas.com) to help me through the process of obtaining a temporary residency visa, resident ID card, and driver’s license. My move is tentatively planned for October 1st. Some of you have asked about the thought process that lead me to select Ecuador. So, here you go. First, why retire overseas?This is of course a personal decision and not one I can really help you with, but there were three reasons that I started considering this. One, I had no real attachments to the US. My family is all gone and … Continue reading →

Do not go gentle…

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As the month of April grows closer, my awareness of the magnitude of what I am about to do grows larger. On April 17th I will break nearly all ties with my current life and move on to something totally new and very different. I will be officially homeless for a few months having given up my apartment, sold my car and most of my belongings, and hopped on a plane to San Diego where I will take a bus to the small town of Campo. There to start a 2650 mile hike beginning at the Mexican border and hopefully ending at the Canadian border. Then, within a few days of finishing that hike, I … Continue reading →

Life is a Thru-hike

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Life is a thru-hike. Every day it’s a matter of waking up and finding a way to repeatedly put one foot in front of the other, minute after minute, day after day, for a whole lot of days. Along the way, you are going to eat, drink, laugh, cry, and sleep. And when you get to the point where you can’t do any of that anymore, then one way or the other you have reached the end of your trail. For some people, the end of the trail comes sooner than later. Some people will find their trail blocked by obstacles, will allow themselves to be sidetracked, or be forced to take a detour, and … Continue reading →