My friend Nora and I are into our first week of two months backpacking through South America. First stop: Bogotá, Colombia. The country is reputed to be full of cocaine and violent rebels, but the Colombian slogan tells a different story: The only risk is that you might want to stay.
My friend Nora and I are flying to Bogotá, Colombia, and will then take buses to about 16 other cities on the way back to Santiago. We’ll live out of our backpacks on a bit more than $40 a day as we jump from hostels to Hashes through the Amazon Jungle to Inca ruins, around Lake Titicaca to the world’s largest salt flat and over the Andes to the driest desert on Earth.
I might be biased since summer is my favorite season in nearly every city. But — Santiago’s charm truly shines through in the summer. After a long winter of no indoor heating, smoggy days, clothes taking weeks to dry on the clothesline, walking to class in the rain, flooded streets and reading Facebook updates about warm weather from Northern Hemisphere friends … summer is finally here. And I’m lovin’ it!
