If you’ve been following along on my blog, then you know that I haven’t posted stories on about half of the road trip that John-Hilton and I completed over this past summer. It has been a whirlwind of a few months since then and I fully plan on updating that section of our story. But for now, I will give you a brief update on life and the unfolding of events that have caused the delay of activity. After we arrived back in Florida, I immediately headed south to Marco Island with my family to celebrate the life of my late Nana in a beautiful memorial service out off the coast. That is, also, another wonderful story that I fully plan on writing about for another day. After that John-Hilton and I met up in Siesta Key with a bunch of our friends to celebrate the union of our dear friends, Chase and Lindsay. After several more days in Florida, I hit the road once again to begin my journey back out to Colorado. Oh yeah, and John-Hilton moved out here a month later!!! As I keep saying, I have so much I’d like to share, incredible photos and stories from friends who visited over the past few months, but one thing I will share which is pertinent to my state of life as of now is that I began and finished a yoga teacher training program.

I began my yoga teacher training back in September and I just graduated two weeks ago! My life was, in a nutshell, out of control busy! I was working full time at a research company in Boulder (I live in Denver), going to class 4 times a week (for extended blocks of time), volunteering at my studio, and participating in yoga classes we were required to take in order graduate. Let’s just say that being up for work at 4:45-5 AM and not getting home until 10:00 at night is slightly intense. There’s not a lot of room for the in between, you know like showering, cooking dinner, seeing your amazingly patient partner and beloved puppy, just all those normal people things. So like I said, it’s been a whirlwind of a few months. But, it was one of the best things I have ever done. I have learned so much about myself, met so many amazing women, and gotten to be a part of community whose foundation revolves around love and light. It really isn’t often in life that you get to try new things, put yourself in situations potentially outside of your comfort zone, and receive no judgement from the people you are surrounded by. The program created a safe space for learning and growing, and I am excited to apply what I have learned to my physical and spiritual life.  Will I walk down the road of teacher life? I’m not sure! But I have plenty of adventures to fill my schedule in the mean time.

So, on top of everything I undertook in the last few months, I had to plan out my trip to Patagonia! It was a trip I knew I would be making, I just hadn’t really hashed out the details. I am flying down to Chile to meet up with my friend Kendra, a true beast at planning and booking itineraries. This is the same friend I traveled to New Zealand with last year, and if it wasn’t for her I would not have been able to get anything done planning wise for our current trip. She sent me all the links that I needed to look up the potential places we could go, and then single handedly contacted and confirmed our dates with all of the campsites, hostels, and tours we will be attending. We both have a passion for adventure and exploring new places, and have created a pretty epic trip in my opinion!

So far, the itinerary looks as follows:

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Day 1: Fly into Washington D.C. to ensure adequate time the following morning for my flight to Santiago.

Day 2/3: Travel, travel, travel.. so many hours in airports and on planes; fingers crossed my delayed package containing my inflatable neck pillow arrives on time.

Day 4/5: We will stay in Punta Arenas for a night before heading to Puerto Natales and prepare for our 5 day hike on the W Trek of Torres del Paine.

Day 6-9: Hike the W Trek! This will be my first backpacking trip and the weather in Patagonia is known for being extremely volatile. Winds of 60 mph and spur of the moment rain and snow storms are considered normal. Those views though… I can only imagine!

Day 10/11: Take a catamaran back to Puerto Natales where we will stay for two nights to recover from the hike!

Day 12: Travel to El Calafate, Argentina! Yay, passport stamps!

Day 13: Hike the World’s 2nd largest glacier, Perito Moreno. Apparently you get a shot of whiskey at the end containing ice from the glacier itself. Yum!

Day 14/15: Travel to El Chaltan, which from what I’ve seen in pictures looks absolutely incredible, to do some day hiking.

Day 16/17: Travel by bus back to El Calafate, Puerto Natales, and finally back to Punta Arenas.

Day 18: My last day in South America! In the morning, we are going on a Penguin viewing tour where apparently we will see thousands upon thousands of these little guys!! I fly back to Santiago later that night and hop aboard my red eye to the states.

Day 19: Home sweet home to my little Colorado family.

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Stay tuned for pictures and stories to follow the trip! I am SO excited albeit incredibly nervous! I am hoping to use my yoga zen practice to calm my nerves and help me get through the tougher parts of the trip. I have also recently parted ways with the job I’ve had for the past year as it was no longer serving me and my goals. So, I feel that Patagonia is happening at such a transformative time in my life, and I know this trip will really test my limits physically and mentally. I am incredibley excited to see what this experience will bring!