At this time of year, we love to reflect on what memories we made and how the year turned out. It definitely started off on a high note with a month long trip to Patagonia in January. It was a big deal for us as it was our first multi-day trek in a foreign country, pretty far away from home. We spent countless hours planning this trip of planes, buses and boats as we made our way from Santiago, Chile to as far south where the road ends in Ushuaia, Argentina. We shockingly made it out in one piece, patting ourselves on the back as we now wore our newfound badge of backpacker status.
Travel day with full gear at some bus station in Patagonia
It was time to chill and the beach called us to our next destination. If you ever want to get away and go back in time, Eleuthera would the be place to go. No malls, no large chain stores, just small settlements and communities with the friendliest residents on a long stretch of an island. Nothing but beaches here, and everything on island time.
The cliffs at Lighthouse Point Beach, southernmost tip of Eleuthera
The one thing I started to think about a lot more by this time, was our impact on the places we visited, environmentally speaking. In Patagonia, we packed out our trash from Torres del Paine National Park over 12 days and learnt to keep it minimal since we had to carry it in our backpacks. We also took public transit whenever we could - yes it was cheaper, but also a better choice than flying. This included making the decision to take a 12 hour bus ride and we would do it again. It really wasn't that bad, I mean, we were travelling along the Strait of Magellan where Charles Darwin once explored! In the small island of Eleuthera, there is no recycling facility. Everything is burned. We took our used toiletry packaging etc back with us instead of leaving it on the island. We packed our own refillable bottles and tote bags and avoided single use plastics whenever we could. It isn't much, but I think small things can add up and is necessary.
We seemed to be dodging natural disasters where ever we went this year too. As we left for home, Chile was experiencing wildfires and unprecedented drought conditions. It didn't rain for the entire month we were there in Santiago and it was hot. Like 35C+ every single day. In British Columbia, we were camping in the Cache Creek area, in the North Eastern section of the province and there were raging wildfires to the north and east of us.
Hazy skies overlooking Kamloops Lake, British Columbia
We were staying in Lillooet for one night when they recorded the hottest day of the year at 40C. It felt like a dragon was breathing fire down from the mountains in town that night, with soot from the fires dancing in the air. The town of Kelowna, about three hours drive from where we were camping had to be evacuated on the day we flew back home.
Smokey skies behind Lillooet, British Columbia
Even in Ontario, where we live, we had days of smokey skies as fires in neighbouring Quebec and Northern Ontario burned. Guess where we were heading for a few days of camping? Yep, Northern Ontario. Luckily, things cooled off just in time but it's awful to see how this planet was burning up in the heat of the summer.
It's hard to believe the last few days of the year are just ahead of us now. 2024 is practically all planned out and booked - a little insane how far in advance we have had to book our trips as we're still seeing the tail end of revenge travel still happening globally. Another mega trek is in the plans, in between some beach time of course so stay tuned!
Here's wishing peace and health in 2024 for all.