Why?

This trip was spurred out of our other trips, first exploring the California Coast by bicycle and then headed down to Central America to explore Nicaragua by bike. These trips laid the foundation for exploring the world by bike and gave us the confidence to go where we wanted to by bike.We have also decided to integrate a "purpose" into our trip that is detailed more in the "Cyclists of South America" section of our blog.

Why now?

• Life gets busier and busier, it’s only going to get harder to break off and take a break from the “real world” as we progress in our lives, now is the time to do something like this
• To use our lack of baggage, relatively little commitments, age, and good health to our advantage to go on a trip like this
• To look back on lives later in life and not having any regrets in regards to this trip

What we hope to get out of this trip?

• Test our physical/mental limits both on and off the bike
• Push our comfort levels and see what we are truly capable of
• To get a clearer perspective on who we are and where we want to be
• To get rid of our temptation and dependence on technology (electricity, wifi, gasoline)
• Improved Spanish and Portuguese skills
• Meeting a variety of travelers (backpackers / bike tourers) as well as South Americans
• Promote cycling to our blog readers vs. always using cars as the main form of transportation (see "Cyclists of South America")

Why South America? 

• Large variety of terrain (Amazon rain forest, Uyuni salt desert, Andes mountains, Patagonia, Atlantic ocean, Pacific ocean, waterfalls, large cities, farmland, etc.)
• Opportunity to improve our Spanish and Portuguese
• Culture shock
• Opportunity to do large amounts of cycling on one piece of land 

Quotes that inspired us to make this trip happen

•  “Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins  
• "Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world." – Gustave Flaubert 
• “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine 
• “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang
• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
• “The journey not the arrival matters.” – T. S. Eliot
• “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” – Pat Conroy
• “Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.” – Anatole France