We recently returned from a two week trip to South America, visiting Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It was a tough journey, probably the most adventurous trip in several years that we have taken. I couldn’t help feeling at one point in the trip, however, that maybe I was getting too old for this.
When we last wrote we were in Buenos Aries. After our third and final day there, we boarded a bus heading to Posadas, Argentina which is about an 815 mile, 14 hour trip away. Then we were driven about three miles to the Paraguayan border.
We are on the last full day of our trip through central South America, having arrived in our fourth and final country, Uruguay. It is the smallest Spanish-speaking country in South America, having only about four million inhabitants.
Several months ago I wrote an article about how we planned our around the world trip for 4 1/2 months beginning in September 2003. This article provides some additional insight into the details of that planning exercise.
Stirling, our second stop in Scotland, is of great strategic and historic importance. We spent our time visiting the castle, old town and the William Wallace Monument.
We spent three days in Fort William enjoying several outdoor activities, including hiking and boat cruising on a lake. We also took a day trip by train and ferry to the Isle of Skye.
Lauren and I are now in Fort William, on the western side of Scotland and a major gateway to the highlands. We spent three days here enjoying the scenery while dodging rain storms.
When we first began discussing our 4 1/2 month around the world trip with our family in 1999, we wanted to get away from everyday life, experience the world, be with our daughters (12 and 10 at the time) and learn something in the process. However, planning it and actually making it happen were anything but that.
Even more than five years after we took our 4 1/2 month around the world trip with our girls in 2003 to 2004, we still get questions about what the circumstances were leading up to that journey and why we decided to do it. We received our initial inspiration from several sources.
After leaving the relaxation of Dali, we visited Kunming, another large Chinese city. The major highlight of this visit was a day trip to the Stone Forest.
