Dropping off the Car!

Well, it's official: The VW is in St. Kitts and Chris is practicing up as you read! If you want to see us off, come down to St Catharines for the wine festival (27th-29th)! There should be room on one of Chris's floors for ya! Check out the facebook group for more info... We leave Canada on the 29th, so this will likely be the last video post for a while (we're gonna try to check in bi-weekly while traveling).
Cheers,
B

Guess We Won't be Going to Bolivia...

Judging by the events of recent days/weeks : ousted ambassadors, violent clashes in Bolivian streets, Russian nuclear payload capable fighter jets landing in Venezuela, heightened tensions around Colombian / Ecuadorian borders; I'm thinking we will probably avoid Bolivia. Check out this CNN vid for a brief overview of the situation:

Some personal reflections...
The one thing that is certain: this trip will challenge much of what we (Chris and I) have been brought up to believe as North Americans. Certainly our concepts of safety, justice and economics will not mesh with the prevailing ideas in South America. I was imagining yesterday trying to debate in Spanish after arguing on a CBC forum for the opening of the airline and uranium industries to increased foreign investment. It was interesting because it is this same battle of left-right policies that dominates much of South America, except down there the pendulum is swinging left.
I wonder what I would believe if I had been born on the other side of the fence. Certainly I agree with my current beliefs, but at their root they are founded upon the arguments of much smarter people than I, and my knowledge of the "opposition" has certainly come through a lens colored by our dominant world-view. Would I also agree with the perspectives of the left if they were presented in a logical manner? By no means do I expect to become a socialist during this trip, but it is likely that this may be the final step in a true "post-modern" education, the loosening of the final bolt grounding my beliefs to something absolute. Perhaps this is why business people are the chameleons of the human race, expected to adapt to whatever mindset serves them best in a given situation, able to hold and express conflicting perspectives simultaneously with little to no internal friction.
Now I'm just rambling. Whatevs. Maybe we should go to Bolivia after all... 15 day till go time. We'll keep you updated.
B

"Fixing" the VW...

So it started out as just a way to save some coin for the trip, but in the end, it'll probably cost more money in mistakes than it would have in labour... Check out the video for the first installation on our 1992 VW Golf Diesel.



Car Stats and Overview