Welcome!

Hi everyone and welcome to Kevin's SA (South American) Travels! As many of you know, I'm leaving February 8th for what should be an incredible adventure...I'll be taking the next four months to backpack and travel through South America!

Before I get into the specifics of my trip let me quickly introduce myself for all those who don't know me. My name is Kevin Gardner and I'm a recent Cornell graduate who is taking a gap year before starting medical school next fall. While at Cornell I had the life changing experience of studying abroad in Ecuador and Colombia. Ever since then I knew that (before delving into medical school) I wanted to take some time for myself and return to South America. Thus, for the past 6 months since graduation I've been working multiple jobs while simultaneously traveling here and there to complete my medical school interviews. Needless to say, it's been an incredibly busy and dynamic six months. However, the investment has already started to pay off as I now have enough funds to start my trip!

And that brings us to where I am now, one week away from departing for what should be one of the most interesting experiences of my life. To start my trip, I'll be flying to Guayaquil, Ecuador where the love affair with South America all began.

After visiting my Ecuadorian host-stay family and friends, I'll travel south through Peru and ultimately arrive in Lima, Peru where I'll meet one of my fearless travel companions, Elizabeth. From there Elizabeth and I will travel through Southern Peru, to Bolivia, then to Chile, and then ultimately arrive in Mendoza, Argentina where we'll meet the two remaining members of our crew, Jessie and Phil! The four of us will then travel together to Buenos Aires, Argentina where we're planning on living for a bit of time. Below is a picture of the SA travel crew after we ran the Philadelphia marathon and half marathon this November!

When it's all said and done the trip should look something like this: Trip Map! (give the link a few seconds to load, it can be pretty slow). And while I have no doubt that this plan will change (multiple times) at least it's a good starting place.

So from now on, I'll be posting some of my more entertaining adventures and stories about every 1-2 weeks. If my previous travels in Ecuador and Colombia are any indication, there won't be a shortage of great stories!

Welcome again to Kevin's SA Travels, I'm glad to have you along for the ride!