We’ve been traveling for just over a month now, and today is Thanksgiving back at home. We aren’t celebrating the traditional way, as we have yet to see a turkey in all of Chile, live or on the menu (it’s worth mentioning we are so rural, we regularly see the animals we end up eating, or at least that Danny ends up eating). Today however, coincidentally, or maybe as a sign, we saw a turkey, a real live turkey on a farm, through the bus window!

The common thread for all of our blog posts so far has been a focus on the highlights and fun stories we can think of to share. At the same time as we have been experiencing all of that, there is a new normal we have settled into, a different kind of routine and life than we are used to at home, that we want to share.

We are currently in Southern Chile, in the Northern Patagonia region, on what is thought of by some as the ultimate road trip highway, the Carretera Austral. More details to come on that in later posts, but the general gist of it is small towns typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand, surrounded by beautiful Patagonian scenery, and linked by a long road that seems to be more gravel than pavement.

Over the last 7 days, we’ve been on quite a few bus rides taking in the breathtaking scenery, hopping from one rural Patagonian town to the next. We’ve met country people who say city people are crazy and “city” people in the only big town of 50,000 on the Carretera who say the country folk are strict and serious. As of a couple days ago, we outright exhausted ourselves hiking nonstop, a number of which were in gloomy, rainy weather, and actually both picked up a mild cold from it all. But after 2 days of resting in the “city” Coyhaique, we are back at it, on the bus on the Carretera on Thanksgiving day, headed south to the next rural settlement. Our minds are full of reflections at the moment, which is something these long bus rides afford more often than our lives back in Chicago did. And of course, that farm turkey we saw, a farm turkey on Thanksgiving, links both our current lives and our Chicago lives, makes us think a bit.

There is a new normal we have settled into, a different kind of routine and life than we are used to. Oh how are lives have changed over this last month of traveling! On some days we feel like cheesy tourists, camera in hand, and on others we feel like hardcore backpacking and hiking machines, harvesting any bit of resourcefulness we can muster. On almost every day, we recognize how privileged we are to be traveling for such an extended period of time, to such far flung places. We are so thankful for this opportunity, and we really cannot believe how many incredible experiences we have had so far.

So onto the new normal. It goes a little something like this…We bus into a new town, on any type of bus from a fancy double-decker to a small rural bus filled with locals and their groceries. Once we arrive we look around for any city map we can find, seek out the bus schedules for leaving town, and get some more info on the site seeing or hikes we’re trying to do. We have already filled almost 2 small notebooks with notes about bus schedules, hostels and sites to see.

Then we walk ourselves to our accommodation, we are always walking. A day without at least a few hours of walking, literally, is rare. We’ve stayed at nice, clean guest houses, great hostels and home stays, and some weird, dirty places as well. Once we drop our bags in our room we usually look for a mercado, or grocery store to get some water, snacks and maybe ingredients for a meal or two. Depending on the town, sometimes we can find a big super market (our favorite so far is UniMarc), and sometimes all we can find is a small local mini mercado, which is usually smaller than your typical 7/11. We are on a mission to find soup mix without MSG, which has proved to be impossible here so far. Our travleing pantry is an eclectic mix of spices, butter packets and olive oil. After groceries, we wander around town, take it all in and figure out what we should do in the coming days, until we wash, rinse and repeat the process in the next town. Sometimes we even go to the tourist excursion places and poach their ideas, figuring out how to see the sites they want to charge us for by just taking the local bus or walking.

Typically, we are in bed and asleep before midnight, sometimes after a bottle of wine or some rum, and wake up early to stretch our tired muscles, and then get out to explore and make the most of the day. Around dinner time, if we don’t have fellow travelers to share stories with, we usually get on our devices to work on our blog, sort through pictures or research things to do in the area. Depending on what we did that day, we debate if showering is even worth it, which also depends on if we like the looks of the shower, and if we think there will even be hot water. We almost always each have two giant zip lock bags, one for dirty clothes, and one for clean clothes. We know every strap, pocket and packing trick for our backpacks that we used to think we’re so complicated.

And we are always planning, what’s next, where will we stay, and for how long. We send emails in Spanish, we make calls in Spanish, and we generally speak Spanish for all accommodation and excursion booking tasks. I really don’t know how we could travel like this without knowing as much Spanish as we do. Then suddenly we are on another bus headed towards the next stop on our list. Time to repeat all of the above!

Our pace is starting to slow down a bit, but it’s definitely not slow yet, as there is so much we want to do and see that we just keep going. We question what the force is that pushes us onward on this journey. And we see it happening to other travelers we meet too. Is it a desire to observe other cultures and ways of living? Is it a need for a constant drip of breathtaking, other-worldly scenery? Is it a thirst for the challenge of pushing oneself completely out of one’s own comfort zone? Is it what people call wanderlust? We don’t know the answer, but this force is in full effect for us.

We keep pushing south, down this Carretera, sometimes basking in sun, and sometimes being pounded by rain and wind. Even when it feels like it’s getting to be a rough ride though, there seems to be something that gets us excited again. Sometimes it’s just a solitary turkey hanging out in Chile on Thanksgiving. Or when Danny asked today as it started to drizzle while we were taking pictures in the town we’re in, why the heck we have seen so much drizzle with no rainbows, when all of a sudden I spotted one on the horizon. And glancing out the window now, there literally is another rainbow out there right now as I am typing this! I’m running outside to take a picture so I can add it to this post.

We cannot help but think that even though our travels have been a challenge at times, we are doing it right. This is how we want to see the world and take advantage of the time we’re taking off. As many people have told us before, some of the most amazing places on this planet are hard to get to, and if we’re taking this much time off, those are the places we want to see. And where we are, at this moment, in Puerto Rio Tranquilo, Chile, is ridiculously hard to get to from home. Strangely though, now that we’re out here, aside from a bumpy bus ride, the 5 hours on the bus didn’t feel like much, and it didn’t feel too difficult to get here this afternoon. But that’s the part of the trip that feels special to us, finding out that once you’re out here, the travel from spot to spot is rather organic and that force keeps on pushing us.

Going to wrap this up by mentioning what is probably the most important part of this journey, and that is that we are doing this together. We are forever thankful for each other, especially on this day, our first Thanksgiving together. And we really miss our families, but are so thankful that everyone is healthy and happy. We are so lucky we could Skype with them today, and were able to feel like, for a few minutes, we were all celebrating Thanksgiving together.