Steve Martin

Quitting your job to travel is not a very common thing to do in the US. But what we've found since being outside the US is that people from other countries do this all the time. Many foreign companies even allow their employees a leave of absence to pursue travel. We met a British guy back when we were in Honduras in October that was granted a 22 month sabbatical from his France-based engineering firm. At the airport last week we met a friendly Belgian traveller who told us that everyone in Belgium gets to take a cumulative year off over the course of their career (in addition to their already staggering amount of vacation time). This guy was taking his year off all at once to travel through South America. Just the other day while spending our first night in Santa Marta, Colombia, at a very budget hostel, we met a guy named Steve Martin... no, not the comedian/actor. Steve is a British guy that has been on almost the exact same trip as me and Jenn. He started in August in Guatemala and has been working his way south ever since using all the same travel tools: HelpX, WWOOFing, and Couchsurfing. He even worked at The Bubble (see post from October 14, 2016) in El Salvador about three weeks after we were there! Hardly anyone that we've met has spent time in El Salvador, let alone worked at The Bubble with Mario and Gloria. Having encounters like this with Steve and other people from different nationalities helps us realize how interconnected the world is and how fortunate we are to be having this experience... especially as Americans. (We've also learned that our US-centric use of the term 'American' to mean someone from the US is flawed because we're all Americans. There are dozens of countries in America, North and South. We're all Americans). 

We are approaching the halfway point of this adventure abroad and can't wait for the impending, unusual connections that will likely be made in the coming months! Maybe we'll even run into Steve Martin again. ¡Quién sabe! (Who knows!)

The most delicious fruit of Colombia. Dragon Fruit has a ton of crunchy little seeds that compliment the super juicy flavor.

Enjoying a sunset from the balcony of the apartment. Jenn's cousin Marta (who we stayed with in Bogotá) has a sister that owns this apartment in Santa Marta. She gave us the keys when we left Bogotá. Colombian hospitality is the finest!!!!!