Final: Introduction

Last Friday, I completed the Pan-American Highway! The accomplishment still seems unreal to me. Over the next week or so, I will document for you my day-to-day experiences.

This was the most difficult leg by far compared with the other six legs over the past eleven years. Emotionally and relationship-wise, it was extremely trying to leave my wife and ten month old son home while I went on my adventure. The trip itself was also stressful. I lost my passport, my bus broke down four times, I got violently ill, and I fell hard on concrete at a bus station in the middle of the night. But in retrospect, it was all worth it and made the experience even more intense, to say the least.

I'll share some highlights here.

The bus that broke down four times:

Typical rest stop:

Catastrophic breakdown in Ecuadorean Central Highlands:

Colombia-Ecuador border crossing with my busmates:

Cali bus station breakfast:

Scenery between Cali and Medellin:

Typical Medellin meal:

Final bus ride:

Approaching the Darien Gap:

The Banana Zone:

Mission Accomplished:

Bogota's Bolivar Square: