What a year. What a crazy year!

I started the year in Peru with a short flight from Lima to Tumbes. I took a bus to Zorritos and grab the Jeep at my friend’s place. I drove trough the entire country, then to Chile, to Bolivia, to Brazil, and then went right in the pantanal (the best wildlife spot in Brazil), then up to Rio de Janeiro, then down to Paraty Mirim (that’s where I almost lost the Jeep in a river, trying to rescue some fellow Canadians…story below.) I drove down to Floripa, Gramado, Rio Grande, to reach Montevideo in Uruguay. From there, I drove to Mendoza, Argentina and went down to the Patagonia on ruta 40, then crossed to the Chilean side of the carretera austral, then to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina side. I went to the very bottom of the road. I went to take some pictures of King Penguins somewhere lost on the Land of Fire, then went back up to Argentina, up to Montevideo, where I stored the Jeep. I left Uruguay in May to go in Canada. I flew to Montreal. We had a family party there, and another time in Quebec City. I drove a Jetta with my little sister Amelie from Montreal to Whitehorse, worked up North for a few months, then flew to Toronto for a week with Allison to tour the region. We took limousines and ate like king and queen because, well, we could. We went to Quebec City, Toronto, London, Montreal and Kitcherner, in six days. We flew back. I worked some more. Then drove to Tuktoyaktuk with Allison. We did the Dempster Highway with summer tires and had to get pushed by a pick-up to make some snowy hills. I stayed one month in Dawson City, then flew to Singapore and stayed there for month. I did some weddings and wildlife photography. Allison joined me in Southeast-Asia and we went to Malaysia, on Borneo island. Came back to Singapore, and left for South Africa. I did Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Addo National Park, in 12 days, then flew to Montevideo, Uruguay, to grab the Jeep. I then drove back up to Gramado to enjoy some fine chocolate and to celebrate the most amazing year of my life.

But it’s not even done yet.
I drove back from Gramado to Montevideo, to park the Jeep. I took an expensive cab to an expensive hotel with a rooftop pool, then board the next day a cheap shuttle to the airport. I did Montevideo airport to Santiago de Chile, then to Lima, then to New York, then to Montreal, then a bus from Montreal airport to Quebec City’s airport. I met with Allison at midnight on the 25th. The next day we got pick up by my father and we drove to Gaspesie.

I must have spent over $20k CAD this year on travelling alone. Worth it.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the capital of Bolivia, or something like that. Still unsure if it is La Paz or SCS, let’s pretend it is. What a fun town! I absolutely loved Bolivia: The people are exceptionally kind and helpful.

I had the best time of my life in Rio de Janeiro, with Hazem. Talk about a blessing: A Syrian (him) took a Canadian refugee for a month, free of charge. I still cannot believe how blessed I have been. You know, I paid well over 100k of taxes to the Canadian goverment and quite a percentage goes into refugee programs and immigrations things…sometimes you wonder if you’ll ever get that back…Well, I cannot ever complain again about paying too much taxes! The Syrian people are the kindest on Earth: They go above and beyond what is reasonable to offer. Hazem is the best man on the planet, one of the finest gem and a rare kind of person. I wish him all the best and already look forward to pay it back forward to him, in a way.