Where Are We Sleeping Tonight? – Year 3
“Where are we sleeping tonight” continues to be a daily question through our travels, year three could not be the exception and it has been full of amazing experiences and surprises. To be more precise, we never thought we would have been traveling for this long and we cannot believe we are still going. Picking where we sleep and using great networks like Couchsurfing, WWOOFing, and Airbnb continues to make a difference in our travels. The sense of adventure and commitment to travel motivates us to keep camping, sleeping in overnight buses, trains, and ferries as much as possible to save on accommodation. In the same way, the continued support and love of friends and family members who have hosted us and/or met us along the way has been of great help to our budget and spirit to continue this journey. So to all of you out there who have made this trip as long as it has become, our most sincere appreciation and gratitude!
We welcomed year three in Ireland and since then we visited Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay. In all these countries we have used different sleeping arrangements. In this article, we share with you general facts and specific stories regarding our sleeping experiences in those destinations so you could have a better picture of how our year was. We WWOOFed and volunteered at organic farms in Ireland, Chile, and Ecuador. We used Airbnb, an online network to reserve affordable private accommodation, in the cities of Porto and Lisbon (Portugal), Mendoza (Argentina), and two islands in the Galapagos we visited (Ecuador). We were fortunate to be hosted by amazing people through Couchsurfing in the countries of Britain, Morocco, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. We stayed with friends and family in France, Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. We also slept at hostels in Morocco, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay. And we camped in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Paraguay. While traveling through Europe, Morocco, and South America we slept in overnight buses, ferries, trains, and flights several times.
During year three, we did a total of 46 days of volunteering work through WWOOFing at two organic farms in Ireland and Chile, and we also joined an Independent Community in Ecuador. We WWOOFed 20 days in Inchigeela, Cork, Ireland and we had a gorgeous cabin with a fire place all to ourselves. For 11 days, we lived and enjoyed the wine region of Chile in Pelequen, sleeping at a family farm with private room and bath. During our 15 days volunteering at Rhiannon Community in Malchingui, Ecuador, just a couple hours from Quito, we spend some nights, with other volunteers, in a gorgeous adobe house and most of our stay we had a Mongolian yurt all to ourselves with spectacular views of the mountains and surrounding volcanoes.
The following are just some more of our most memorable, funny, and unforgettable sleeping experiences of this third year around the world:
We slept two nights at a gorgeous and comfortable camp in the Sahara Desert in Morocco. The most amazing starry nights of our lives this far!
We camped in the backyard of a family house in the city of Calafate in Argentina during the busy days of the lake festival, the only problem was that we were not the only ones, the place was packed! Literally, not much space to walk between tents and just a few bathrooms and showers to share amongst many campers, plus a few of them getting very drunk and loud at night, this was not fun!
Camping for several days while doing different multi-day hikes at national parks in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego in Argentina and Chile, a reviving and unforgettable experience.
We slept in a ferry cabin for 3 nights while crossing the fiords from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt, Chile. We had paid for the cheapest option, shared dormitory, but got lucky and were upgraded to a private cabin with two beds 😉
Couchsurfing in Viña del Mar, Chile with a very kind host who gave us our own private room with ocean view to enjoy the sunset every night.
After a strenuous hike, we camped in the Oasis Sangalle at the bottom of the Colca Canyon in Peru, the second deepest in the world!
Sneaking in and sleeping on the floor of the hotel room of Sal’s brother and sister-in-law, Marvin and Brittney, while they were visiting Lima, Peru for two nights 🙂
We had a great Airbnb experience in San Cristobal Island, Galapagos, Ecuador. It was a very pleasant stay at a pension that was located in the garden of a family home. The room and bathroom were always immaculately clean, nicely decorative, and all the construction looked brand new. We also had a kitchen to prepare meals. The owner was a kind and talkative local man who told us a lot about the island.
One day we arrived to Ayacucho, Peru from an overnight bus at around 8 am feeling very tired and without any idea of where we were going to sleep that night. To make matters worse, it was raining and we had to walk for about one hour while getting wet looking for hostels. It was the first time in our trip this far that we had to walk under the rain, but getting wet was worth it! At the end, we found a very cheap option compared with all the previous hostels we had inquired. Other hostels did not charge less than $50 soles, ours was only $20 soles (about $7 USD) for a double room with a shared bathroom. 🙂
Sleeping in Amantani and Isla del Sol islands in Titicaca Lake in Peru and Bolivia was beautiful. In Isla del Sol we got a pleasant room with a great lake view for just $8 USD per night, it was simple and lovely!
We slept in a Salt Hostel, literally built entirely with salt: walls and floors. It was located just south of the Uyuni Salt Flat in Bolivia. The smell of salt was pleasant and healing, a unique experience indeed.
We camped at a white sand beach in Laguna Blanca Natural Reserve in Paraguay, a peaceful and beautiful lagoon full of colorful butterflies.
