When I thought about what I really wanted this to be it was so hard to break it down to just one thing. I knew I never wanted this to simply be about me… It’s funny actually, I’m writing this on what is the single most moving event in my life… Today marks the 2nd anniversary of my Grandmothers death. She taught me to have compassion for others, how to live adventurously, laugh at everything, (like literally everything, nothing is that serious) and that when you feel moved to do something…you do it. After spending most of today upset and in remembrance of her, I realized that what she most taught me was how to connect with people using all of these things…THIS is what I wanted this site to be. My hope is to forward that compassion, that sense of adventure, and even on occasion…the funny stuff that gets us from day to day… and to change the way we connect with people.  Hope you enjoy 😉
-Valarie
valarieivester
A Conscience Journey 
Biss!! Nice to hear from u!! Hope all is well in Montreal!!!
Hi Valarie, nice to meet you. Looks like you’re having a great time in South America. We’re in Cuenca, Ecuador for our last 2 weeks of 6 months down here. Amazing place. All of it!
Thanks for following our blog. I hope you enjoy the stories of our journey. Happy travels! Alison
Alison! Very nice to meet you too!!! I am quite enjoying your stories and thank you for following me as well! We actually had a conversation about the both of you as I came to your blog. We both hope to continue our travels as we get older… so many people believe that you cannot;)
I do have a question for you…
We saw that yall went to Salar de Uyuni and we too are planning on going. We are flying into La Paz and sorta confused about if we can just book an trip there or if we have to make our way to Uyuni and then book once we arrive? What did yall do? Want to make sure we get the best deal and dont go extremely out of our way. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Enjoy the rest of your time in Ecuador… cant wait to make it there;)
You can get to Uyuni by bus or by plane from La Paz. Once in Uyuni it is easy to find a day trip to the salt flats. If you want to do the 3 day overland trip south to San pedro de Atacama, Chile, you should also be able to pick up a tour in Uyuni easily enough. We went in the opposite direction. At the bottom of this post there’s a link to the company we used. Warning – it’s expensive, but there are lots of backpacker trips that are way less expensive.
http://alisonanddon.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/unboliviable-the-high-desert-and-altiplano-of-bolivia/
Hope this helps. Cheers, Alison
Thanks Alison…that was helpful;)
We love your blog and your mission. Keep up the amazing work. If there is anything that we can do to help you on your journey please shoot us an email at lifeoutthebox@gmail.com. Keep being amazing!