Una ventana al mundo

A window to the world

There's no such thing as the right time to leave. When Eric and Joana realised this, they rented out their flat, sold their furniture and simply hit the road. They both needed a break, envisioning six months, a year. They embarked on their adventure. On board their van, they explored Canada and the United States, covering more than 77,000 km. Trekking, bivouacs, wild animals, picture postcard landscapes. Many incredible encounters and a few accidents later, they are totally addicted to the lifestyle they call VanLife. Ten years have passed, and they're still on the road.

Has the Pan-American Highway, beyond just being a road, become the philosophical line of your life?

Kind of, yes. In the beginning, we toured Canada and the United States, but we immediately felt we wanted to go further. We were so curious to discover other landscapes, other cultures. And the Pan-American Highway is a good guideline. We got stuck several times: first in 2018 with the protests in Nicaragua, then with covid. We don't like to give up, so this road has taken on another dimension: a real challenge to face. Beyond the journey and the adventure, the Pan-American Highway is also and above all a way to rediscover ourselves individually and also as a couple. To regain faith in humanity through encounters and experiences. On the road, as in life, we learn that every problem has a solution: the important thing is to move forward.

From Alaska to Patagonia through cold to hot to cold, which climate do you find the most pleasant?

When it's cold, it's quite easy to get comfortable by wearing warm clothes and turning on the heating if the altitude allows it (which is not often the case in South America, for example). On the other hand, everything freezes at night and when you wake up there's ice even inside the windows. Very hot weather is less tolerable; there's not much room to manoeuvre.... But you generally suffer it in places where you can often cool off with a dip in the ocean, like in Central America. Over time, our bodies have learned to adapt to these vast differences in temperature and we like to alternate between these extremes. Perhaps, however, the real enemies to contend with in a van are rain and humidity.

Is there an underlying identity between two sub-continents as different as North and South America?

We realised that there is almost a perfect symmetry in the landscapes. Patagonia can resemble western Canada or even Alaska with its mountains and fjords. We also find red rocks in South America very similar to Utah, or rock formations in Nevada. As far as altitude is concerned, South America breaks all records. We spent several months between 3,500 and 5,000 metres. It is quite incredible, especially on the Altiplano, in the Andes, where it feels like being at sea level.

Is the van more of a travelling companion or a home?

Both. It's our home on wheels, our cocoon, our reference point and at the same time it's part of the family, and we've nicknamed him ‘Popo’ (the nickname for this model in France). We take care of him, we maintain him and he pays us back. He's the third member of the team.

Without him, the adventure would not have been the same, and he's also allowed us to meet incredible people, just because they were intrigued by him.

What are the worst and best aspects of travelling and living in a van?

We think it really depends on the person and where we travel. For some, the lack of comfort or privacy can be a real problem. For us, all the positives like the freedom to travel when and where we want, to change plans, to camp out in nature in the middle of nowhere, cancel out all the negatives. In America, the spaces are immense, you can still camp on paradise beaches with your wheels in the sand. Travelling in a van is an excuse to do what we love most: exploring, discovering, hiking.... being in the great outdoors. Even if our house on wheels is a bit cramped, we have a huge playground at our disposal. Washing with cold water, being too hot or cold, and dealing with the unforeseen events of this lifestyle are really secondary.

You are now in the Peruvian Andes, what did you expect and what surprised you?

We didn't expect such a rapid change of scenery. We went from desert at 4,500 metres in the middle of volcanoes to green forests in the blink of an eye. Sometimes we didn't see human beings for several days, only vicunas. The last time we had this feeling was in Alaska.

What were the three most beautiful scenes that you awoke to looking through the van's windows?

Just three... Hard to choose, there's so much beauty in the world.
- At dawn, on a beach in southern Baja California, whales, dolphins and stingrays passed within a few metres of the shore. Sounds, atmosphere, ambience, a magical moment....
- We slept at the foot of the world's highest peak in Ecuador. And no, it's not the Himalayas. If we take the centre of the earth (and not sea level) as a reference, it's the Chimborazo volcano that's closest to the stars. The light was incredible and this peak truly imposing.
- In Alaska, in front of the Salmon Glacier. From where we were, we could hear the immense ice field crackling. We felt very small. A feeling we have had since the beginning of the adventure. Nature never stops putting us in our place and we become aware, day after day, of its beauty and importance.