In late February I returned from a five and a half month backpacking trip throughout the west coast of South America. I traveled with my brother for the first three months as we made our way overland, by bus, through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. We explored colonial towns and markets, summited our first mountain (Cotopaxi at 19,347 feet), explored the Amazon via dugout canoe, and trekked in the high mountains of Peru.

After Bolivia, my brother returned to school in the States, while I flew to Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world. From there I hitchhiked from town to town in search of new treks. For the final three weeks of my trip I volunteered on the Conservacion Patagonica, a new national park in Southern Chile. http://500px.com/turpanphotos

Leo Turpan CdeP 2013