Only two days ago, we were learning about biodynamic Chilean wines and ziplining through vineyards in the hills outside Santiago, Chile.

Just yesterday, en route from Santiago to New York City, we took advantage of a long layover to peek into and poke around the colonial streets of Bogota, Columbia.

Today we arrived in New York. (We are writing this on a bus from New York City to Washington, DC.)

As we catch our collective breath from a rapid change in context (it took almost 15 months to go the opposite direction), we thought it might make sense to bring you up to speed as to what’s going on. After all, some of you might be wondering: “Is this the end?”

For better or for worse (depends on your point of view), our journey continues. The reason for our six-week interlude spread across Washington DC, Asheville, Scranton, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco: to visit family, re-connect with friends, attend a conference and re-up our gear. We are certain a few other tasks and venues will reveal themselves along the way.

We are also taking the opportunity to share our journey with friends, readers and community in our hometowns, in the flesh. We’ll be delivering a few slideshow presentations that feature some select images, tales of inspiring people, and lessons we’ve learned about ourselves and the world through our shared experience. More importantly, we are looking forward to meeting some of our readers and members of our online community in person.

If you live near one of the locations below, we hope you can come out. We’d love to see you.

Washington, DC
When: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 — 6:30PM
Where: Recessions bar (1823 L Street NW, Washington DC)
The Scoop: Happy hour begins at 5:30PM . We will begin speaking at 6:30PM. A big thanks to the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Washington, DC (and especially Kristina) for their help in organizing this event.

Asheville, North Carolina
When: Thursday, May 27, 2010 — 7:00PM
Where: Black Mountain Presbyterian Church, 117 Montreat Road, Black Mountain (just outside Asheville)
The Scoop: This is the church Audrey’s father and grandparents attend; they have kindly offered use of their facilities for the event. Our presentation will take place in the community hall.

Scranton, Pennsylvania
When: Thursday, June 10, 2010 — 7:00PM
Where: Anthology Books, 515 Center St., 2nd Floor
The Scoop: We bring our story to Dan’s hometown. A big thanks to Andrea Talarico for organizing this event.

New York City
Dates: Saturday and Sunday, June 26-27
Location: Travel Blog Exchange, TBEX ’10
The Scoop: We look forward to meeting in person some of the travel blogging personalities we’ve come to know online. If you are headed to TBEX, please let us know!

If other events arise, we’ll post them here and announce them on Twitter and our Facebook page.

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Writing and Travel to Come — Argentina, Uruguay, Chile
Although we are in the United States at the moment, we will continue to write and share images, particularly those from our most recent travels in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. The last two months have been rewarding and chock-full of memorable experiences. We look forward to sharing these with you in the coming weeks in an effort to do it all justice.

About Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott