Her experiences in Latin America are considered an asset with her students. LaFountaine's job as an ESL teacher at Renton Technical College allows her the flexibility to switch between travel and work throughout the year. Though LaFountaine planned to return to Washington after six months of biking, she extended her trip to stay in Buenos Aires for an additional three months. It takes a person that can not have a agenda and be comfortable with waking up in the morning and not knowing how the day is going to progress." "When you get up in the morning, it could be camped on the side of the road, a campground, police station, church, school and that was part of the thrill of it . to midnight.įinding a place to sleep along the route was an adventure every night. While in the Argentinian side of Patagonia, LaFountaine grew accustomed to eating massive quantities of bread and meat, taking a five-hour siesta in the middle of the day, and eating dinner beginning anywhere from 9 p.m. Staying with fellow bikers and learning a variety of local customs also took some adjusting, according to LaFountaine. The most surprising element was the amount of sand, gravel, and washboard roads," LaFountaine said."There's just some things you can't look up online ahead of time." "The first 1,000 miles of the trip were gravel. There, LaFountaine ran into the most challenging part of her expedition: road conditions. The first leg of her journey began in Bolivia at Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flats. On her 5,000-mile journey, LaFountaine encountered a number of destinations for both cyclists and sightseers. She hopes to compile these interviews into a documentary.
Along the way, LaFountaine set out to interview women who were challenging traditional cultural gender roles.įrom organic farmers of Bolivia to Chilean political artists to Argentinian prisoners of war, LaFountaine interviewed women for a deeper understanding of social issues in Latin America.