Dancing The PanAmerican Highway

Meet Nick and Gussie who crossed into Panama when we were in Boquete. They are traveling in a four wheel drive 1987 Toyota van with a bed and an outside kitchen and we fully expect to keep meeting them along the road to Ushuaia. 

On the practical side Nick lives in a sma space, a bed with storage underneath and a kitchen in back which he uses with the rear door raised to provide a sun shade or a rain cover while he cooks. A major consideration for us at the moment is of course how easily and relatively inexpensively his home will fit in a container! 

It was Gussie’s fourth birthday a low key celebration for us but for Nick his companion is as much good company as Rusty is for us of course.  And then his girlfriend in New York keeps the home fires burning and visits him along the way. There are so many ways to live work and learn on the road. “I can’t because…” doesn’t apply here. 

Even though, like his car the size of Nick’s companion is a factor in his life. Gussie flies easily in the cabin of an aircraft when Nick goes home to work.  And that’s because, unlike most travelers in their thirties who work, Nick does his job in person. He’s a ballet dancer and u can’t tell you how delighted I was to meet an artist, not an influencer, on the road for a change. He came to dance late first focusing on athletics and sport and transitioning to physical expression. His joy he says is teaching other dancers as he works. He explained with some skill and clarity how teaching dance requires trust as well as strength -trust that he won’t drop you! Far far from the world of making YouTube to live, Nick puts himself physically into the job. I found it fascinating. 

Nick’s father is a first generation Mexican, his mother is from Alaska so of course with my mixed background I loved hearing that, and like many of us first generation immigrants Nick’s father wanted his son to be new not old, so Nick is traveling and relearning his fathers language, becoming fluent in Latin American travel.  He is also working to be self sufficient in mechanics, looking after his van himself. 

I know we will meet again as we all travel in the same direction, Liz and Ramey from Alberta, Nick the dancer and teacher from Oregon (another unafraid American!Where are they all on the PanAmerican?) 

And there is the size difference. For us it matters but for you it may not. For Nick it’s perfect. Long may he roll.