Pictures can tell you a lot about a place, and they say “a picture’s worth a thousand words,” but a picture doesn’t tell you the whole story. It doesn’t tell you what was going on around the photographer when the picture was taken, why it was taken, why the photo matters to the photographer (and/or why it should matter to you), and so much more. This is the latest in a series of photos where I share the story behind the picture.

I had no idea this photo would be so useful when I took it! I’ve actually used it quite a bit over the years, but I took this photo long before Nomadtopia existed, and before I was thinking about what kinds of images work well for adding text to for marketing purposes.

I’m glad I chose to write about it today, in fact, because I was mistaken about where and when it was taken! In recent years, I had assumed it was from my first trip to Patagonia, in 2004 during my round-the-world trip, but when I pulled it up today, I noticed the data stored with the .jpg says it was taken November 2, 2008.

That date jogged my memory enough to remember that I took this photo from the window of the bus on the way to Bariloche, Argentina, from Buenos Aires. I was going to Bariloche for a yoga retreat, and the retreat itself had been quite a splurge, so I decided to save a little money by taking the bus instead of flying.

Long-distances buses in Argentina are actually quite comfortable, and the 20-hour trip gave me plenty of time to decompress before the retreat!

The retreat itself was an amazing experience. Although the woman who ran it is no longer based in South America, I’ve remained friends and kept in touch with her and another woman I met there. And I’d love to go back to the place where we stayed, Estancia Peuma Hue.

I’ve been inspired by the wide-open spaces of Patagonia for years. There’s something about an endless horizon that reminds me that anything is possible.

Here’s a photo I took in another area of Patagonia in 2004; I’ve always thought a little spot like this would make an amazing writing retreat. No distractions, just an open mind and plenty of space.

 

What kind of spaces or places do you find most inspiring? How can you incorporate them into your Nomadtopia?