Bolivia

The high Andes, the salt flats, and two months mostly based out of a shared apartment in La Paz, a city that never quite lets you catch your breath — literally, at that altitude, and otherwise. Everything here felt more extreme than anywhere else on the trip: the landscapes, the roads, the weather turning in an afternoon.

It's also where I properly learned to travel slowly, mostly because the altitude forced it. I ended up staying far longer than planned, and most of what I remember best from the whole year happened in the gaps between the places everyone tells you to see.