About

About Us

We are Stephanie and Juan. We left our adopted home of San Francisco in September of 2012 to drive our ’89 Vanagon Westfalia, “The Electric Pony,” to Tierra del Fuego. In April of 2014, we reached the southernmost city in Patagonia, Ushuaia, and returned by air to the Bay Area on May 31, 2014. We called this blog Van en Van to use both the Spanish and English uses of the word van: ‘they go’ and ‘a larger vehicle used for transporting goods and/or people.’ Van is also the name of a Turkish city that we have not (yet) visited.

This is how we dress to go camping. Or, to the ‘Brave’ wrap party.

Team Member #3 was Milo the dog, adopted just ten days before leaving from San Francisco Animal Care and Control. From his reported lineage of mixed Tibetan Terrier and Border Collie descent, we assume that Milo was a spiritually aware sheep herder. He is now in charge of emotional well-being, llama-spotting, and heating the bed at night.

Milo the dog, who only knows one Spanish word: llama.

Stephanie is a writer from Deerfield, Illinois who loves eating, knitting, hiking and feeding stray animals. She has attended school in Chicago, San Francisco, and New York and is still somehow unemployed. For the purposes of this journey, she is in charge of food, finances, warm-weather accessories, and getting up early.

Stephanie could eat tacos three meals a day, but sadly we have not seen tacos since Mexico.

Juan is a photographer from Punta Alta, Argentina, with a talent for visual effects. You’ve probably seen at least one of the movies he’s worked on, which include animated movies from Antz to Brave (chronologically, not alphabetically). But he’s modest so we won’t embarrass him here. He is in charge of driving, navigation, mechanical and electrical issues, speaking Spanish, and staying up late.

Juan is also a magician. And he has only worn a suit twice in his entire life, both coincidentally featured on this page.

We love correspondence and do our best to help other travelers and potential travelers with any questions and issues. If you send us your address, we will mail you a postcard from wherever we happen to be! You can also see more of our work on our separate photo blogs.

Juan juanbuhler at gmail dot com

Stephanie haveyoulostweight at gmail dot com