Welcome back the Dustin, The Wind podcast! 

Thank you all for tuning in after a long hiatus. You’ve made a fantastic decision as we are joined this week by a special guest, a tough and gritty girl in the midst of her own grand adventure— I call her Olivia “In Bolivia” Grazziano. Olivia and I met in Pisac, Peru as she made a pit stop in the Sacred Valley and was caught in the valley's vortex, like countless other's (myself included), in a tale as old as time. 

Olivia has lived nomadically for the past 5 years in a camper van. She's currently trading the van life in to ride a bicycle 10,000 miles+ through South America from the tip of Chile back to the place she calls home, Colorado. She is also an avid climber, skier, and trail runner. 

Professionally, she started out as a humanitarian aid and documentary filmmaker for a production company based in Washington DC. This job took her around the world to Kenya where she lived with and documented the daily lives of the Maasai tribe and into the remote jungles of Cambodia to share the story of successful economic initiatives in communities devastated by the Khmer Rouge. Some other projects included interviewing the stories of refugees and going as an undercover video journalist to capture the aftermath of the Garissa University terror attack and Hong Kong Polytechnic University protests in 2019.  She also runs her own weddings film company called Wild of the Moon.

Hop in the saddle, clip in (if that’s your thing), grab a sip of water and rolllll with us through a little bit of South American bike packing adventure! Olivia shares stories from her bike packing adventure so far from Puerto Natales, Chili to Cusco, Peru-- trials and tribulations with aggressive dogs, a ride in a Chilean ambulance, trusting total strangers separated by a language barrier. She shares insights about the day in the life of a South American bike packer (and being a solo female traveler to boot!). How much ground does she ride in a typical day and how much time in the saddle does that translate to? What are her 5 essential pack items to survive such a journey? Where does she sleep, how does she filter water, what does she eat?

So please...ENJOY this fun conversation between two fellow bike packers and avid travelers and WELCOME BACK to the Dustin, The Wind podcast!

PEACE!