South America

After summiting Denali, I returned to the same point in Panama where I had previously arrived by sailboat. From there, I set out on an ambitious kayaking attempt across the Darién Gap, one of the most complex and challenging regions in the world. Due to its remoteness and ongoing issues with drug and human trafficking, the crossing carries significant risks. On the final day, I was intercepted by an armed group and taken 40km to the port city of Turbo, bringing the kayaking attempt to an abrupt end.

From Colombia, the journey continued south by bicycle through Ecuador, Peru, and Argentina. What began as an interrupted expedition gradually evolved into a longterm crossing of the South American continent. The journey was successfully completed on 10 December 2025.

Below, you’ll find the stories, reflections, and lessons from this journey.

		[{"id":5927,"link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/2026\/01\/the-last-push-alone\/","name":"the-last-push-alone","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_1170-scaled.jpeg","alt":""},"title":"The last push alone","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"Jelle Veyt","link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/author\/jelleveyt\/"},"date":"Jan 22, 2026","dateGMT":"2026-01-22 09:44:50","modifiedDate":"2026-01-22 09:45:26","modifiedDateGMT":"2026-01-22 09:45:26","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":2,"sec":20},"status":"publish","excerpt":""},{"id":5477,"link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/2026\/01\/the-great-change\/","name":"the-great-change","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GPTempDownload-1-scaled.jpeg","alt":""},"title":"The great change","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"Jelle Veyt","link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/author\/jelleveyt\/"},"date":"Jan 6, 2026","dateGMT":"2026-01-06 10:22:23","modifiedDate":"2026-01-06 19:57:27","modifiedDateGMT":"2026-01-06 19:57:27","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":4,"sec":26},"status":"publish","excerpt":""},{"id":5400,"link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/2025\/11\/onto-the-big-plateau\/","name":"onto-the-big-plateau","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_9977-scaled.jpeg","alt":""},"title":"Onto the big plateau","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"Jelle Veyt","link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/author\/jelleveyt\/"},"date":"Nov 3, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-11-03 21:30:46","modifiedDate":"2025-11-03 22:07:59","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-11-03 22:07:59","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":3,"sec":50},"status":"publish","excerpt":""},{"id":5361,"link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/2025\/10\/kom-king-of-the-mountain\/","name":"kom-king-of-the-mountain","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_9214-scaled.jpeg","alt":""},"title":"KOM: King of the mountain","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"Jelle Veyt","link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/author\/jelleveyt\/"},"date":"Oct 13, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-10-13 22:28:21","modifiedDate":"2025-10-13 23:07:16","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-10-13 23:07:16","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":3,"sec":44},"status":"publish","excerpt":""},{"id":5350,"link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/2025\/09\/peru-divide-part-2-good-company\/","name":"peru-divide-part-2-good-company","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_8472-scaled.jpeg","alt":""},"title":"Peru divide part 2, good company","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"Jelle Veyt","link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/author\/jelleveyt\/"},"date":"Sep 27, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-09-27 12:07:59","modifiedDate":"2025-10-13 22:59:08","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-10-13 22:59:08","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":2,"sec":48},"status":"publish","excerpt":""},{"id":5320,"link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/2025\/09\/peru-divide\/","name":"peru-divide","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_8604-scaled.jpeg","alt":""},"title":"Peru divide part 1","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"Jelle Veyt","link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/author\/jelleveyt\/"},"date":"Sep 27, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-09-27 11:10:39","modifiedDate":"2025-09-27 12:08:48","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-09-27 12:08:48","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":2,"sec":15},"status":"publish","excerpt":""},{"id":5291,"link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/2025\/09\/sharing-the-views\/","name":"sharing-the-views","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_8014-scaled.jpeg","alt":""},"title":"Sharing the views","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"Jelle Veyt","link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/author\/jelleveyt\/"},"date":"Sep 16, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-09-16 02:41:27","modifiedDate":"2025-10-13 22:57:23","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-10-13 22:57:23","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":3,"sec":13},"status":"publish","excerpt":""},{"id":5262,"link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/2025\/09\/new-energy-to-aconcagua\/","name":"new-energy-to-aconcagua","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_7406-scaled.jpeg","alt":""},"title":"New energy to Aconcagua","postMeta":[],"author":{"name":"Jelle Veyt","link":"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/author\/jelleveyt\/"},"date":"Sep 15, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-09-15 23:32:07","modifiedDate":"2025-10-13 22:58:07","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-10-13 22:58:07","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/aconcagua\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Aconcagua<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jelleveyt.be\/category\/cycling\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cycling<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":3,"sec":35},"status":"publish","excerpt":""}]