Monthly Archives: November 2008
And So We Give Thanks
For the prevalance of wi-fi and the existence of Skype For overnight laundry service For banks that refund ATM fees For hostels that provide free breakfast For frequent flyer miles For bus rides that are shorter than advertised For take-your-breath-away natural beauty For much improved exchange rates For the friendliness of strangers For stomachs of steel (knock on wood) For a new U.S. president that makes us so very proud to be American For the opportunity to travel the world …
On Vacation
We’ve been asked a fair number of times, during the course of dinner at a hostel or speaking with various people around town, whether we’re “on vacation.” Now this is all meant very informally as a social icebreaker of sorts, but frankly, I find that question hard to answer. Almost as hard as the “so where are you from” question. After a five year residency, are we from DC now? Even though we’re not returning there? Is Theresa from Kentucky …
Standing Tall at the End of the World
On Thursday night, we made it to the end of the world. Okay, we didn’t quite make it all the way to the end as the cheapest boat we could find to Antarctica was $4,900 per person, but we are in the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, Argentina (at least if you are willing to believe all the signs and ignore the town of Puerto Williams just across the Beagle Channel…hey, it’s a town, not a city). To make …
What would you call it?
Picture this: We drive an hour and a half to reach … a salmon spawning farm. In their parking lot, we don wet suits (though don’t pull them over our tops yet), walk past their security guards and janitors topless (not to mentioned bottomed in wet suits), and head across their campus to a trail that leaves from the other side. We walk, for half an hour, through the forest, in wet suits, sweating with every step. Now picture us …
Administrative Goodness
As we make our way down to the bottom of the world—well, okay, not quite the bottom, unless we are able to stow-away on an Antarctic cruise ship—we wanted to make sure you had something to read. (Hopefully, we’ll be back online before you can miss us, but we’re not exactly sure about all our connections over the next few days.) So we’ve added a new section called Country Budgets and updated it with spending information for Nicaragua. Go ahead …
Chilling in Chiloe
We all know that guidebook writers love to use trite and generally meaningless adjectives—charming, delightful, beautiful, lovely. They also love to give things the title—the hottest, the swankiest, the best—as well as to make lists. Lists above all get them in the news. And Lonely Planet, being the institution that it is (read that how you will), publishes a book each year called the Blue List, which is supposed to let you in on all the best places to visit. …
Our Pucon Triathlon
Set on the shores of Lago Villarica and in the shadow of the volcano of the same name, Pucon is paradise—unless living in shouting distance of a 2,847-meter active volcano that last erupted in 1971 concerns you. So okay, buying property there might not be the world’s wisest move–though trust me if you see the place you will be tempted—but hanging out for a few days is a smart decision, especially if you like the great outdoors and active pursuits. …
Plaza de Armas
As I said before, Santiago has a wealth of downtown parks. One of these quickly became our favorite, and we revisited many times, simply for the quality of people watching. We saw everything there, and really, its hard to pick a favorite. So we’re going to do a top five moments in Plaza de Armas during our long afternoon sits. 5. High culture. I’ll start by admitting this one is not so much an event, and not so uncommon in …
First Impressions Santiago
We landed in Santiago. There was a bus to town right outside the airport that left two minutes after we got on. Amazingly, each person paid for, and got, their own entire seat. It dropped us off at – get this – a metro station. We hopped three stops down the metro, got off, walked a block and found our hotel. We took showers; the water was hot. We went to bed, the sheets were clean and comfortable. We woke …
Nicaragua Summary and Photos
We’ve added a Nicaragua page to our Country Summaries page, which you can access in the navigation bar at the top of the page. Check it out to see a review of our time in Nicaragua as well as to link to a selection of our photos. Did you like this? Share it:
