Category Archives: South America
There’s a Difference Between Eating and Eating Well
As we walk down the main beachfront street in Taganga, a man yells out to us encouraging us to come check out his restaurant. This restaurant has no name, doesn’t even really resemble a place to eat. On a circular slab of concrete shaded by a thatched roof, a small bar and a few molded plastic tables and chairs hold court. Aside from one supporting a local having a drink, the chairs remain unoccupied. I look at Jeff and he …
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Relearning to Travel
I know this sounds spoiled. Indulge me. Forgive me. But re-learning to travel like an American (aka on limited time) is hard. Yes, I hear you all crying for me from here. It’s a real sob story. Our trip to Colombia is quickly approaching, and we’re trying to prepare for it. We’re going to be gone for 16 days. In American terms, that’s forever. After a one year trip, that’s not much time at all. There’s a little voice inside …
Shhh. We’re Spilling Secrets
Recently, as part of the Tripbase Blog Tag game, we were tagged by Lisa of LLWorldTour to share our top three travel secrets with the blog-reading universe. I’ve been sitting on this post for over a week now, because honestly I just don’t know what to share. Do I share a place, a restaurant, a hotel, a person, a moment, an idea, a tip? And is it possible there is anything secret I have left, anything I haven’t yet shared? …
In Review: Our Top Ten
Though narrowing a year’s adventure down to pick out our top ten experiences is a nearly impossible task, we tried to do it anyhow. After all, it seems to be what everyone most wants to know. So here it is, the ten experiences we most loved, ordered not by rank but in the order in which we did them. 1. Hiking Torres del Paine Of all the landscapes we saw on our trip, I think the mountains of Torres del …
South America Superlatives
As we land in Africa today, leaving South America behind, we thought we’d look back at some of the best and worst of our time there. Our initials follow our choices to indicate which of us thought what. If we left anything out and you’re just dying of curiosity to know what we thought, leave your question in the comments and we’ll answer as soon as we can. Friendliest People: Nicaragua (T); Quilotoa, Ecuador (J) Best Natural Scenery: Torres del …
Water, water everywhere!
We arrived on in Puerto Iguazu after our 17 hour, overnight trip on the fully reclining “luxury” bus. Neither the movies nor the food was better than the regular bus. True to its jungle nature, it was hot and sticky, and we all were in a solid sweat by the time we made it the five or so blocks (yes, we made Terry and Mary Jane walk it … and many many more miles, just ask them) to our hotel. …
Playing Gaucho and Tourist in the Pampas
Just outside of the Buenos Aires megapolis, an area of 13 million inhabitants, the endless apartment buildings disappear. So does the Parisian architecture, the ice cream shops, the fancy stores. It’s all replaced with endless open space, the land of the gauchos. Or at least it used to be. Now it’s not, because as we learned on our “Dia del Campo,” or day trip to an estancia in the pampas, there are no more gauchos in the country. Apparently Argentinian …
Budget Buenos Aires
Since the Argentinian economic collapse of 2001, Buenos Aires has had a reputation as a great bargain for travelers. Despite the fact that eight years have passed since the collapse, the reputation has remained, though the reality of the situation is that Buenos Aires is no longer the bargain basement of cities. The collapse, while sending large numbers of the country’s citizens plummetting into poverty, acted as a calling card for millions of tourists…and the money they brought with them. …
Two to Tango
Who could go to Buenos Aires and not take in a tango show? Well, we couldn’t. But we were hoping to avoid a big Vegas style show, after all, we don’t need to see horses on stage, as one of the shows advertised. We were hoping to find an intimate, authentic “feeling,” high caliber show to enjoy. Turns out that Cafe Tortoni, a Buenos Aires institution and on the must-do tourist circuit itself (though the locals would say its a …
There May Not Be Free Lunches…
But there are free tours of Buenos Aires, and quality-wise they are about on par with the steak. In other words, they are pretty damn awesome. I wasn’t expecting that. When Jeff, while surfing the Internet for things to do in Buenos Aires, announced that he’d found a free tour of the city, I scoffed. There had to be a catch. Free…but only if we stayed at a certain hotel. Free…but boring as sin. Free…but we had to listen to …
6 responses to “There May Not Be Free Lunches…”
