¡Feliz año nuevo! Tomorrow, we fly to Santiago. To bid adios to the first country in our leap year, we said farewell with tacos al pastor. Also, our Airbnb host Rodrigo stopped by with a gift of tequila and mezcal. We’ll spend one week in Santiago before hopping on a bus to Viña del Mar, just north of Valparaíso. Our plan is to stay...
Announcing: Travel Tip Tuesdays! We thought we’d start a new tradition for the new year with a new travel tip every Tuesday. Now that we’re pros at being full-time travelers, we wanted to share the love and hopefully inspire you to do some traveling yourself! This week’s tip: what to do with your passport and other important documentation while traveling. Why does this matter?...
Have I mentioned that it’s stressful to bring pets across international borders? Well, it is. Today we got (almost) all the documentation we needed to bring Holly from Mexico to Chile. I say almost because we still have one more step. For the sake of posterity and any other person who wants to travel with their dog, here’s how to get a pet export...
One of the best things about Mexico City is the food. And as I mentioned in previous posts, you can get great food for cheap while traveling full time. In fact, some of the best food we’ve had has come from small, no-name places around the neighborhood rather than big restaurants. Take this bakery across from Mercado Medellin called La Espiga. Not only do they...
We went full-on tourist and followed some Lonely Planet recommendations. The main event was Plaza Garibaldi, where mariachi bands roam and which Lonely Planet describes as “notoriously seedy” but is also the recipient of “a recent makeover.” They also call it one of their top choices when visiting Mexico City, so we decided to make a night of it. Here’s a quick video so you...
Time for a blog about cultural norms. People love making out in public here. Not a sweet, prolonged kiss. I’m talking hardcore, hands-barely-over-the-clothes making out. My lovely friend Nicole gave us a heads up that we’d see a lot of this through our Latin American travels, since she did as well. And since she is Bolivian, I take her explanation seriously: everybody lives with their...
Today is Holly’s quinceañera! We love this girl so much that we only subjected her to this purple rhinestone bow. Plus she prefers understated and classy. And we made up for the embarrassment with a present. Depending on what you formula you subscribe to, Holly is anywhere from 75 to 105 in human years. Wow! And she’s still lively as ever: ...
These chiles have lots of Christmas spirit. It’s very quiet in the city right now, except if you stray too close to Sears or Woolworth. Kind of like when you’re in San Francisco over Christmas. The supermarket nearby cleared all the shelves in their bakery to sell packs of baguettes — three to a bag. There are three more walls of these! ...
This photo isn’t exactly tasteful, but it’s the only one I took today. And why wouldn’t I snap this photo? What dog chooses the most confined space possible to pee? Holly, the girl just three days away from her quinceañera. What a crazy old dog. We love her. This is also the only photo we took because we’re suffering from a little bit of travel...
This tree is a metaphor for my current state of health: somewhat gnarly. My cold won’t go away and now I’ve got some stomach problems. Neither are bad enough to put me totally out of commission — just to take away any holiday cheer. Yesterday, we did take two of visiting Coyoacán after our first try was nice but unsuccessful. We visited the Frida...
Today was an activity-free day, with a couple nice walks and lots of reading. With that, here are some recommended reads: Why We Need Grandpas and Grandmas, Part 1 (NPR’s Krulwich Wonders) Finding Grandpa On My Dinner Plate, Part 2 (NPR’s Krulwich Wonders) Test Your Budget-Travel Instincts (The New York Times) Who Serves the Most Authentic Poutine in SF? (The Bold Italic) New Mexico...