This is the view from the hike we took the other day. It’s what Lago Lácar looks like once you get around the bend that makes it look small from San Martín de los Andes. Sometimes I think we take views like this for granted since we’ve seen a lot of beautiful landscapes in our travels. Which got us thinking about other random things...
It’s Travel Tip Tuesday. But first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Chris’s mom!!! She’s coming to visit us in Buenos Aires in April; we’re excited to have our first visitor. Today’s travel tip has to do with a project we’re currently working on: finding house sitting opportunities. Imagine you own a home — maybe have a pet or two — and want to travel for a...
We’re all settled in San Martín de los Andes. I’ve already had a tweet favorited by their head of tourism, so we’re off to a good start. SMA is small (less than 30k people) and situated on the eastern end of Lago Lácar, pictured above. The lake looks small, but it continues beyond the bend almost all the way to the Chilean border, which...
We’ve missed you! We’re now in Argentina. How can we fit all our updates in one post? Here are the highlights. You can click to learn more about each, or simply scroll down. We got a taste of traditional (and Italian) cuisine in Chiloé, Chile. Holly got stopped at the border crossing. We’re currently in Bariloche, but we’re moving again tomorrow. We stayed with an Italian...
Fact: Pablo Fierro is a local artist in Puerto Varas. That’s him on the right talking to some visitors from Santiago. Another fact: Peach-colored tights make people look half-naked at first glance. (Right? I did a double-take.) OK, back on track. Here’s his museum in Puerto Varas, right on the edge of Lago Llanquihue. He doesn’t charge admission and just asks for donations. ...
Holly loves road trips! Here she is in front of Lago Llanquihue and Volcán Osorno. For the Californians reading this, Lago Llanquihue is about twice the size of Lake Tahoe. It’s situated in northern Patagonia in the Lakes Region. If you look at a map, you’ll see there are a number of other very large lakes nearby. We’re staying in Puerto Varas, on the...
On this Travel Tip Tuesday, we said good-bye to Valdivia and are now in Puerto Varas, a lakeside town that feels like Lake Tahoe’s half-Chilean, half-German cousin. But we’ll introduce you to Puerto Varas another day. Today, our travel tip is essentially unpaid advertising for Airbnb. (Click here and we can both get a $25 credit!) It has been supremely helpful for our long-term...
Travel is humbling. We took the #20 micro (a small public bus) today to Niebla, a small town west of Valdivia near the Pacific. Or so we thought. We told the driver we were looking for the feria costumbrista, and when our stop came, he told us and we happily got off the bus. We ended up at this wonderful fair with food, music, and great...
Hemos llegado a Valdivia. Here’s Chris chillin’ before our bus ride, along with the nasty fire we saw in Temuco along the way. Someone told us today that most firefighters in Chile are volunteers. Wild! By far, Valdivia is one of the most beautiful cities we’ve been to in Chile. It’s so green, with several rivers crossing through it. It’s...
Yesterday, Chris and I celebrated seven years since our first date. We had a delicious dinner cooked by the owners of the guesthouse where we’re staying, and nearly all the items came from their garden. Seriously some of the best meals we’ve had in Chile. They’re always harvesting tons of tomatoes, squash, apples, peas, basil, cucumber, and so on. We...
Back on the road! Yesterday, we took an excruciating bus ride to a rural area just north of Los Ángeles, in the Bío Bío Region. It was two hours from Viña del Mar to Santiago, a two-hour wait for our next bus, and a six-hour ride to Los Ángeles where we picked up our rental car. Thankfully, it was only a 20-minute drive to the place where we’re...
The sun is setting on our time here in Viña del Mar. It’s been a lot of fun, and we’ll miss it here. The ocean, the warm weather, our new friends. Also, our favorite bakery. It’s called Panaderia Maitena and it’s on the corner of Traslaviña and Valparaíso. Their bread is delicious and their pastries are even better. We’d often stop there for empanadas...
Our leap year is more than just beautiful scenery and delicious empanadas. As I’ve mentioned to you, Chris and I are both experimenting with a number of projects. For example, in December I launched a class on Skillshare. Well, here’s the latest: my new ebook! It’s called Awesome Supervisory Skills: Seven Lessons for Young, First-Time Managers. Here’s a quick preview video: One of...
It’s Travel Tip Tuesday, and I’ve got a real shocker for you. (That was sarcasm, in case you couldn’t tell.) DON’T buy cheap shoes. Just don’t. My main, day-to-day shoes that I packed for our trip were very comfortable. A simple canvas boat shoe. But wearing them for 120 days straight — from the deserts of La Paz to the pyramids in Teotihuacan to traipsing around...
Soon we’ll be leaving Viña del Mar to visit southern Chile. We’ll be leaving our awesome roommates, so before we go we thought you’d enjoy meeting one of them! His name is Alexey — although he sometimes goes by Alex. He’s originally from Moscow, Russia and he’ll be heading to Thailand and Morocco next. He kindly allowed me to interview him this morning. He...