Home Sweet Home: Final Thoughts

Posted on by Kristy

Never ask a question you don’t want to know the answer to. Our parents, our most avid and perhaps only blog followers, learned this lesson the hard way when they jointly picked us up from the SFO airport.

“So, are you two already planning your next trip?” They jokingly asked us mere hours after our return to US soil.

Their smiling faces faded to worry as we began detailing the next several adventures we’ve already begun to plan. Perhaps we should have let them enjoy our safe return a while longer and given their ulcers a bit of a break. Next time.

Continue reading Home Sweet Home: Final Thoughts

Ata-semi-cama Desert

Posted on by Kristy

After some intensely cold nights in the Bolivian mountain range, we were happy to be warm again in the lower elevation of the Atacama Desert in San Pedro de Atacama. Our salt flat tour ended with a drop off in the Chilean border town and two of our tour friends from England bunked with us for the next few days.

We had only planned to stay long enough to catch an overnight bus to the Chilean/Peruvian border town of Arica, but after a 3 day tour jammed packed with lots of fun, we were a bit exhausted to do the tourist thing again in the tourist-filled city. If it hadn’t been for the energy of our youthful 20-something friends and sold out buses, we’d have missed out on some very stunning sights!

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Bolivia: Sweet Redemption

Posted on by Kristy

After hearing we’d been to Bolivia at the beginning of our trip, the first question out of everyone’s mouth was, “how was Uyuni?”, home of the world’s largest salt flat. We didn’t have an answer… because we didn’t go. We were only in Bolivia for a short time and had to catch a flight to Patagonia, we explained to disappointed, dumbfounded faces.

We quickly learned we’d made an epic travel mistake by not going and were bummed we’d missed what many called a highlight of their travels. Fortunately we got an opportunity to redeem ourselves on our way back to Lima to catch our flight home.

Continue reading Bolivia: Sweet Redemption

Northern Argentina: A Love Story

Posted on by Marea

Kristy and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary on May 10, and we were excited to use this as an excuse to indulge a bit. After months of bad mattresses with pilly linens and cheap bus seats with questionable stains, we were ready to live large.

We started by splurging on an “executive class” bus ticket to Salta, a beautiful city in northwest Argentina. Argentine buses are some of the best in Latin America, but after countless overnight trips in our usual class – semi-cama (i.e. your seat is semi like a bed in that you occupy it at night time) – we were ready to see what a real elite experience was like. Spa treatments? Warm cookies? We weren’t sure what it all meant but gee was it expensive and gee were we excited!

We’d get on the bus on May 9, wake up 20 hours later on our anniversary and be at a fancy Salta hotel in time for check in! Clever, aren’t we?

Continue reading Northern Argentina: A Love Story

Waterfalls, Butterflies, Rainbows. Sorry, No Ponies.

Posted on by Marea

Iguazu Falls is a pretty ridiculous place. A massive wall of waterfalls almost 3 kilometers wide is breathtaking enough. Layering on rainbows and electric blue butterflies sort of makes you want to shout “COME ON!” If there were unicorns and a splash of pink, it would be like stepping into a Lisa Frank folder.

Continue reading Waterfalls, Butterflies, Rainbows. Sorry, No Ponies.

Buenos Aires: The Blear Perspective

Posted on by Kristy

Given my brother’s ability to quickly pick up foreign languages and the adventurous spirit that once brought my sister to New Zealand and keeps her moving into a new apartment every 6 months, I might have been the Lear voted least likely to travel the world. However, life works in mysterious ways, and I’ve turned into the Lear that’s now spent over a year of her life outside of the USA.

We’ve received more than a few visitors during our trip but there was none as anticipated (for me) as my brother coming to meet us in Buenos Aires for his first international trip (Canada doesn’t count) and my first immediate family member to ever visit me abroad. He was joined by his girlfriend Mandi whose Spanish from her previous travels in Mexico came in handy, especially during their multiple customs stops.

Ryan and Mandi!
Ryan and Mandi!

Lucky for us, one of Ryan’s theater friends, Dario, is a Porteño (a “Buenos Airean”) with the most generous family on the planet. If any of you have enjoyed the hospitality of our parents you’ll understand why we referred to Dario’s folks, Martha and Oscar, as the Argentinian Barb and Ken. Their home is your home and somehow they anticipate your every need including those you didn’t even know you had. Continue reading Buenos Aires: The Blear Perspective

Guest Bloggers Ryan and Mandi: A Guide to Buenos Aires

Posted on by Kristy

Editor’s Note: In 2012, my sister Kristy and I spent a wonderful 12 hours in San Francisco before heading down the coast (with Marea too) for a 3 day trip through Big Sur on the way to San Diego. Last year, Mandi and I (after attending Kristy and Marea’s mountain top wedding) spent three days heading up the coast through Big Sur, ending with an abbreviated 5 hours in San Francisco before rushing to catch a flight out out of SFO (and getting lost and almost dying on the freeway on the way to return the rental car). Irresponsibly, I thought the best way for Mandi to experience her first time in San Fran, would be while trying to exactly replicate the magical time I had had as my first time in San Fran. As you can imagine, this “forced fun” day did not go quite as planned, and became the butt of many jokes during the Buenos Aires portion of Kristy and Marea’s Epic South American Adventure, where Mandi and I met up with them for 10 days.

In the spirit of forced fun, this portion of “The Traveling Blues” has been created as a travel guide so that you too can recreate our EXACT TRIP the next time you venture down to the Rio de la Plata. Right down to the very specific and nuanced encounters with hospitable strangers! May the forced fun be with you.

The 2015 KMMR™ Guide to Buenos Aires

The most complete travel companion to replicating an incredible vacation

KMMR- The full guide to all the nuances of their vacation in Buenos Aires.
KMMR- Kristy, Marea, Mandi, & Ryan (photo does not reflect order of trademarked name)

Continue reading Guest Bloggers Ryan and Mandi: A Guide to Buenos Aires

The Countdown Begins…

Posted on by Marea

Our trip is drawing to a close, and while we’re working on catching the blog up to present day, we wanted to send out a real-time update to those of you who have been following along religiously (i.e. hi Mom!)

We just got off a 24 hour bus from Tacna, the southernmost city in Peru, to Lima, and have decided to stay here until we fly home on June 3. For those of you who read our first post and are thinking, weird, I thought you guys hated that place, let me explain…

Continue reading The Countdown Begins…

A Quick Stopover in Cordoba

Posted on by Kristy

“So, did you understand it?”

“Un poco.”

When we first agreed to go see our hostel owner’s performance in Cordoba, we were assured that Spanish comprehension was not integral to understanding the essence of the show. She explained she’d be singing Tango throughout a theater adaptation of a story by a famous Argentine author. After an extremely confusing two hours, we speculated on the walk home about what we had just seen.

Marea suggested that the primary conflict was that a big, black, half-human half-bird was haunting and strangling people in their beds with what appeared to be an oversized sweater.

I suggested the whole show was a discussion about the birth and loss of a baby, as illustrated by the human/bird during his interpretive, birthing sweater dance.

When a Spanish-speaking audience member from our hostel said she was moved to tears by the performance, we decided we should maybe do some independent research before attempting discussion with others.

Continue reading A Quick Stopover in Cordoba

Blog Bonus: My Favorite Kristy Spanish Story

Posted on by Marea

When we first arrived in South America, Kristy, a natural talker and friendly gal, was immediately frustrated by her inability to communicate with strangers. Besides the cheerful “hola!” she delivered to anyone within 50 meters, she didn’t have a ton to work with in the Spanish department, and it drove her bonkers.

Continue reading Blog Bonus: My Favorite Kristy Spanish Story