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

Our Time on a Quince Farm

Posted on by Kristy

Just as Marea’s family arrived, we confirmed the final details of our next volunteer experience. In fact, I wrote the final “Yes! We’ll see you then” as they walked in the door, and we were excited to tell them all about it.

We’d be helping on a quince farm, we explained, whatever that was. This prompted a bit of research on the asian fruit and the sweet cheese/paste/jam stuff it makes.  We all began to spread to word: we were going to a quince farm and soon we’d be quince masters. Fun!

"Creative Commons Quinces from my garden" by jespahjoy is licensed under CC BY 2.0
“Creative Commons Quinces from my garden” by jespahjoy is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Continue reading Our Time on a Quince Farm

A Taste of Maipu: Adventures in Mendoza

Posted on by Marea

A few days after our initial rejection from Mendoza, we gave border crossing another try, this time by bus. Success! We now have so many Argentina stamps in our passports from various shenanigans that a customs officer recently asked Kristy in Spanish if she lived there. She didn’t understand him so she cheerfully responded, “dos o tres semanas?” which we think indirectly answered his question.

Continue reading A Taste of Maipu: Adventures in Mendoza

Central Chile and Almost Argentina

Posted on by Marea

A worldly Columbian we met in Peru said this of Chile: “It is the best of the South American countries, but my least favorite for travel. There are no – how do you say? – surprises. The showers, they are hot. The buses, they are on time. The toilets, they are working.”

I was relieved to hear this as my mother was coming to visit us in Santiago and bathroom-related surprises are some of her least favorite. And honestly, after a few months enduring some of the “surprises” Peru, Bolivia and the more remote regions of Chile had to offer, this didn’t sound so bad to us either.

Continue reading Central Chile and Almost Argentina

Patagonia: So Much More Than a Clothing Brand You Can’t Afford

Posted on by Marea

The Patagonia portion of our trip opened with a very wonderful, welcome change: friends!

Kristy and I enjoy each others’ company very much, but when you spend literally every moment of your day with one other person, occasionally the conversation wants for some additional voices. Kristy will often start a sentence with, “did you hear that they recently did a study…” and I have to cut her off because it was a mutual friend that posted that article on Facebook, and I just read it too.

Continue reading Patagonia: So Much More Than a Clothing Brand You Can’t Afford