In Santiago, everything closes early on Christmas Eve and stays closed on Christmas, so naturally we decided to go somewhere else where everything was closed: wine country, or at least one of the many wine-making areas of Chile. We chose Colchagua Valley, mostly because there is a hotel there, Hotel Santa Cruz Plaza, that had …
Hard Landing in Santiago
Today it's time for some lessons from the road: Keep track of the compromises you made Remember where the hip neighborhood is (and that you were a few minutes walk from it) Wide-angle lenses lie (which we knew but ...) Perhaps it was partly because Patagonia was so magical, but even before we got to …
Patagonia Flat
We said ciao to the end of the earth and headed to Puerto Varas, where we started with a short tour of two towns on the lake that were settled by German immigrants – Frutillar and Puerto Octay. Puerto Varas is a pretty big tourist destination and the “gateway to the lakes region of Patagonia.” …
Onward and upward (plus a bit of downward)
Friday was our last day at the Hotel Las Torres in Torres de Paine. Steven decided to take it easy, but as you know, I never decide to take it easy and so I didn't. We had a part-horseback, part-trekking all-day trip up Cerro Paine to get a different view of the Towers and because …
Patagonia – part 2
On Sunday, we did a full day tour to La Leona Petrified Forest. It is about an hour and a half outside of El Calafate. Our driver and guide, Leon, picked us up at the hotel and drove us north through the scrub desert. We stopped at roadside hotel/bar/restaurant/gift shop, and picked up another couple …
On to Patagonia
Our last week in Buenos Aires was a bit of a whirlwind. My cousin Robin, an experienced traveler on her own, joined us on Monday. We spent the rest of the week working and visiting the last few places on our must see/eat list. On Thursday night we had a goodbye dinner with our friends …
A Final Weekend in Buenos Aires
Yes, We're Moving On Again We've arrived at the part of the journey where we begin to say, "We still haven't done ..." At this point, we typically make a list of sites, restaurants and other attractions we have seen in our wanderings and said, "We need to go there," but haven't yet done so. …
A traditional Thanksgiving?
Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the U.S., so my work was closed. Sue and I decided that since we had been back in Buenos Aires for three whole days, it was important for us to leave again – no more accurately, we decided that since we had a free day, we would head to Uruguay. There …
Family Fun Time
Boy, they really know how to eat meat in Porto Alegre (Yes they do!! YUM)! Aside from that, Vitor and family went all out entertaining us and making sure there was never a dull moment. Vitor wanted to show us how beautiful the sunset is over the river Jacuí, so we went to Cais Embarcadero, …
Family, Friends, Food and Football
This weekend was all about family. When I was in college, my parents hosted an exchange student from Porto Alegre, Brazil, named Vitor. Our families have been close ever since and we think of Vitor and his family as our family. My mother decided that for her 85th birthday she wanted to visit Vitor and …
Doing It On The Road 