Back in the U.S.A.

Hello from Fiji! Before Jared and I tell you about our time here in paradise (seriously, Fiji is heaven on earth) let's look back on our quick jaunt to the good old U.S. of A. We spent 10 days seeing people we love and chowing down on all the food we'd been missing.

Jared and I don't plan too far in advance, so when Jared's sister offered us two free tickets to Houston for her graduation, we jumped at the chance to go home for a bit. We took advantage of some buddy passes and frequent flier tickets and mapped a frantic U.S. tour: first Houston, then Florida, New York, and finally Los Angeles.

We touched down in Houston after more than five months in South America. I couldn't help but immediately see the overconsumption that is prevalent in the States. Everywhere we looked we saw big SUVs, big houses, big portions of food. Then again, this was Texas, where everything is big.


We weren't in Houston to sightsee, we were there to see family. Jared's sister Rachel became one of the newest flight attendants in the skies, and we both gained a new respect for flight attendants. (Rachel can evacuate a plane in 90 seconds!) As a bonus, we got to stay with Jared's cousins Cindy, Todd, 3-year-old Jessica, and one-year-old Colin. Last time we saw Jessica she was only one, and this was our first time meeting Colin, who I wanted to take with me.


Our next stop was my hometown, West Palm Beach, Florida. Throughout our last few weeks in South America, I was growing more homesick by the day. Seeing my parents, grandparents, and best friends did more for my spirits than a stay at a five-star hotel. My parents are selling my childhood home, so next time I see them they will be living in Georgia. I gave my grandparents big hugs, because they are 81 and 90, and I can't take them for granted anymore. Jared and I even got to spend time with his grandmother Myra, who lives not far from my parents. Friends are the family you choose, so seeing Jen, Billy, Katie, Bill, Eileen, and Hope was as important as seeing my parents. (I just wish I had taken more pictures of everybody.) Take a look at Jared's photos from Houston and Florida.


Then it was on to New York City, which is still my favorite city in the world. We had 36 hours to see as many of our friends as possible. It was a chilly Tuesday night in the city, but a few friends came to meet us for dinner and karaoke, and even more came out later for drinks. Over salmon and avocado rolls at our old sushi joint, we all sang rousing versions of "Sweet Child O Mine" and "Bohemian Rhapsody". Being serenaded by Feldman was worth the price of admission. Jared and I had missed all our friends more than they know, and seeing them was worth the trip to New York.


The next day in New York, I realized I had lost my wallet. Somewhere between paying for the cab back to Maria's apartment the night before, and walking 10 blocks that morning, my wallet went missing. Both my debit cards and three credit cards were in my wallet, and I know better than to keep all that stuff in one place. As my favorite blogger would say, BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Now that I was back on familiar territory I had let my guard down, and I was paying the price. It's better to have lost my wallet in New York than in a foreign country, but still, this is not how I wanted to spend my one free day in the New York City. I wanted to spend my day getting lemon cupcakes from Buttercup Bake Shop.


Los Angeles was the last stop on our North American leg. We scored a great deal on a flight to New Zealand, via Fiji, at half the price we would have paid from South America. So by coming home, we actually saved $1600. Plus we got to spend time with our good friends Erin, Hal, Hasmik, Kareem, Noah, Greg, Danielle, and Jenni. We grilled on a sidewalk, soaked in a hot tub, and spent time enjoying the hospitality of our new and old friends. Our time in L.A. also coincided with Community Next, a conference founded by our friend Noah. (We were used to seeing Noah in boxers at his Buenos Aires apartment, so it was strange to see him in a suit.) Right before our flight, we even crashed a barbecue where the host, who only met us that day, made us an incredible lunch of root beer marinated pork chops and grilled eggplant. Check out our photos from New York and L.A.


Having seen lots of family and friends and satisfied my cravings for margaritas, buffalo wings, spinach dip, sushi, chocolate chip cookies, salt and vinegar chips, In-N-Out Burger, Ethiopian food, sushi, burritos, The Cheesecake Factory, cookie dough ice cream, and more sushi, Jared and I boarded our flight to Fiji. We left the states feeling happy, exhausted, and ready for another long leg of travel. Thank you to everyone who put us up, transported us to and from airports, fed us and came to see us. We appreciate it more than you know.

Safe travels, J & J.

P.S. GO YANKEES!

Iguazu Falls and Carnaval, our Introduction to Brazil

Hello, friends and family. As I write this post, Jared and I are celebrating four months on the road. Over the past four months, we have spent countless hours on buses because we would rather save the plane fare. Then again, an 18-hour bus trip isn´t so bad when you have an attendant serving you champagne and a seat that folds down into a flat bed. We traveled to Puerto Iguazú on the holy grail of buses, one with genuine flat beds.

Before we visited the famous waterfalls, Jared and I stopped at Triple Frontier landmark. As we stood across on Argentine soil, we could see Paraguay to the left and Brazil to the right, just across the river. Each country´s territory was marked with an obelisk in their national colors. Most likely, that is the closest we will get to Paraguay.


How can I describe Iguazú Falls? Only a poet could do it justice. Iguazú Falls are a series of 275 waterfalls along 1.7 miles of the Iguazú river. The cataratas, as they are called in Spanish, are mostly 210 feet tall, though some are as tall as 269 feet. (Niagara Falls, for the record, are 167 feet tall.) Separating Brazil from Argentina, the falls should be seen from both sides to be properly appreciated. Argentina has the closer look--we took a boat into the base of some of the falls--while Brazil has the panoramic view. And, oh what a view. Take a look at Jared´s photos and try to imagine the roar of Iguazú Falls.


We finally got our Brazilian visas in Puerto Iguazú. The small consulate in the Argentine border town didn´t want to see any bank statements or proof of onward travel, they only wanted cold, hard cash. My visa cost $147, and Jared´s cost $70, almost 50% more than we were expecting. (Sometimes it pays to be Canadian.) And for some strange reason, my visa has a big stamp on it that says "FREE." If only that were true.

From beautiful Iguazú Falls, it was another overnight bus to Florianópolis, Brazil, where we would spend Carnaval. We stayed on the Ilha de Santa Caterina, at the Armaçao beach. In the small village of Armaçao, the Carnaval party was centered right outside our hostel. Music blared from a lone parade float, hundreds of people danced in the streets. As soon as the Super Bowl was over (congratulations, New York Giants!), Jared and I grabbed our caiprinhas and joined the party. Check out our photos of Carnaval and Florianopolis.

Honestly, up until Carnaval, I wasn´t so sure I wanted to visit Brazil. The language barrier, higher costs, and crime stories made me nervous. All my fears disappeared when a group of Brazilian women grabbed me by the hips during the party and showed me how to samba. Even though I can´t understand their language, the warmth of the Brazilian people is infectious.

Now that Carnaval is over, Jared and I are still having a fantastic time in Brazil. We are currently in Paraty, a small town with the best examples of colonial Portuguese architecture. You´ll hear more about Paraty in our next post.

Remember the volcano we saw back in October in Banos, Ecuador? Now it is erupting, though currently Banos isn´t at risk.

Punta del Diablo: Where all the young people go to party

After the most pampered couple of days around New Years (Thanks to the Lema family), Julie and I set off for Punta del Diablo, another beach town 3 hours up the coast, closer to Brazil. Our guide book described it as the anti Punta del Este, and they were right since it was cabins instead of high rise condos, although they forgot to mention that it´s the place all the young people go after New Years, so it wasn´t the small backpacker town we were expecting.

We showed up in the evening on Jan 2nd. I should take the time to mention that when traveling in high season, you need to think about arrival time in a new place. It´s something that I never really thought about until recently. If you don´t have a reservation, and most of us backpackers don´t, then you need to arrive around noon, when others are checking out. Since we arrived at night, it made finding a place difficult. That, and the fact that every young person from Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil had descended upon the town, to party it up for their summer vacation after New Years, and all the cottages were totally booked up for the season until March.

So, we went from the lap of luxury in Punta del Este, to staying in the crappiest hostel I have stayed in to date on this trip, maybe ever. Just to paint a picture of how crappy it was, they were originally an HI (Hosteling International) member, but lost their status. I wonder why! We stayed in separate dorm rooms. Mine had 23 beds, and a stench of mildewing bathing suits and towels. The showers, bathrooms, kitchen and common room were in disrepair, and god only knows when the place was last cleaned. The second day we tried to find a bungalow to rent or another hostel to stay at, but couldn´t find space. By the third day, I started to get used to the place. Ear plugs saved me from all the snoring people, and we had a parilla (BBQ) with the other guests, which made it more of a communal experience.



The town of PDD is massive. It is spread out with all these ski chalet like bungalows all over the place. There are only a couple hotels, as it seems most people rent private cottages. But as big as it seems, you can walk the town pretty easily...much easier if you´ve had a bottle or two of wine beforehand. The two main beaches are great for people watching, and they have good surf when there are waves. I spent 3 days hoping for good waves, but none came. Ah well. C'est la vie. I should also mention that the town has a little artists market, but the best thing about this market is that they have several stands selling the best empanadas I have ever tasted. Totally different from Argentine empanadas, these were deep fried, and so good.



One of the highlights of our four days in PDD was meeting some locals from Montevideo. One evening we met an American couple in our hostel. The girl had family in Uruguay and her cousins had rented a cabin in town with 9 others. I should probably mention it was 11 girls crammed into a place that could sleep a couple people comfortably. That´s how they do it here. At 12 am, after the parilla/grill was ready, we cooked a feast and danced to old 90´s music that I thought was forgotten. Oh, and dinner at this time is completely normal down here. At 3 am, which is prime time, we set off for a club that was a 20 min walk down a dirt road, outside in the forest. The place is to date one of my favorite clubs. About a thousand people were dancing and singing the lyrics to the spanish pop songs of the summer, all under the stars. By 5 am we were spent and headed home, but I think the locals stayed out until 9am or so, which is also normal. It´s my 29th birthday on Thursday, and already I feel old. Although, as my Mom constantly states, age is a state of mind. I guess I just need more training to keep up with the 21 year olds down here. To see what we´re talking about, here are my photos of PDD.

Go to Punta del Diablo, you´ll have a blast. Eat the empanadas like they are going out of style, find the clubs in the forest, but please book ahead so you don´t end up with a hostel bed in the crappy HI. Here´s a travel site with hotels and cabins for rent, plus other info on PDD.

I should also mention that we had a brief visit to Montevideo, the country´s capital on the way back to Buenos Aires. We had exactly 5 hours to see some sights before our night bus, so we went to the old city. My first impression was that this city is run down. There is more poverty than other parts of Uruguay, and Buenos Aires. There are all these beautiful old buildings that are unoccupied. It´s a shame. The city center was clean and modern, and the bus terminal is the best I´ve seen in South America, so maybe we didn´t see the best parts in 5 hours. Here are my photos of Montevideo. If you do end up going through Montevideo, you need to try the medio y medio. It´s a bottle of mixed champagne and white wine, and will refresh on the hottest of days.

Some of you have asked about how we travel, and the quality of buses in South America. The US and Canada could learn something from this. Ecuador and Bolivia aside, we´ve traveled most of the continent in first class double decker buses. The seats are similar to business class in airplanes. There are three seats to a row, they recline most of the way, have foot rests, and there are bus attendants that serve you a meal. Couple this with some good earplugs and an eye mask and you sleep like a baby, ready for sightseeing at your next destination.

Buenos Aires and the Beach

¡Feliz año nuevo! When last we spoke, Jared and I were headed to Buenos Aires, eager to finally meet this city we´d heard so much about. After an auspicious introduction (the cab into town was unexpectedly expensive, and our hotel tried to charge us 30% more than the published rate), we began to enjoy the bustling metropolis with the tango beat. With European architecture, unending nightlife, and more steak than we can eat, what´s not to love about Buenos Aires?

We did more apartment hunting than sightseeing in the three days we were in Buenos Aires. After almost three months on the road (you should see our list of cities--it´s coming soon), Jared and I are weary from moving every three days. We rented a room in the Monserrat neighborhood near the city center, and we are looking forward to having a home to call our own for the rest of January. By New York standards, our room in a nine-bedroom row house is a steal: $350 gets us a furnished, sunny room, a functioning kitchen, a spacious rooftop deck, and several friendly housemates. Our house is a mix of international students and a few locals, so we´ll be practicing our Spanish. If you´re going to be in the area this month, please let us know.


We did get a chance to go out until dawn, to sprint across the world´s widest street, and to pose for photos in front of the presidential palace. (Check out our photos of Buenos Aires.) But really, our exploration of Buenos Aires didn´t scratch the surface.


To ring in the new year, Jared and I headed to Punta del Este, Uruguay, the swankiest resort town in all of South America. (Take a look at our photos of Punta.) Our good friends Christina and Pablo Lema were going to be there, and Pablo´s parents graciously hosted us while we were in town. We lived a tough life in Punta del Este: sailing in the morning, sunbathing on the beach in the afternoon, caiprinhas at sunset. On New Year´s Eve, the entire city shot off fireworks for an hour, and we had a perfect view from the Lemas´ terrace. We watched as thousands of Brazilian visitors, all dressed in white, walked down to the water to pay homage to the sea god by walking backwards into the water. At 3am (that´s when the night starts here), we found a party where the champagne was flowing freely. Just as the sun was starting to color the sky pink, Pablo, Christina, Jared, and I called it a night. All in all, it was a perfect (and warm!) New Year´s Eve.



Truth be told, Punta del Este isn´t really our kind of town. It´s full of jetsetters, not backpackers. But it was one of the highlights of our trip. After months away from our friends, seeing Pablo and Christina was like going home for a bit. Pablo´s parents, Alvaro and Susana, made us feel welcome even though they had never met us before. As we left, they sent us with a care package of fruit, a huge ham and cheese torte, and a bottle of wine from land that used to be in Alvaro´s family. Like true parents, they wanted to make sure we had enough food for dinner. We were sincerely touched by their generosity. Alvaro and Susana, muchísimas gracias.


By the way, Uruguay marks the sixth country we´ve visited. Their coast faces the Atlantic Ocean, meaning we have officially crossed South America. Take a look at the map of our travels, which is also visible on our blog.