Archives for December 2009

Foodie Friday – The Other Meats

December 18, 2009 By Danny

As we travel we obviously like to try the different foods an area offers. Often this goes beyond just the cooking style or cuisine of an area. In the Andes we were able to try Llama and Alpaca (even on a pizza in Bolivia) and weren’t permitted to leave Peru without trying Cuy (guinea pig). In Brazil we enjoyed Piranha soup, we went to Oaxaca with the sole purpose of eating a grasshopper, and when we came home the only thing I wanted to eat was buffalo (bison).

The nice thing about all these foods is that they are truly local, providing us with a rich cultural experience while allowing us to directly support the local economy as well. Many though have an additional benefit, they are better for our bodies than traditional red meat. By the time we left the states we rarely ever had beef on our freezer, preferring bison meat instead because it was better for us, the economy, and the environment, if maybe not quite as perfect for our pocket book.

But now we are in Africa (yes, we arrived a couple of days ago now) and the idea of eating those “indigenous” meats here has a very different connotation. Sure, we’re about to head into Mozambique where supposedly the fish just comes right out of the sea, through the grill, and onto your plate in a matter of seconds, but what about the rest of those animals that Africa is famous for? Is it ethical to have a zebra kabob or an elephant stew? We do expect to eat Ostrich (heck, you can even get that as fast food in the USA) but what else should we look for and try?

South American Report Card

December 17, 2009 By Danny

With a few weeks back in the states to “relax” a bit before continuing to Africa we’ve had a bit of time to take stock of how we’ve done and, almost as importantly, how our budget has done.

A reminder of how all this works. Every dollar amount represents how much the two of us, combined, spent on the average day in a given country. Airfare to and from the continent is included in transportation in the totals line and aren’t applied to any specific continent. Even with the airfare this is less than we used to spend living in the US. For more information visit our spending page.

Colombia: Coming out of Central America, this beautiful and friendly country was a breath of fresh air. Modern yet still off the tourist track it was overall very friendly to our budget. That being said, we skipped on most of the country (fewer buses means less $$$) because of its proximity to the USA.

Ecuador: From our budget’s standpoint Ecuador was very similar to Colombia, both economical and close to the USA so we saved our time and money for later excursions. High season (summer on the US academic calendar) meant that last minute rates on the Galapagos Islands were no special price so we decided to skip.

Peru: We spent a lot of time in Peru, partly because there was a lot to do and partly because we had a comfy place to stay to stay in Lima. Staying put helped to keep both our transportation and lodging costs down despite traveling through most of the country. The big money we spent here were for the big ticket items like Machu Picchu and trekking in Huaraz, experiences we were more than happy to fork over a few bucks for when the incredible food was so cheap to begin with.

Bolivia: This is the cheapest country we visited in South America, despite the expensive visa. The reason it cost us so much money is that we had a multi-day tour of the Amazon, another multi-day tour of the salt flats, and then we topped that with a bike ride down the death road and a rural airplane ride from the jungle to La Paz. Activities did our budget in, and that’s more than OK with us. Food didn’t cost so much because it came free with the activities and other than the airplane the buses were cheap because they were missing windshields…and road-safe roads as well.

Brazil: This was our most expensive country by far. The pricey visa and the exchange rate didn’t do us any favors (to the nickel a subway ride within Rio was the same as a subway ride in Washington, DC) and the huge distances had us paying top dollar for an internal flight. The amazing part is that between wonderful couch surfing friends and winning a free tour of the Pantanal we only had to pay for lodging for 3 nights.

Argentina: For the “typical” traveler, Argentina represents the best value in our opinion; a fully first world country with a favorable exchange rate and just tons to do. While in Argentina we biked, hiked, toured, couchsurfed, whale-watched, penguin hunted , enjoyed 30 of 32 consecutive hours in a bus, and who can forget wine touring. Couchsurfing and spending a week with the Tobias padres helped to offset the expenses of Patagonia and treating ourselves nicely for our 3 year wedding anniversary in the southernmost city of the world. Patagonia was expensive and if we did Argentina again, we’d probably skip it. The Lake district was supposed to be very expensive but we managed to find incredible value doing our own thing and touring the north in the care of others was a pleasant change of pace.

Chile: This is not a cheap country to travel in and unfortunately we left most of it for next time., partly on account of price and partly because we’d hit the seasons wrong. We had a good time kayaking where we could and couchsurfing in Santiago. Torres del Paine was also a big attraction that we didn’t skip despite the hefty prices just to go camping.

Tobias Index

December 15, 2009 By Danny

Now that we’re off to Africa we figured it was about time to get our Latin America summary out there. Epic bus journeys in the south and more than a month of nights sleeping on buses…its been a real adventure.
Here’s a summary of the most “fun” statistics for the last 9 or so months:

8.5 – Months spent on the road

33 – Nights spent on a bus (Jillian’s note: We should have calculated our total hours on the bus!)

23 – Nights spent couchsurfing

20 – Hours of longest single bus ride

4 – Viewings of Transporter 3 on the bus

2 – Bathroom breaks from the bus where there was no bathroom present

15 – Countries visited

41 – Passport Stamps

2 – Hemispheres enjoyed

2 – Gastro-intestinal lab tests

4 – Ferry crossings

1 – Train

11 – Planes

6 – Most consecutive nights in the same bed

6 – Volcanoes hiked

2 – Active volcanoes hiked

6 – Rivers kayaked

4 – Guidebooks

4 – Countries where we bought and paid for a local telephone number

3 – Largest continuous amount of time, in hours, between March 13th and November 30th we spent apart…

Foodie Friday: Chili Half-Smoke.

December 11, 2009 By Jillian

I had just finished eating my chili fries when I saw the blue raincoat. “Oh my god.” I said to my sister. “Danny’s here.” I shouldn’t have been surprised by Danny’s arrival, after all he’d only been talking about a half-smoke since … Bolivia.

You probably have a food or a restaurant that reminds you of home. It might not be the food, but it’s the booth, the atmosphere or the surly waitress. For D.C. it has always meant Ben’s Chili Bowl and the chili half-smoke. Delicious and messy, their half-smoke smothered in chili might give you indigestion, and you might have to wait for a table but it will be worth every greasy minute.

Those of you not familiar with DC’s half-smoke are probably looking at this picture with chili running down Danny’s hand and are thinking “gross!”. A 100% spiced beef sausage, a half smoke is perhaps the only original DC food. You can’t go to Washington and not try one. For us, chili half-smokes have always been a part of our DC lives. They’re found all over the city from hot dog vendors on the national mall to the ballpark, but there is only one true place for the chili half-smoke: Ben’s. They’ve got the best chili half-smoke, and even sell a delicious vegetarian chili and veggie burger. But if you order that, well… we need to talk.

For more than fifty years Ben’s has been a Washington institution, a gathering place of people from all walks of life without the politics. Trust me, that’s rare in D.C. It’s served protesters and police at the same time for god knows how many protests over the years. At this point the restaurant is practically a pilgrimage site in DC, so much so that Danny has forced all of his cousin’s to go there when they come for a visit. In our own lives, it’s been witness to numerous nights out, several dates, and even one friend’s birthday, year after year after year.

So there we were, me sitting back with my Thanksgiving full like feel and Danny waiting in line for his first half-smoke in nine months. As I said hello and goodbye to Danny I walked out the door and heard the familiar “chili half-smoke please.” And it felt like home.

P.S. Wanna know who can eat free at Ben’s?

The world keeps on moving…

December 9, 2009 By Jillian

It hasn’t been such a rough transition coming home for “intermission.” We’ve been gone long enough to appreciate rather than be annoyed by the little things that make home, home. Yes, people yelling into their cell phones are annoying, but that appears to be a worldwide phenomenon and one that’s probably not going to change.

We appreciate so many things we took for granted before we left. Little things. Sitting in Bryant Park last week I used the most incredible public bathroom I’d ever seen. Well decorated, clean with fancy hand soap, soft ply toilet paper and fresh cut flowers; I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the thought of some of the restrooms I’ve used over the last nine months. The difference couldn’t be more staggering. That bathroom was like heaven on earth.

I’m sure we’ve changed more than we think, mostly because we don’t think we’ve changed that much. Nine months is a long time, and yet change happens very slowly. Take for example many of our friends and family. They’ve become parents (12 new babies we know or are about to know!) and homeowners, met a significant other, bought new furniture, taken new jobs, and planned their weddings. They’re the same people and yet they have all matured, changed, and moved forward in their lives. Not that I ever expected things to remain at a standstill, but its amazing to see how similar and yet different people are after nine months. Ever heard the expression same, same, but different? That’s how I feel.

Same, same, but different. That’s probably how we seem to all of you. Life goes on and next week we’ll be in Africa. Perhaps there it won’t be so similar, but having traveled all over South America we’ve found that people, in every small village and of every background tend to live up to the expression. We’re all the same same, but different.

Oh and one more thing to women out there- when did tights become pants?

Foodie Friday – The Other Meats

South American Report Card

Tobias Index

Foodie Friday: Chili Half-Smoke.

The world keeps on moving…

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