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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 Quest for Beervana

December 4, 2009 By Jillian

It should be no surprise that along with lots of ruins, whitewater and trekking, our tour of the America’s also included beer. Lots and lots of beer. From Mexico to Argentina beer seems to be the local beverage of choice, and almost always its cheaper than soda or sometimes even bottled water. It was not unusual for us to find a liter of beer for less than $3. When it’s that cheap you just have to try it. So we did.

On what is now called our quest for beervana (thanks to our friends for the name), we’ve sampled the local brew in every locale, from ice-cold Salva Vida in Honduras to an amber Beagle down in Ushuaia. There have been some good beers, some beers good for the moment, and even one green coca beer in Peru. Most beers produced in the America’s are lagers or pilsners and it seems the hotter the country the colder the beer. The coldest beer we’ve seen was in Honduras and fortunately at the time we were sweating to death. According to the thermometer on the refrigerator the beer was stored at -9 Celsius (about 15 Fahrenheit). It was perhaps the most refreshing and delicious pilsner in the world, or at least at that moment.

Our quest for beervana has turned into challenge to create a substantial beer label collection. We’ve taken the labels off all sorts of bottles, many of which have been mangled in the process. Just for the record the sticker labels are the hardest to take off. Our quest to build a collection has resulted in choosing our selections by the label not the actual beer, which in some cases has led to mistakes such as the coca beer. It has also led us to some delicious Colombian micro-brews and copious amounts of Brazilian chopp (draught beer), err… maybe not the chopp. That might be our own fault.

Our quest for beervana continues while we’re on “intermission” at home. This week we headed to the Yuengling (my home brew) in Pennsylvania for a factory tour and tasting. Danny and I have been trying to get there for years, but for one reason or another it never worked out. Fortunately the quest for beervana took precedence this time and we finally made it. It was by far the best factory tour ever and not only because it ended in a beer tasting, actually truthfully it was because it ended in beer tastings, two in fact.

Anyway, as we head to Africa have no fear, the quest for beervana will continue. Fortunately we’ve spent enough evenings at Brickskeller to know which African beers to avoid, but we’re always open to suggestions. Anything out there you think we should try or avoid? Where do you want to share a beer with us?

Salud!

South American Report Card

Tobias Index

Foodie Friday: Chili Half-Smoke.

The world keeps on moving…

Foodie Friday: The Quest for Beervana

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