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It was the best of times…it was the worst of times.

November 29, 2009 By Danny

We’ve survived our first week of “intermission”. In between forkfuls of turkey we’ve been answering questions about the trip. Lots and lots of questions. What was your favorite (fill in the blank here)? What was the worst…? well you get the picture. So here it is folks, our best and our worst of the last 8 months.

Best Way to Start a 2 Year Trip – Baja, Mexico. Grinning ear to ear as those grey whales just swam right on up to let you pet them…then jumping into the water to swim with some sea lions.
Worst Night On a Bus – Bolivia…going from La Paz down the death road to the Amazon where we weren’t sure if we’d wake up alive.
Stupidest Decision – Amazon, Bolivia. Swimming in that river with caymen…
Best Hot Spring – Fuentes Georginas outside of Xela, Guatemala. These were built into the side of the mountain with beautiful views and clouds that just rolled in and out and there was a water temperature to please literally everyone.
Place we wish we’d stayed longer – Ometepe, Nicaragua. This beautiful island was covered in monkey filled rainforest where the food was good and the beaches were perfectly peaceful.
Strangest “Dish” – Grasshoppers. Oaxaca, Mexico. Does this really need explanation?
Most Fun in One Day – Death Road, Bolivia. It’s called the Death Road…what else is there to say?!.
Craziest Monument – The Ecuator, Ecuador. This place was just rediculous..
Most Overrated – Valle de la Luna, Argentina. Nothing but a bunch of rocks.
Most Underrated – Copan, Honduras. Best ruins we’ve seen, easy to access as well.
Best Food – Mexico. No, not tex-mex…I mean real Mexican. Cheap and always enough spice to make you cry.
Most Extreme Sport – Volcano Boarding, Nicaragua. Snow is soft, lava rock isn’t.
Most Diverse – Brazil. People from every corner of the globe…they even have Sushi.
Best Bed – Buenos Aires, Argentina. That’s what happens when your parents come to take care of you for a week.
Best Volcano – Volcan Pacaya. Antigua, Guatemala. Easily accessible and cheap to climb, don’t forget to bring along some marshmellows to roast in the lava!.
Best Foreign Movie – Romeo and Juliet…the Brazillian version. Two opposing futbol (soccer) teams makes for one great comedy…plus no one dies.
Best Festival – Okotberfest, Brazil. The largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany.
Best Stars – We had a new moon when we were in the Amazon…it was brilliant.
Most Fun with a Camera – Salt Flats, Bolivia. Rumor has it that we even messed up some NASA satellites that day!.
Best Sporting Event – Futbol. Xela vs Guatemala. Nothing better than flying, flaming toilet paper…in a country that never seems to have enough toilet paper!
Most Awesome Force of Nature – Iguazu, Argentina/Brazil. The waterfall that puts all others to shame.
Best Luck – La Moskitia, Honduras. We stumbled upon a mother turtle laying 99 eggs. We were lucky to see it but the baby turtles were luckier b/c it meant being cared for in a lab rather than being eaten by the locals.
Best Trek – Huaraz, Peru. Despite suffering from diarrea at 4700m in elevation and being thrown from a horse…well maybe that’s what made it so wonderful 😉 We blame this illness on having previously eaten a complete 3 course meal that cost less than $1.
Scariest Moment – Belize. 7.1 Earthquake. Very scary and so we made a video to make ourselves feel better.
Most Gringos per Capita – Cuzco, Peru. If Disney ever created an “Inca” land…this would be it.
Most Invasive Customs Check – Panama. They even searched us leaving the country.
Most Exciting Thing Coming Up – Africa. All of it!

Foodie Friday: Perrito Caliente

November 27, 2009 By Danny

Sure, yesterday was thanksgiving and we made it back to the States in time to celebrate but featuring turkey just doesn’t seem right to us, given that it is virtually impossible to find anywhere south of the border. Instead, in honor of Turkey Day, we figured we’d offer our readers a taste of another USA treat. One we know and love that just hasn’t been the same south of the border: the hot dog.

There is an expression sometimes uttered in Washington, that the two things you never want to see made: sausages and laws. I don’t disagree. So we’ll skip the creation process of these encased little snacks and instead focus on the different varieties we’ve tasted.

Guatemala– the rather tasteless cheveres scared us a bit and we generally shied away. Only available after dark on the street they always smelled a bit foul and the fixins were never particularly appetizing.

Colombia– we had our first taste of the South American version of the hot dog, where it was actually called a perrito caliente (little hot dog). It was smothered in smashed up plantain or potato chips, doused with an army of sauces and covered with onions. The chips were really what separated it from the NYC variety, that and that in Colombia the one we had was microwaved instead of flame cooked or boiled in water.

Brazil– I don’t remember what they called it, but we ate it at a stand in Cuiaba. It was on a toasted bun with cheese, ham, hot dog, lettuce, ketchup, mayo, crunchie fries and tomato. It was by far the greasiest piece of meat we’ve eaten in our entire lives. We felt sick afterwards.

Bolivia– Instead of just a hot dog, Bolivia is a fan of salchipapas (also common in Peru), cut up hot dog on french fries. The hot dog isn’t the highlight, but with all that grease on one plate, it can’t taste bad. Plus, they always had ketchup. Yum.

Argentina- had in my opinion, the most fun with the hot dog called a Super Pancho. In these the dog was usually about a foot long, if not longer, and didn’t come close to fitting inside the bun. The number of sauces piled on top (ketchup, mustard, mayo, golf sauce) is rather unsettling and these are almost never sold in street side stands and instead are sold in small Super Pancho shops. The best part is that like Colombia and Brazil, crunchy potato sticks are put all over the top.

Chile- very similar to Argentina except that the sauces we tried were all… unsettling. Also called a pancho, and the one we tried in Santiago, well we did have video, but trust us you wouldn’t want to see it.

In truth though, nothing comes close to a good Sabrett or Hebrew National dog from a NYC vendor, covered in ketchup (a rarity anywhere but the USA) mustard, onions, relish, and maybe some onions and if you’re really lucky some chili sauce. In fact, just thinking about the late night dogs we used to get in college from Manouch has me salivating. Washington, D.C.’s specialty is the half-smoke, a plump and short spicy beef dog served on a plain bun or better yet at Ben’s served smothered in chili. Since we haven’t been up to New York (or even Washington, DC) in awhile we had to ask a friend to fine one to enjoy for us…it wasn’t too difficult to convince him to do it though.

(Jill’s Editors Note: Danny was raised by a New Yorker, so he’s completely biased. This post is clearly wrong. He has left our the best hot dog on the planet- the Chicago Char-Dog. A char-broiled beef delight covered in ketchup, mustard, onions and kosher dill slices served on a poppy seed bun. Hmm… it just makes my mouth water. Anyone know where I can get one of these on the east coast before mid-december?)

In Search of Orca, the Sea Wolf

November 24, 2009 By Danny

Yes, that’s what the name Orca is derived from…sea wolf. It was once believed that Orcas were descendents of wolves that had gone to the sea. For quite some time now I have counted these amazing creatures as my favorite animal and ever since seeing them snatch a living seal off of a Patagonian beach on the BBC’s Planet Earth last year…well, I wanted to see it for myself.

And that is just one of the many reasons we found ourselves finishing off our trip in Peninsula Valdez and the little town of Puerto Madryn in Patagonia. Having already headed to Punto Tombo the day prior it was time to head to Peninsula Valdez to see basically everything else: sea lions, elephant seals, more penguins, the southern right whale, and of course my friend the Orca.

The first stop was the proper whale watch for the Southern Right Whale (Ballena Franca Austral) where whale sightings were virtually guaranteed. We were a bit hesitant to even go on the trip because no boat trip could ever really beat how we started 8 months ago in Mexico but we ultimately signed on and really enjoyed ourselves. We saw a number of whales breach and several came quite close to the boat, nearly close enough to touch although not quite there. We watched as the seagulls tried to eat the skin off the babies and as their mothers taught them to dive to get away. I think the best part was seeing how many Southern Right Whales there are as its Northern brother was all but obliterated by commercial whaling. In fact the name “right whale” is derived from those days when the sailors would ask each other if they got the right whale or the wrong whale.

After that our group knew it was time to search for some Orcas. The Orcas that live here off the coast of Argentina are the only ones in the world that have developed this practice of eating seals as they “roast” on the beach and there are only a handful of places where this normally takes place. As luck would have it though, this is not the season for them to do this and we were warned by virtually everyone that we wouldn’t get to see the hunting Orcas. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t try…

We went to one lookout along the first of the two beaches, all we found there were more penguins. The second lookout, lots of roasting seals. The third, more of the same. No Orcas but we did see plenty of seals which was even a bit upsetting in itself. I’m not so sure that we have seen an uglier animal than the elephant seal on this entire trip…and we’ve seen a ton of wildlife.

Alas there were no orcas and no seal feasts. Maybe next time….

Foodie Friday: Carne, Carne, Carne!

November 20, 2009 By Jillian

This is our last foodie friday in South America so we should probably dedicate it to something we can’t escape here in Argentina- red meat. For most of latin america red meat is prohibitively expensive for the general population, so we’ve been eating mostly chicken and when we can find it, fish. That was until we got to Argentina. Now we can’t find fish.

Argentina is like heaven for red meat lovers. It’s delicious, available everywhere and very inexpensive. At every restaurant from the five stars to the local diner, red meat is on the menu in a list that would make even the top US steakhouses jealous. Cut after cut, which is usually translated as something different on every menu, the steak usually comes by itself, simply prepared with even salt or pepper. Every dining establishment has a steak sandwich (lomito sandwich) on the menu, and trust us, its delicious even at the bus station.

A “bife de chorizo”, which no lie is usually about 14 ounces or more of steak usually runs less than $10, and as you can imagine its enough food for an entire day. After more than a six weeks in Argentina and Chile we’ve had our full of steak, but we just can’t get away from it. I kid you not, Danny’s been looking for trout or salmon at every restaurant for the last three weeks and he’s only had salmon once…and that was in Chile. We just can’t get away from red meat.

When Danny’s parents came to visit us, his Dad made it a mission to eat steak at lunch and dinner every day. Not that its hard to do, but after a few days he had us all begging for chicken or a salad. Imagine what we feel like after six weeks! I’m certainly not complaining, I’m a red meat person myself, but every once in a while a girl needs a salad or a grilled chicken breast just to balance things out. Our cholesterol and weight probably don’t appreciate Argentina, but our palates certainly do. You can bet that once we leave I won’t be ordering a steak for a while.

Money Management – Credit Cards Take 1

October 28, 2009 By Danny

water-lilies People often ask us how we manage our money while we’re abroad. Do we just use cash, can we use credit cards, how much do we pay in fees, etc. Although we have a nice little page (ishouldlogoff.com/finance) devoted to how we do this, there are a couple of things left unsaid on that page.

Does it all work out as it should?

For the last 7 months we’ve been testing those financial products we’ve come to depend on to see if they do deliver as promised. We use a Schwab Visa card as well as a Capital One Master Card which both claim to not charge a foreign exchange fee. We also carry an American Express card and while my parents were visiting, my father was carrying another Visa card that made no such promises. Lastly, there is our Schwab ATM card which promises no foreign exchange fees in addition to no ATM fees.

To test if we are not being charged a foreign exchange fee by our credit cards we used all the cards on a single day in Argentina and have calculated the exchange rate we received, automatically, from each service. Since my father had his Visa card with him, we chose to test the Schwab Visa rather than the Capital One Master Card to determine whether Visa itself took a fee.

ARG / USD – 3.8395	Pesos	USD	Rate	Variation
Schwab Visa ATM Card	1011.52	264.29	3.8273	0.32%
Schwab Visa Credit Card	30	7.86	3.8168	0.59%
Chase Visa (Marriott)	204	55.02	3.7077	3.55%
Amex (Starwood Preferred)	24	6.44	3.7267	3.03%

Using the rate provided for me by Yahoo! Finance (far better for these purposes than Google Finance, although not nearly as snazzy) of 3.8395 pesos per dollar on the day in question I’ve calculated the above exchange rates and their variation from that rate provided by Yahoo. As you can see both Schwab cards (the ATM fee is included in the calculation, Schwab will reimburse this at the end of the month) charged me a foreign exchange fee less than 1% higher than the rate reported by Yahoo. Amex was next cheapest at an even 3% and the regular Visa came in around 3.5%, about 3% higher than my Schwab Visa card.

First off we need to understand that I am a travel blogger without regular access to a Bloomberg machine nor did I ever work as an investment banker. Yahoo provides only one rate to me and I’m not sure if each card pulls a spot rate or a day’s closing rate or whatever other options might be out there. Basically I’m disclosing that all the numbers I provide are “close enough for government work” type numbers.

It looks as those Chase bank charges 3% more than Schwab bank. I think it is also safe to say that the 0.5% fee we see from Schwab (and therefore from Chase as well) is the foreign transaction fee charged by Visa and not by the bank. Nothing in life is guaranteed but death and taxes and this is yet another form of one of those taxes.

In its documentation, American Express claims a 2.7% foreign transaction fee. The fee I’ve calculated is slightly higher, I believe this may be a difference in fluctuating exchange rates if American Express pulls a spot rate. In fact, if I compare the AMEX rate to the exchange rate I received at the ATM rather than to the rate provided by Yahoo finance I get 2.7%. Additionally, this means that Visa itself may be charging somewhat less than 0.5%.

In summary it looks like my special ‘no foreign fee’ cards do deliver as promised. Chase is clearly a poor option, as I’m sure are most other banks’ credit cards. Hopefully I’ve not confused you but I have left several questions open.

1.Do Visa and MasterCard charge the same fee?
2.Does my Wachovia/Wells Fargo ATM card charge the same fee as my Schwab card?
3.How does CapitalOne’s promise compare to Schwab’s promise of no fees?
4.Have I made a grave error in proving to all of you that I’m a nerd at heart?

Future posts on this subject will aim to tackle numbers 1-3. Number four I fear, has already been answered. Please me know if there is something else you think should be tested or there is something obvious I’ve missed.

It was the best of times…it was the worst of times.

Foodie Friday: Perrito Caliente

In Search of Orca, the Sea Wolf

Foodie Friday: Carne, Carne, Carne!

Money Management – Credit Cards Take 1

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