Glasgow

A modern Scotland

I seem to have a problem- everywhere we go, I decide I could live there. This rule held up in Glasgow! It is such a vibrant city, full of activity; and has such nice people. It was seriously quite amazing how open and friendly people were. We were taking a selfie outside of a restaurant and a security guard offered to take the picture for us. He then took multiple pictures, asked where we were visiting from, then gave us a bunch of information about the area and recommended going around the corner to Ashton Lane, where the picture above was taken. [Read More]

Edinburgh

Pronounced as -burah, not -burg

I really wasn't expecting Edinburgh to be so beautiful! What a difference compared to Buenos Aires, where the style was all over the place in terms of architecture (younger city + no building codes + people wanting to copy Paris, London, and Madrid styles = no uniform look). Edinburgh's main flavor is sandstone. For us, the amount of tourists was kind of shocking (and rather off-putting). I think this mostly has to do with the fact that we didn't really come across any in Buenos Aires. [Read More]

Punta del Este

We decided to take a short trip across the river during our last few weeks in South America, and arguably the quickest flight we’ve ever been on. A whole thirty minutes in the air to Punta del Este, Uruguay. For the uninitiated, Punta is a famous beach town here in South America, busting at the seams with tourists during the summer months of December to March and (as we learned) virtually empty during the off season. [Read More]

San Pedro de Atacama

High and dry

The Atacama desert is one of the driest places on Earth, second only to Antarctica. It also exists at an extremely high elevation (which is part of the reason for the minimal moisture). San Pedro de Atacama was suggested as one of the top places to visit in Chile. As with much of our trip, we didn’t have much of a plan once we arrived. We found a quaint Airbnb the week before we were set to arrive. [Read More]

El Calafate...

...and El Chalten

Our next stop was a two hour flight northwest to El Calafate, which is also the name of a of berry local to the region. This city is has a population of about 20,000 people and would you believe it- pink flamingos! Here is poor quality picture proof, because let’s face it I’m not a professional wildlife photographer. We rented a car last minute, which allowed us to 1) Experience Argentine driving for ourselves and 2) Explore the city while staying warm. [Read More]

First Impressions of Buenos Aires

I have been enjoying my first few days in Buenos Aires immensely. We’ve been doing a fair bit of walking around the local neighborhood (Belgrano), mostly to coffee shops. We did spend one day in the car with Ryan’s aunt in San Isidro and one day by car in Palmero, Recoleta, and Almagro. I will get better pictures later but here are a few to whet your appetite: Palace of the Argentine National Congress [Read More]