If…Then – THITW Buenos Aires

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Quintessential Buenos Aires Experiences:
Popular for a reason, but potentially overdone like a dried out steak.

In true semi-hipster, Portlandia fashion, we were pleased to discover a great number of alternatives to common Buenos Aires hotspots during our month long stint in the city, and we share them below for your amusement and someday-trip-planning-pleasure (perhaps?).


A Trendy “Hole in the Wall” Photo – Taken Especially for my Brothers during our sneaky tour of Majestic Hotel in Buenos Aires.

My brothers and I have an inside joke that I’m about to make public (and probably perplexing, but bear with me): they mock me for seeking out – as we Portlanders are wont to do – lesser known, smaller activities, places, and events that (arguably) posses more character and substance than the overdone alternatives.

“Trendy Hole in the Wall” is their dig; THITW for short. Continue reading →

Hola, Buenos Aires!

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Finished with a six week stretch of back-to-back adventures through Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Patagonian Argentina, we flew to Buenos Aires, dipped our toes in rooting hormone (sorry, horticulture joke), and planted ourselves into a month long stay in the bustling city.

We arrived to a mid-February heat index forecast of 105 degrees. And oi! The flight from El Calafate to Buenos Aires through a sky full of hot air was truly shocking.

A recap from Daily Travel Journal #41:

So, those classic plane crash scenes: LOST, Cast Away, etc.? Yes, those. Think that; 12-15 seconds of psychological torture. I’m not usually one to be panicky on airplanes, but when snapped out of a nap by the plane jolting violently, jumping (or was it falling?) through the air, throwing the woman in the aisle to the ground, and then sending sensations of weightlessness through my body, my stomach turned and my mind flashed with memories of the 2010 news story of crazy turbulence and the flight that disappeared en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris… The oxygen masks never dropped, but the crew and passengers were all quite shaken. Rough turbulence about an hour later on the descent into Buenos Aires. Apparently, the crazy hot weather plays games with little paper airplanes in the skies. Fast forward: landed, took a taxi to San Telmo, met our lovely landlord, received the keys to our charming little apartment, visited the first of many cafes we’re sure to love, went to a comedy club with new friends from South American Explorers, and settled into our first night in the big city.

“A month in Buenos Aires” had been a travel planning mantra in the year leading up to our departure. Right alongside the “Transatlantic Cruise,” this promise of a pause in fast-paced touring and a complete change from our daily life at home motivated and excited us each time we reached a milestone in our savings goals. Continue reading →

Argentina’s Perito Moreno Glacier: Inspiration on the Rocks

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Confession: I’ve harbored deep skepticism about the value of a visit to Perito Moreno Glacier.

Perito Moreno Glacier is El Calafate’s claim to fame; companies send buses, arrange lavish day trips and tour boats, and every store in the Argentinian city sells the same twelve post cards depicting the great ice wall towering above the chilly waters of Lago Argentino.

Truthfully (bear with me, here), I’ve rarely given any glacier a second thought. When living in New Zealand, I didn’t bother with a visit to Franz Josef, and even in Torres del Paine and Parques Nacional Los Glaciares, I was only beginning to come around when we saw Grey and Grande Glaciers. (Hold the rotten tomatoes, please. I’m just trying to be honest.)

Perito Moreno Glacier is hyped by every tour operator and guidebook in El Calafate, and I worried that we’d be cattle-herded past a hunk of ice, and I’d be playing the Emperor’s New Clothes Game, saying, “Ohhh, how lovely. Very nice,” while thinking, “Um. It’s frozen water. In a large amount. Cool. Why did we pay all this money again?”

Ted began the mission of winning me over. He’s been fascinated by glaciers for a long while, and his giddiness has been palpable each time we’ve rounded a bend to encounter a massive field of ice.

The moment we began walking down the elevated trails toward the lookout points and heard the creaks and groaning of this enormous mass, my attention was captured, too. Continue reading →

Growing Pains in El Chalten

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What started as a Netflix DVD date-night-in a few years ago culminated in a February visit to El Chalten, Argentina, the quirky little “Swiss Village of the Patagonian Alps.”

On a sunlit morning, we bussed across the invisible line separating Chile from its Eastern neighbor and began the second half of our visit to the lower lands of South America. Following a short mid-afternoon stopover in the lakeside tourist city of El Calafate, we zoomed another several hours to the north and came upon El Chalten as the sun set behind the stunning mountain range.

At this moment of dusk, the grand peaks of Cerro Fitz Roy called out, “Congratulations, tired travelers! You’ve reached the land of mountain climbers, wildlife, and majestic peaks: the remote frontier of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares.” Continue reading →

Tips for Trekking Torres del Paine with an “Indoorsy” Spouse

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Scale Model of Torres del Paine: Making 50 kilometers of trekking trails look deceptively simple.

My traveling sweetheart is self-proclaimed as “Indoorsy,” more at home in coffee shops and brew pubs than in swaths of nylon draped over steel poles and staked to damp earth.

After successfully wooing him into a grand five day, four night tent-camping adventure in Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park, I had a tall order to fill in making the adventure worth the sacrifice.

Here are my best trekking tips for keeping his outdoor experience as comfortable as possible:
(Ha! Wink, wink. Ted, you are such a good sport!) Continue reading →

Trekking through the Ashes

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“μ” Trek, Day 1: The western lands of Torres del Paine greeted us with smells of charred wood and scenes of black ash, remnants of a tourist’s mishap when burning waste at a campsite at Grey Glacier. To the south, we could see smoke rising in the distance. Our route was safely finished smoldering, but remote areas of the Park still suffered in flames.

Continue reading →

Torres del Paine: The “μ” Trek

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Torres del Paines’ recent forest fires altered the face of the landscape and changed the availability of Refugios and campgrounds along the common trekking routes, prompting us to explore Chilean Patagonia’s 598,338 acre natural wonderland on an alternate to the Park’s famed “W Trek.”

The traditional “W” is commonly traveled in five days, four nights from East to West or West to East, depending on preference, and includes trails up and back to three main points in the park: Grey Glacier, The French Valley, and La Torres.

Since Refugio Pehoe on the West end and Campamento Italiano and the in-lying campsites in the French Valley were closed and temperamental weather dealt us clouds on day designated for the middle fork, we let go of the French Valley trail and created our own “μ” Trek. Continue reading →

Paying Respects to Torres del Paine: Planning A Visit After the Fire

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We were dressed in high-tech mourning clothes, attending a funeral for the landscape, all but a few square inches of our bodies covered in black rain-proof, wind-proof, sun-proof zippers and Velcro, laces and glasses. The acrid smell of disaster burned our nostrils, a reminder of the recent tragedy that swept its fiery way across Chilean Patagonia…

We’re sharing our Torres del Paine tales this coming week, but first, a flashback to set the stage: Continue reading →

Birthday Magic in Patagonia

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La Casa Escondida: “The Hidden House.” With less than one day to spend in Punta Arenas, Chile between arriving by plane and departing by bus, we put our trust in a quick bit of internet research, made a booking, and hoped for the best.

It’s a tall order to ask to visit a region and get a feel for the people, the food, the architecture, the industries, history, and unique beauty of the place in one week, let alone a twenty-four hour whirlwind visit. It’s a taller order still to ask for a meaningful birthday celebration in the midst of transportation flights, connections, and transfers.

What a gift when outlandish travel hopes and wishes come true!

Our stay at this charming guest house nestled in the woods between the airport and the city perfectly kicked off our eleven day adventure in Patagonia. Continue reading →

A Man of the People: Bolivia’s Rolando Mendoza

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Today, my thoughtful, easy going inspiration of a husband shares his write up of a recent interview with one of Bolivia’s finest leaders. Both men are humble and sincere, less the type to write for the world and more the type to be out living their convictions on local streets, day after day.
I’m grateful to share their story with you. -Bethany

A Man of the People: My Interview with Public Servant Rolando Mendoza
By Ted Rydmark

While in Bolivia, we spent a week on work-exchange with the Mendoza-Donlon Family.

Rolando Mendoza has extensive experience as a public servant. He is the former mayor of Mallasa (a suburb town of La Paz), the former Head of Social Services for the Municipality of La Paz (metro population 2.3 million), and is the current Person in Charge of Planning and Investment for the Ministry of Planning for the Bolivian Government.

When he was elected Mayor of Mallasa, he was the first non-party “man of the people” to serve in that office. His success as mayor resulted in his appointment a Head of Social Services for La Paz.

I took the opportunity sit down with Rolando and ask him about his experiences as a civic politician. Special thanks to Bethany for recording the conversation and to Rolando’s wife, Emma, for translating.

Ted: What was most challenging about working as head of Social Services in La Paz?
Rolando: It was most challenging to really know what was going on and to develop plans to transform the situation and make it better. Because we were working for the benefit of young people, children, and old people, I had this desperation to really make their lives better and make an impact – fast. I desired that my programs would become institutionalized and consolidated and would last over time.

Rolando’s position lasted four years, during which time he accomplished much. As the Head of Social Services for the Municipality of La Paz, Rolando’s responsibilities included five broad areas: Sports, Health (including infrastructure, equipment, and future planning), Education (including the planning and building of schools), Citizen Rights (equivalent to Civil Rights), and Citizen Security. During this time he was directly responsible for over 800 municipal staff. Continue reading →

RTWdinnerparty Leap Day Edition: Summer Salads in Buenos Aires

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Welcome, friends, to our corner of the web! On this Leap Day, we’re hosting our second {digital} dinner party as a way to take a pause and enjoy an exchange with fellow travelers we’ve met through Twitter. For the backstory, see #RTWdinnerparty: Friends, foods, and table talk from travels around the world.

Pull a chair to the table and enjoy! When you’re done here, head on over progressive-dinner-style to our friends’ #RTWdinnerparty dishes and stories. Link roundup at the bottom of the post.

{Meet and Mingle} Bethany and Ted, here. Welcome to our dinner party. We’re just eight weeks into our journey around the globe; this hot on the heels (ha!) of eight years of dreams and schemes and plans.

As landscape architect and social worker, we’re taking time during travel to experience and share observations about the world through the lens of compassionate care for the planet and its people. At each destination, Ted puts new friends at ease, investing in conversations and teasing out details; Bethany heads up writing and photography to wrestle with tensions, catalog milestones, and share with readers an honest look at life across cultures.

Beautiful Buenos Aires, Argentina is temporarily home base.

We arrived on Valentine’s Day, via a harrowing airplane ride from southern Patagonia (see Daily Travel Journal Day #41). We’ve paused for a bit and set up house in a cozy little apartment, complete with seafoam green glass shower tiles, cement kitchen countertops, and a solitary steak knife. (Details forthcoming on the cutlery.)

{Dinner Specialty} Summer Salads

We could <insert salad photo> right here and be through, but, well, you’ve seen Portlandia, right? It’s not all a joke. You’re going to hear the story of the food before it’s served. Continue reading →