Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

Author Archives: Ian

Statue of Miguel Hidalgo in the Plaza del Grande Hidalgo with the Parish of our Lady of Dolores in the background.

We spent the second half of February in Guanajuato, a city we had been to exactly three years prior in February 2013. As such, we didn’t really do much on the usual tourist trail in Guanajuato, instead spending our time doing very little of note, mostly reading, writing, eating, drinking, and generally trying to be … Read more

Teotihuacan

March 2nd, 2016 | Posted by Ian in Mexico | The Places We've Been - (0 Comments)
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Teotihuacan was a pre-Columbian city located in the Valley of Mexico, about 30 miles northeast of Mexico City. There’s a lot of information about its history out there if you want to learn all about it, but I’m feeling lazy and behind on blog posts so I’m going with bullet points: Nobody is really sure … Read more

Castillo de Chapultepec

February 13th, 2016 | Posted by Ian in Mexico | The Places We've Been - (0 Comments)
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In the middle of Chapultepec Park, perched atop an abruptly rising hill, is the Castillo de Chapultepec, or Chapultepec Castle. Its construction was ordered by the Spanish Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez as a home for himself. After the initial head engineer left for Cuba, Captain Manuel Agustín Mascaró assumed the role, and was soon accused … Read more

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Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, was founded on a small swampy island in the middle of Lake Texcoco in 1325. According to lore, the location was decided after the fulfillment of a prophecy of the Mexica people – the heretofore wandering tribe sighted an eagle atop a cactus eating a snake and set out … Read more

San Angel and Coyoacán

February 10th, 2016 | Posted by Ian in Mexico | The Places We've Been - (0 Comments)
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Thirty to forty minutes south of the center of Mexico City by public transportation lie the adjacent barrios of San Angel and Coyoacan. These mostly quiet neighborhoods were once their own towns, eventually enveloped by the seemingly unending sprawl of Mexico City. Somewhat similar in appearance and attitude, they are noted for their shady cobblestone … Read more

Museo Nacional de Antropología

February 8th, 2016 | Posted by Ian in Mexico | The Places We've Been - (0 Comments)
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Located inside the Bosque de Chapultepec (one of the largest city parks in the world and probably worthy of its own blog post) are several of the most popular museums in Mexico City (and by extension Mexico as a whole). We’re hoping to make it to at least one or two more, but at the … Read more

We're Back!

Right, so it’s been 13 months since our last blog post. Yikes. Well, we’re back on the road this month. Last weekend (1/30/2016) we crossed from Laredo, TX to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, spending the night just outside San Luis Potosi before finishing the drive to Mexico City the next day. We’ll be here the first … Read more

USA vs. Ghana in Natal, Brazil

6:30AM – Leave our apartment in Paulista, just north of Recife proper. 7:00AM 7:20AM – Pick up our new friend Eric in historic Olinda, about 8 miles south of Paulista. 7:20AM to 11:15AM – Driving, driving, driving northward to Natal, blasting our “American Music” playlist the whole time. CCR, Skynyrd, the Boss, Nelly, Tom Petty, … Read more

Brazil World Cup host city map

(AKA American’s Guide to the World Cup 2014, because let’s be honest, we are the only ones who need it.) What Is It? Every four years since 1930 a group of the world’s best national teams from the world’s most popular sport get together to fight it out for top honors, a shiny trophy, and … Read more

Arpoador

June 12th, 2014 | Posted by Ian in Brazil | The Places We've Been - (0 Comments)
Arpoador, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Situated right where Ipanema and Copacabana meet each other a small peninsula juts out into the Atlantic. This is Arpoador. Besides creating one of Rio’s best surfing spots below, rolling out consistent breakers of normally up to three meters, Arpoador is open to the public to scale and lounge upon. Locals and tourists alike can … Read more