In 1903, a Teatro Nacional opened at 1860 Santa Fe in Buenos Aires’ Barrio Norte. It offered over 900 seats and for almost 100 years, presented a variety of arts – performance, film, and otherwise. In 1919, it was purchased and remodeled by Austrian born Max Glucksmann, a music industry man in Argentina, who expanded … Read more
El Ateneo Grand Splendid
January 29th, 2014 | Posted by in Argentina | Art | The Places We've Been - (2 Comments)The Blue Dollar: Argentina’s Somewhat Illegal-ish Dollar Market
January 28th, 2014 | Posted by in Argentina | The Places We've Been - (8 Comments)Argentina has historically had some problems with inflation. Official government estimates, for example, put the most recent 12 month period at a rate of 10.9%. Independent estimates say that number is likely closer to 30%. In short, this means that a trip to the grocery store that cost $100 a year ago costs $130 today. … Read more
Visitors! Our Big Week in Buenos Aires
January 27th, 2014 | Posted by in Argentina | The Places We've Been - (3 Comments)We recently had our second set of visitors join us for a segment of our journey. My dad and stepmom, Randy and Jane, made the long trip south from the Kansas City winter to enjoy some Buenos Aires summertime. So exciting! Here is how our week went down. Monday (January 6th) On Monday morning we … Read more
Buenos Aires, Argentina: An Introduction
January 26th, 2014 | Posted by in Argentina | The Places We've Been - (13 Comments)I’m fairly positive any “introduction” to Buenos Aires is destined to fall woefully short. Argentina’s buzzing capital of 13 million (making it the second largest metro area in South America after São Paulo and, by most measures, one of the twenty largest cities in the world) is one of the most culturally rich and complex … Read more
Indefinite Adventure’s Food Porn Friday
January 24th, 2014 | Posted by in Food | Peru | The Places We've Been - (4 Comments)Over the last few months we’ve periodically included information from and hyperlinks to the guys at Indefinite Adventure who traveled South America in the opposite direction from us as part of their ongoing (and indefinite, obviously) adventure. Though we crossed paths with them in November, we unfortunately didn’t know it at the time and so … Read more
Córdoba, Argentina
January 6th, 2014 | Posted by in Argentina | The Places We've Been - (9 Comments)We arrived in Córdoba having done tragically little research on the city. Besides knowing it had a million and half residents (making it Argentina’s second largest city), and that it was located in the geographic center of the country on the fertile Pampas, we were pretty in the dark about what to expect. Alas, that … Read more
Christmas in Potosí, Bolivia
January 1st, 2014 | Posted by in Bolivia | Celebrations | The Places We've Been - (2 Comments)Potosí might never have landed on our radar were it not for Salar de Uyuni and the apartment that we loved in La Paz being booked for the week of Christmas. But we wanted to visit the salt flats and were looking for a place to stay during the holidays, so when we found a … Read more
Salar de Uyuni
December 31st, 2013 | Posted by in Bolivia | Parks | The Places We've Been - (12 Comments)The star of Bolivia’s famous Southwest Circuit, Salar de Uyuni is, quite simply, the world’s largest salt flat and by far Bolivia’s most important tourist attraction. Located 11,995 feet above sea level, it is over 4,000 square miles of pure flat whiteness, punctuated in only a few places by “islands” of rock and cacti. Formed … Read more
In La Paz
December 26th, 2013 | Posted by in Bolivia | Celebrations | Food | Lodging | Oh | The Places We've Been - (7 Comments)In La Paz… …residents live in the world’s highest de facto capital. At approximately 12,000 feet (the city sits in a bowl, so true altitudes range greatly from 10,500 to 13,500 feet), La Paz is Bolivia’s cultural or people’s capital while Sucre is the legal capital. The city itself has a population of 877,000, but … Read more
Rafting Across Lago Titicaca
December 20th, 2013 | Posted by in Bolivia | Border Crossings | Oh | The Places We've Been - (4 Comments)As I mentioned briefly in yesterday’s border crossing post, one benefit of our choice of the longer route to La Paz via Copacabana as opposed to the more southern route through Desaguadero was a surprise bridgeless lake crossing. I should begin by introducing this lake, which is notable for a number of reasons. First, it … Read more