Argentina’s granola town of El ChaltĂ©n is a backpackers’ paradise. Made almost entirely of gear shops, vegetarian restaurants, and breweries, it exists for no other reason but to access and adore Mount Fitz Roy (mountain peaks so rugged Patagonia outdoor gear used them as the icon for their logo). Trails peel off from every corner…
You don’t hear to too much about Uruguay, until you hit Buenos Aires. The town of Colonia del Sacramento is a mere hour boat ride from the Argentine capital and is a key player in its colonial history. Set up by the Portuguese in 1680 as port to smuggle in riches to BA, Colonia was…
With European-style architecture, top-notch museums, tango salons, Malbec wines, and Argentine beef, Buenos Aires seemed like a good place to sit and stay for a while. So we moved into a proper home (with an adorable grandma-like caretaker), enrolled ourselves in Spanish classes for the week and took our time getting to know and love…
Walking into a 20-million person city is a little intimidating but with our good friend and resident Paulista, Marcelo, as our guide, we saw the sweeter side of South America’s biggest metropolis. With a wild abundance of restaurants (12,500), bars (15,000) museums (110), and the craziest soccer scene, we had our hands full with good…
In our three-week journey down the coast of Brazil we encountered some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen, but none as chic as Trancoso, Bahia. Accessed by a semi-paved road an hour from the nearest city of Porto Seguro, we bumped along assuming this was going to be a ten-shack town but instead…
Brazil’s deepest cultural roots lie in Salvador, the country’s original capital. Established by the Portuguese and built largely by slaves in the 16th century, Brazil’s unique blend of European and African heritage shine through in the most brilliant way. The historical section is divided into a lower and upper half and connected by funiculars and…
After one wild night in the beach city of Fortaleza (we partook in a carnaval practice party and danced through the streets with our hostel mates until 3AM), we caught a four-hour bus to the beautiful Canoa Quebrada. Set up above red sand cliffs and surrounded by dunes, this 3,000-person beach town has plenty to…
Manaus is the only city in the Amazon so if you have dreams of exploring the world’s biggest river and jungle housing the most species on the planet, you basically have to pass through this two-million person town. Originally, we thought of it as a stop-off to get to our jungle tour but found ourselves…
The first stop on our around-the-world journey has landed us in Manaus, Brazil, the heart of the Amazon. It’s a 2-million person city in the depths of the jungle that can only be accessed by plane or the only highway in town, the Amazon River. Native Brazilians have obviously been living in the rainforest for…
I’ve stayed in some fancy hotels in the past, but I don’t think I’ve ever found one quite so luxurious (or romantic) as the Rockhouse in Negril, Jamaica. Mike and I spent last weekend there, and it wasn’t the full-treatment spa, the award-winning restaurant, or the thousand-thread-count sheets that won us over—those things are standard…
Mike and I aren’t usually for organized travel tours but, with our friend and winemaker Ethan at the helm, we decided to give it a shot. Ethan had been studying wine in Burgundy, France for the past few years and became so passionate, so knowledgeable about oenology and the region that he decided to start…