Ilhabela is an island in the state of São Paulo that I first visited a couple of years ago; this time again, I was accompanying my friend Val, as it is one of her places in Brazil and a convenient escape from the big city for a weekend. For me, the heat was difficult to deal with, especially on a long hike we did to a hidden beach, but looking back at the photos, it was worth the effort.
Read More
I have a million places I want to visit in Brazil, and Pipa was one of them. I first heard about it from a mountain guide I had when I climbed Nevada de Tolima, a high volcano in Mexico. He described it as a beautiful beach backpacker destination that was very popular with foreigners—not my typical destination, I thought to myself, but I added it to my travel queue anyway — our expectations are often wrong when it comes to destinations we haven’t yet visited. Two years later, when I was in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, Pipa was also recommended to me as a place to visit as I continued to explore the country, which piqued my interest – it seemed like the universe wanted me to visit Pipa. It wasn’t until this year, though, that I had the opportunity to do so when my friend and Brazilian ambassador, Valquiria, suggested we visit for New Year’s. Great idea! Pipa’s MacGuffin happened to be a concert by one of Val’s favorite musicians, Ivete Sangalo. However, Ivete canceled the show. We weren’t going to another concert anyway in a super well-organized venue. This is not the first evidence I’ve encountered that Brazilians know […]
Read More
I often write about my travel queue – that never-ending chain of potential destinations continually elongates. Each that captures my curiosity and I want to visit gets queued, and so do appealing recommendations others give me. New entries are consistently added to the queue, but it takes a while to dequeue them because many destinations precede them. Invitations always elbow themselves towards the front of the queue (higher priority) as long as they don’t interfere with the current yearly strategic objectives (YSOs) — yeah, there’s a loose process and ruleset, which, of course, are superseded by their own irregularities and trump cards (e.g., global pandemics). The queue never gets shorter; it always gets longer, as it is easier to collect potential destinations rather than to visit them. Anyway, that preamble served again to remind you of the proverbial Travel Queue® so I could tell you about how Florianópolis had been on it for a long time owing to its cultural significance to the Brazilians and foreign travelers who had recommended it to me (along with literally dozens of must-visit places in Brazil – what a great country). “Floripa” is actually two things — it’s the city of Florianópolis, in the […]
Read More
[Narrated in the voice of David Attenborough] Buenos Aires believes it is a European city. Despite this fact, its close neighbors are Montevideo, Uruguay, and Sao Paulo, Brazil. The “porteños” who make their homes here in Buenos Aires belong to an Argentinian clade that identifies more with Italians than South Americans. Italian restaurants packed with pasta and pizza comprise traditional food here, along with generous portions of beef. Wine is also enjoyed on any occasion. When visiting Buenos Aires, one might wonder whether I am in Europe or Argentina. [end voice of David Attenborough]. It’s always a noticeable transition to Buenos Aires from the other places I visit in South America owing to the local Argentine Spanish accent, the distinct style of the neighborhoods I walk through, the delicious food, and the vast amounts of dog shit on the sidewalks. Every city has such similar, if distinct, charms. Among them, increasingly for me, is Argentina’s president Javier Milei, who embodies the persona of a black sheep political outsider and libertarian. His presidency is still in its infancy, but his changes are bombastic, controversial, and seemingly intelligent. Following his career and legacy will be interesting as he aims to revert the […]
Read More
Mendoza was a great place to spend an extended holiday weekend drinking wine and eating too much steak. It’s a one-hour flight from Santiago and 1.5 from Buenos Aires. There are over 300 wineries around Mendoza which afford plenty of opportunities to visit, taste, and eat. I cashed in some travel credits I had accrued and splurged on a luxury boutique hotel. The room had a sauna, steam room, outdoor hot tub, and full kitchen. I don’t often travel like this, but when I do I really relish the experience. The hotel was a perfect accompaniment to a lazy weekend spent enjoying perfect weather (sunny and warm) and wine, I spent three days here resting and decompressing. I visited four different wineries during the stay, and each was beautiful, historic, and fun. It’s easy to find convenient, private, packaged excursions online that will pick you up from your hotel and chauffeur you to any number of bodegas, removing the obligation of a rental car and self-navigating. This is the best way to do wine tours in Mendoza and allows you to just enjoy the experience. The last time I was in Mendoza was eight years ago and I knew right […]
Read More
After a handful of visits during the past twenty years, Santiago has finally earned its place among my regular destinations, fitting conveniently along my South American migratory path after Colombia on the way to Argentina; it has always been an easy place to live and work for a while. Santiago is convenient to other destinations like the Atacama Desert, Patagonia, and Easter Island, making it a great adventure launch point and an easy place to live and work remotely. An additional plus is that it doesn’t get much hype on the international radar, and you aren’t likely to find a lot of other foreigners living and working in Santiago — they are attracted to more popular destinations like Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina. I’m not quite sure why, though because you can find a lot to love in Chile — and the majority of Chileans live in the city of Santiago, which makes it an exciting place automatically 🙂 I stayed in downtown Santiago this time, unregarded by the locals I talked to. Since Covid, it’s more dangerous, and it isn’t the most beautiful part of the city compared to other neighborhoods. Still, I enjoyed my time staying there — walking […]
Read More
I’ve visited Medellín a few times before and haven’t been a fan, as I’ve detailed elsewhere on this site. Despite this, I recognize why it appeals to others: its warm climate, lush greenery, superior infrastructure compared to other Colombian cities, and charming local culture and history. However, the significant expat population there has always dampened my enthusiasm. As a travel hipster, I tend to avoid destinations popular with expats, as I find their culture isn’t mine (ironic, right?) —this is also why Bali doesn’t appeal to me. I’m aware that my viewpoint might seem a bit quirky or pretentious, especially since I’ve been living abroad myself. But, motivated to challenge my biases and explore Medellín beyond my previous dislikes, I decided to give it another chance. This time, I avoided the Poblado neighborhood, which I particularly dislike, and chose Laureles, situated on the city’s west side, as my new base to experience the city a little differently. One thing I never gave Medellín sufficient credit for in the past was how easy it is to meet people. There are dozens of events, activity groups, networking opportunities, and organizations accessible to everyone. In the first week of my month-long stay, I […]
Read More
2023 was a tough year of work and travel so when I landed back in Bogotá for two months at the end of the year I was wanting to rest. I caught up on editing all of the photos I took throughout the year and focused on training for strength. December and January were relatively tame with work and I was able to recharge my travel batteries while living a daily and weekly routine in Bogotá. December is the best month to visit Bogotá because the skies are clear and there’s no rain (until about late February; then there’s always rain) and lots of Christmas festivities happen throughout the month. Dia de las velitas is the cutest — “little candles day” is really a night when families congregate to light little candles of different colors. My friend Catalina also drove me to see Chirstmas lights in the various little pueblitos around Boyacá. Thanks for driving Cat (it was a lot of driving). For Christmas I spent dinner at a friend’s place. New Years I was happy to go to sleep early. I climbed Nevado de Santa Isabel a 4,950 meter (16,240 feet) volcanco a few hours outside of Pereira, which […]
Read More
This was my second time in two years in Fortaleza. I came back for a month to train at a local gym that I really like, work and chill on the beach. Increasingly I find myself returning to locations where there is less to be explored, and more that supports a comfortable life while I am there and Fortaleza is the perfect place for that. My favorite part of Fortaleza is the upscale gym where I train. It’s located a block from the beach in Beira Mar (“seaside”), and much fancier than the gyms I typically go to. It’s expensive too, but everyone is really nice and happy to see me there, and there are yoga classes too. Even though nobody speaks English (and I don’t speak Portuguese), everyone is really kind and supportive. There’s an attached cafe at the gym that sells me post-workout tapiocas, which I just can’t get enough of. I always make performance improvements while I am training there, and each time I leave Fortaleza I am excited to come back again, for longer. I like staying in Beira Mar, a central downtownish place alongside the beach. A long esplanade runs along the beach for about […]
Read More
When I spent time in Fortaleza, Brazil in 2022 I learned about a small beach town 45 minutes west of the city called Cumbuco. Locals apparently traveled there on the weekends for great beaches, live music concerts and parties. It is a famous destination for kite surfing (it seems like I am always traveling to famous destinations for kite surfing). So this time around, on my way to visiting Fortaleza again, I spent a week in Cumbuco first to do a reconnaissance trip to get the vibe and feel of it to see if it would be a place I’d like to stay again for longer in the future. Such reconnaissance trips are my modus operandi for sustained livability on the road and serve the purpose of scouting locations without a big, upfront investment. It’s better to spend a few days figuring out a place before I commit to spend a month, or longer there, sight unseen. In this way I can also get a beat on the neighborhood I want to stay in if I return which would be otherwise more difficult to do without being there first. Cumbuco is pretty cool. Well, actually it’s very hot during the […]
Read More
