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Showing posts from January, 2020

Buenos Aires

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From Rio, we traveled south to the land of tango for our final stop in South America: Buenos Aires, Argentina. When we had originally planned this adventure, Buenos Aires was not on our list. Mostly because our time window in South America was short, but when we realized we had a few more days than originally planned, it didn’t take long for B.A. to get added to the itinerary. And we are both happy it did! Buenos Aires is a pretty unique city in South America. With a large portion of their population made up of European immigrants who arrived in the mid 1800s from countries like Italy, Spain and Ireland, it has a fairly Western European feel to it. The city is nicknamed “the Paris of the South”, and after walking the streets for a short time, you can quickly see why. The buildings reflect a very Parisian style of architecture with their own Argentine feel to it. The people are kind and friendly, and while they all speak Spanish, all of the population doesn’t necessarily look l

Rio de Janeiro

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After exploring the mountains of Peru on the west coast of South America, we crossed the continent to find the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on the east coast. Our first introduction to the city came as we flew into Rio’s SDU airport where you circle through the Guanabara Bay, past Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer before landing. To say it’s impressive is an understatement. Rio is certainly full of breathtaking topography with beaches and mountains that sprawl for miles throughout the city. As a Portuguese colony, Brazil is similar to other countries in Latin America, but with its own unique Portuguese twist on history. And Rio itself has an identity and personality all its own. Its people are colorful and vibrant with a laidback beach style in the heart of a huge city. It’s honestly hard to put into words what it’s like without going there and experiencing it yourself. There are colors everywhere…especially when it comes to the street art, which I have to say wa

Peru (Cusco and Machu Picchu)

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After spending about five weeks in the States visiting with family and friends, planning for the spring, and eating way too much of our favorite foods, we set out on January 2nd for Peru to once again travel this wonderful journey we’re on. Neither Perry nor I had ever visited Peru before, but after hearing stories from people who had, our expectations were high. And after spending the last eight days there, to say that those expectations have been exceeded may be an understatement. Our flight pattern to reach our final destination of Cusco was long and a little crazy so once we arrived, we were quite happy and tired. Unfortunately, to get to Cusco from the U.S., you almost certainly have an overnight connection through Lima (although this will hopefully change once Cusco opens their new airport around 2026). Yes, this can be a bit of a struggle, but trust me, it’s all worth it once you reach Cusco :) For some background on Cusco, it was once the capital of the Incan Empire fr