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Travel Tips
The Estancias of Argentine Patagonia
When many people picture Argentine Patagonia they envision the famous granite towers of Mt. Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. In their eagerness to visit these stunning peaks many travelers stay in the transportation hub of El Calafate, but to do so is to miss the opportunity to experience another essential part of Patagonia: the estancia. [...]
Uncovering Peru with Mario Vargas Llosa
Peru’s Mario Vargas Llosa enjoys a fame which in Western countries would be limited to sports stars and pop singers. Not since Byron and Hemingway has the English-speaking world had a literary hero in this mould, but South America does not seem to have got that memo. During a visit to Peru I was lucky [...]
Phone number changes in Ecuador and Chile
If you have friends or family in Ecuador or Chile, or if you travel there for business or pleasure, you might want to make yourself aware of the changes that have been going on to the phone systems in those countries. The following will help explain the changes that have been made. Ecuador As of [...]
Visiting The Life-Changing Perito Moreno Glacier
El Calafate, like a teenager who has just experienced a growth spurt, is awkward in its newfound popularity. Dusty, wind-chilled streets play host to the lavanderias and locutorios; pizzerias and albergos which have sprung up to cater for the throngs of tourists who come here in search of ‘the politically incorrect glacier’, the one which [...]
Discovering Chile with the Poetry of Pablo Neruda
Neruda is a very accessible poet. Not only is his verse – centring as it does around nature and human emotions – quite easy to understand, even in Spanish, but there is also a delightful, if somewhat fantastical, movie about him (Il Postino). His politics, too, were worn on his sleeve: a passionate communist and [...]
El Chalten: My Patagonia Highlight
Vaya Adventures is fortunate to serve so many travelers across the US and Canada. While it’s great to speak with folks from all over, it isn’t every day that I get the opportunity to meet them in person. However, a few weeks back was an exception and I had the pleasure of hosting a group [...]
Asado – the Beef, not the Bull
When I arrived in Argentina I had heard about the ‘amazing steaks’, but to be honest I actually knew more about Maradona, Evita and the tango than I did about asado. A few days in the country sorted out all of those misconceptions. Granted, in Argentina Maradona is about as big as asado, but Evita is ancient history and tango is limited to Buenos [...]
Ceviche – A Peruvian Obsession
It’s strange that my first encounter with ceviche was not in the pages of a glossy culinary magazine, nor was it on the cooking channel. It wasn’t even in Peru, in fact. No – it was on the streets and in the markets of La Paz, Bolivia that I first discovered ceviche. The fish used was [...]
Two New Peruvian Restaurants Near Our Office in Berkeley
James Kinard and I from our North Berkeley office have been checking out the two new Peruvian restaurants that opened up in our food-centric city, to see how they compare to the real thing. Peruvian cuisine is pretty trendy these days, and we were curious to know what dishes might show up in original, authentic form [...]
Tigre and the Paraná Delta
For many of our travelers, the cosmopolitan allure of Buenos Aires is enough to keep them busy and satisfied for a few days. For some, a day or two in the metropolis is enough, and they want a chance to escape the urban density and reconnect with nature. One great day trip from Buenos Aires [...]
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