Ms. HalfEmpty is jumping back into blogging!
Hello? Is anyone there?
I’m the blogger who posted here almost a year ago (although I did edit the most recent post earlier this year). Yes, it’s been too long, but I’m back!
International Travel
I’m excited to announce that Mr. HalfFull and I are going on another epic adventure this summer!
Do you remember our 30/40 World Tour? On that trip, we spent 10 weeks traveling west around the world to visit eight countries.
But we didn’t spend any time in South America. We’re going to rectify that this summer on our South American Adventure — eight weeks in three countries.
The purpose of our last trip was to travel around the world. But the process of travel can be exhausting; it’s tiring to be constantly on the move. To be sure, it’s an adventure each day. But it requires so many daily decisions — where to sleep, where to eat, where to visit — that it can become taxing.
Sometimes it’s nice to be comfortable in your surroundings…to know a few neighbors, to know where to buy groceries, to walk without a map. We are hoping to get to this more effortless state by staying in Buenos Aires for a longer period of time. I don’t know if we’ll ever get there with the added language barrier, but at least we’ll be less nomadic.
Language Barrier
Fortunately, learning Spanish should be much easier than learning Vietnamese! (Chau Doan/flickr.com)
Speaking of the language barrier, I studied French in school and so did Mr. HalfFull. I did take a semester of Spanish in college, but that was long ago and started poorly.
The first time I was called on in Spanish class, I replied, “Oui.” I got big laughs; my brain was decidedly not in Spanish mode!
Argentinian Spanish is a bit different from the Spanish spoken in Spain or Mexico. So Mr. HalfFull and I wanted to learn the dialect we would be hearing and purchased an Argentinian program called Bueno, entonces…
We started watching the videos together months ago on the weekends. But the weekends got busy, and often we were not both free at the same time. So our progress was slow and inconsistent.
In May, I started watching Bueno, entonces… daily on my own and only have a week left of classes. This correlates nicely with the start of our trip.
I know I haven’t retained all the vocabulary or grammar, but hopefully my ear will be at least a little more attune to Argentinian Spanish. Wish me luck! ¡Buena suerte!
Itinerary
Buenos Aires (Hernán Piñera/flickr.com)
Our current plan is to spend almost six weeks in Buenos Aires. Then we will take the ferry to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay for a week. From there, we plan to make our way to Chile to ski at Portillo. Finally, we will spend a few days in Santiago before flying home.
Some may think we are crazy for giving up summer weather by traveling to the Southern Hemisphere for their winter. In the DC area, we experienced record cold temperatures and snow days just a few months ago.
But June through August is when teachers like Mr. HalfFull are on vacation and have the time to take a big trip. Plus, I’m excited to experience my first ski season in South America!
To Blog or Not to Blog?
Even in cafes with free WiFi, internet time was often limited by time and megabyte usage.
During the 30/40 World Tour, I found it difficult to blog while traveling. This was partly because internet access was limited. I ended up using my internet time to check email and plan the next leg of the trip, rather than upload photos and write posts. The other reason for not blogging while traveling was limited time. I could either spend my days staring at my screen or seeing the world I had traveled to visit.
But I hope that by spending more time in one place and having an apartment with internet access, I will be able to share my adventures with you while we are away. Hasta la próxima!
- When traveling, do you prefer to visit fewer places or keep moving to see as much as you can?
- Do you have any recommendations for us in Argentina, Uruguay, or Chile?
- What else should I do to prepare?
