In the words of the immortal Nickelback . . .

(and because I know so many of you are fans)

"It's been a while"

I’m going to try to get caught up in one fell swoop. Here goes.

Moving back what feels like about a million years ago to Buenos Aires (in actuality, August 15-20): Buenos Aires is the best city in South America, bar none, but its not really a South American cityExplanation: The city is, like NYC, Hong Kong, and (I guess) Tokyo, a city that makes you say, “Wow! This place is impressive. I wonder how many movies have been shot here.” I call these “wow” cities. I consider them world capitals and Buenos Aires is (despite my love for Santiago) the only city we’ve visited in South America to win this designation. My criteria to qualify for a “wow” city is inexact, but is felt immediately. I felt it my first days in NYC and Hong Kong walking around and felt the same way in Buenos Aires. It’s a combination of awe and comfort on the part of a visitor. I liken it to how Disney wants to make you feel when exploring that “cultures of the World” part of Epcot. The irony is that, according to Sue and Jung Eun, the city is actually European. I’ve never been to Europe, but I felt this, too, and read a lot about how Buenos Aires residents (but not the rest of Argentina) think of themselves as more cultured and cultivated than the rest of the continent and therefore, more “European.” The infrastructure in place and city planning was top notch, despite the economy being in the dump. Lucky us!

The food did not disappoint. I am a fat man and the food and drink in the city, along with its value, won me over repeatedly. The wine wasn’t as good as Chile, but he Malbec we did have was excellent and inexpensive. The markets seemed good, too, but we didn’t frequent them as much as in Chile. The reason: The ridiculous value to be found in restaurants. We ate out lots and paid less than anywhere else for gourmet level food and lots of it. Buffets, Italian food, steaks . . . it was all good and all cheap. Paradise.

Artistically and culturally, I found the city to be the best I’ve ever lived in or visited.I know that you’re thinking, “Wait, Dan. You lived in new York City, renowned as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) artistic city in the world. How can you even compare Buenos Aires to NYC?” You read correctly , but I will say it again, “BUENOS AIRES SURPASSES NYC ARTISTICALLY AND CULTURALLY” and it is for one specific reason: accessibility. In one day we saw an amazing musical in the national theatre called Pepino El 88 (at least it seemed amazing, being completely in Spanish) staged and performed immaculately after an excellent matinee dance performance (and I don’t like dance) in another national theatre down the street all for a total of $5 total for both performances. NYC has great art and culture, but, I know of no way for anyone to see the nation’s best performers for so little. We also checked out a tango show that was ok, but devolved into bad dinner theatre. I won’t hold that against the city when the Phantom of the Opera has filled the house regularly in NYC.

The architecture, design, skill apparent in La Boca, Japanese Gardens, Recoleta, etc.
We saw so much more that I haven’t gone into detail about. Needless to say, everywhere we visited felt vital and wow-inducing. We visited the birthplace of the tango, a soccer stadium in the working class part of town with so much natural character and obvious fanaticism surrounding it that (dare I say) makes Cleveland Browns stadium look like Disneyland (All together . . . “Don’t forget what Muni Stadium used to be like Dan! You’re going to make your grandfather roll over in his grave.”), an amazing local art center and grandiose cemetery in Recolletta, and wandered other various parks, green spaces, harbors, and other places you all should see.

This message sponsored by the Tourism Ministry of Buenos Aires.



“I think I’m pregnant” or welcome to Brazil.

We all felt pregnant in Brazil, though none of us actually are (sorry, Mom) due to the copious amounts of amazing beef, sushi, kimchi and other delicious Korean and Brazilian food we sampled in Sao Paolo, home to Sue and Jung-Eun’s extended family for the past 20 or so years. I wish I could accurately explain how exactly Sue and Jung-Eun are related to them, but the fact that Koreans call any relative of their parents’ generation Aunt/Uncle, any relative of their grandparents’ generation Grandma/Grandpa, and anyone closer to their own a variation of cousin, I really have no way of conveying the relationship between Sue and these relatives. The important thing is that they were amazing hosts and that the 10 lbs I had lost prior to arriving have now been gained back. I wish I could say more for Sao Paolo, but we spent our days escorted from restaurant to restaurant by family. No complaints here, as the food was great and Sao Paolo isn’t supposed to be that cosmopolitan anyway.

We did make one jaunt to Guaruja from Sao Paolo and saw a great beach and drank great coffee and ate more great food. Mmm. This was all excellent prep for Buzios.

Buzios is where my friend Keith (from Korea) and his girlfriend Clarisse (from Brazil) just opened up the Yellow Stripe Hostel this month. Keith was unfortunately unable to be in Buzios to put the finishing touches on the hostel before the opening (he was called to Canada and will be back at the beginning of October), but Clarisse has done an amazing jobs finishing up decorating and getting things up and running. The hostel is almost completely remodeled and put to shame almost every other hostel we’ve stayed in, which all were nice themselves. Sue, Jung-Eun and I all agreed that the hostel is the best we’ve stayed in up till now. Check it out at yellowstripehostel.blogspot.com.

The hostel (as great as it was), despite being our initial impetus for going to Buzios, wasn’t even the best thing about the city. The city, set on a peninsula jutting into the Atlantic, is not a city at all, but rather a set of several small villages. It feels like a small country town that happens to house getaways for the rich and famous along its beaches and seaside walkways. It has boutique shopping and little restaurants and bars, but it all seems to mesh with the more quotidian town further inland. Its somehow swanky without being pretentious or haughty. Call it down home elegance. The beaches and temperature also happened to be fantastic for lounging, swimming, and jogging (which I did for the 1st time all trip and miss immensely). The combination of all this helped make our 2 days there among our best in South America.

Speaking of hostels, in discussing our hostel experiences in South America, we decided on the following rankings:

1. Yellow Stripe Hostel-Buzios, Brazil

Keith and Clarisse have outdone themselves here, as described above

2. Hostel Bambu-Foz de Iguacu, BrazilGreat staff, relaxed vibe, plus they had a party to celebrate our arrival (not really, but there was a great party here the night we stayed). Beds were comfy, facilities are nice, quiet enough. More on this below.

3. Hostel Arrabal (sp?)- Buenos Aires, Argentina

We stayed in this hostel the longest and got to feeling right at home, thanks to the manager/owner (?) Raul. The hostel was maintained fantastically and the beds were comfy. Only (minor) complaints are the loud noise outside and the corking fee for bringing your own alcohol to drink in the hostel. Still, highly recommended.

4. Hostel Plaza de Armas (sp?)-Chile, Santiago

The best looking of all the hostels (wood floors throughout, nice furniture, great views, in a beautifully preserved historic building) we stayed in and the best value when taking into account the excellent kitchen that allowed us to self-cater on a regular basis. Also great for lounging about at night with a few bottles of fantastic Chilean wine due to no corking fee. Excellent location in the middle of Santiago. Complaints: 1) No ceilings in the dorms so it was quite loud 2) The beds were not comfortable.

5. Hostel Cathedrale (sp?)-Mexico City, MexicoThe first hostel we stayed in, and therefore the most likely to be inaccurately assessed. Still, no big problems here. Excellent location in the center of Mexico City. Friendly staff. No big issues. Didn’t make a big impression (I honestly don’t remember it that well). Still, recommended.

6. Hostel Loki-Cusco, LimaDecent hostel, but had a big party vibe. Made me feel old and like I didn’t belong in a hostel. Cold, dank, and dark rooms. Nice old building, but not for a hostel. Good staff. Located at the top of a big hill in a city at 3000+ m. Not bad, but we might have been able to find better. Lots of Brits. Good for learning cockney.

All of the above hostels are good. I would recommend them all. This is not the case with the hostel below.

7. Lighthouse Hostel-Rio, Brazil (Ipanema)The most expensive hostel we stayed in and the worst. Located in a hostel row of sorts, the hostel was loud, full of bugs, not particularly clean, and cost 50% more than any other hostel we’ve stayed in! Weak.

Speaking of Rio, perhaps I’m burnt out by South America, but the first word that comes to mind is overrated. We only had one day there, the weather wasn’t particularly good, and (as mentioned above) the hostel was bad, so that might have colored out perception. Still, Christ the Redeemer was great, sitting on Ipanema Beach staring at and listening to the rough surf reminded me why I want to live near a beach, and the city itself does have an energy you can’t deny.

Now, on a 22 hr bus ride to Foz de Iguacu. Woo hoo! I’ll still sleep better than the hostel last night.



Several days later . . .

Foz do Iguacu in a steel cage match versus Niagara Falls! Who will survive?

My money’s on Foz do Iguacu. I’m sitting in Hostel Bambu with no internet (whenever this does get posted, my excuse for 2 weeks of no posts will be lack of connectivity in Brazil) typing up my impressions of this charming big city that feels like a small town. I’m going to frame my impressions around the philosophical debate Sue/Jung-Eun and I have been having about the mission of our trip. I have chosen to sit on my butt, reading, writing, and wandering to the bank and the supermarket while Sue and Jung-Eun go back to see Iguacu Falls for a second day, this day from a different perspective from the Brazilian side after a day on the Argentinian side yesterday. The falls are, inarguably, amazing, and I understand why the ladies are back to see them again. Split between Argentina and Brazil, a series of falls of various sizes stemming from the 2km wide Iguacu River dot the national park leading to the gigantic Devil’s Falls (the 2nd largest in the world) and make for one hell of a view (and a shower if you take the boat into them as we did). At the same time, we saw the exact same falls yesterday (albeit from a different perspective and I haven’t sat on my butt on a Sunday in a month. Sitting on my butt affords me the time to consider our travels and recollect my impressions/feelings about the trip/life. This is the most important part of travel, in my humble opinion. I especially need this time on this particular trip because Sue and Jung-Eun generally move at a breakneck pace from site to site and city to city. This creates stress for me and doesn’t give me adequate time to enjoy the trip because my enjoyment actually takes place during the downtime, the time spent having a drink/cup of coffee, sitting in a park, or sitting on my ass in the morning having a leisurely breakfast/cup of coffee and thinking about what we’re doing. This is not the case for Sue and Jung-Eun, who see downtime as wasted time and get stressed out by the idea that they are not using every possible moment to take in what a particular place has to offer. They apparently can do the equivalent of chew gum and walk at the same time in seeing sites and reflecting on them, while I’m a little bit slow and tend to trip over my mind when asked to do the same. So, while Sue and Jung-Eun are making the most of their time here and seeing what I’m sure is an amazing view of the gigantic and panoramic Iguacu Falls, I’m relaxed and getting to experience what this sleepy little big city feels like on a lazy Sunday morning. Whose side are you on?


A word on language . . .Seeing as how I’m an English major and ESL teacher, I should probably address our experiences with language while here in South America. Here goes.

I came to South America equipped with English as my first language, a decent grasp of Korean on a spoken level, 8 years of French (with a weakness in speaking and listening and strength in reading), 4 years of Latin ( Latin Club President say what!), completely in a reading and writing context, and 1 quarter of Spanish in 6th grade supplemented by teaching many Spanish speaking students in the Bronx for the past 2 years.

Sue came with Korean as her first language, a high level of English proficiency in all facets, a few years of French and several years of German.

Jung-Eun came with Korean as her first language, excellent English listening and competent spoken English.

Oddly, I somehow became the lead in the Spanish speaking countries and managed to do ok. My French, Latin, and English all helped my reading and hearing my kids speak Spanish so much in the Bronx made my listening ok. I was generally (amazingly) able to make meaning of language close enough to the intended idea to get by. I tried to use the basics of Spanish while speaking, but usually lapsed into Spanish.

Sue approached everyone in English, assuming that people spoke some English (which they generally did) and was able to do ok. An interesting twist was when they people understood her English perfectly, but responded only in simple Spanish, which we were generally able to decipher.

Jung-Eun used both Spanish and English and was able to get by well. We were almost always together and therefore helped one another. No situation was non-navigable with repeated linguistic attempts. At least until we got to Brazil.

In Brazil, several issues arose:We spent several days with Sue’s family, whom spoke Korean and Portuguese. This was good for Sue and Jung-Eun, and not so good for me. Listening to her aunt and uncle speak in Korean and understanding maybe 5%, I felt I would never master a language that I had been immersed in for 3+ years. The lowpoint came while watching a Korean drama on TV at their house with Portuguese subtitles and using the Portuguese subtitles to help me understand what was going on. Bear in mind that I have never studied Portuguese and the simple fact that it is a romance language with much vocabulary based in Latin and French helped me to use it as a guide. I will now hang my head in shame.

Because we were going to be spending most of our time in Spanish speaking countries, we chose to focus on Spanish and none of us bothered to learn any Portuguese. This made simple things like saying “hello” or “where is the bathroom” or “sorry” in Portuguese a problem. This reached its zenith when, on our 22 hour bus trip, an old lady left the bust to use the bathroom at a stop and the bus departed without her. Sue and Jung-Eun repeatedly tried to explain to the driver that the woman was in the bathroom at the station as the bus drove away in English, gestures, and yells, but that only lead the driver to understand that someone had left their luggage, not that someone was being left behind. The poor old lady ended up stranded (we think), unless she was supposed to have left her luggage behind.

Our experiences have lead me to believe that, with some intensive study, I could learn Spanish. I might pursue this in Korea, especially if we do decide to come back and maybe live in Chile or Argentina (wink, wink). Seeing the great performances in the musical and the beauty of the Spanish language makes me want to understand what exactly they were saying rather than just hearing the sound sand guessing the meaning.