Right now I am making my way back to North America, but last week, I fit in a few last-minute tourist trips: the first, a short road trip into the middle of the Atacama, about 75 kilometers from Antofagasta to see a bizarre statue in the middle of nowhere. The second, a weekend in San Pedro de Atacama for relaxation and some immersion in Altiplanic culture for a few days. Now it’s time to hop on a plane and go home to the United States. (But don’t worry… I’m going to keep blogging!) Last Tuesday a few friends and I drove into the vast desert behind Antofagasta on the historic Pan-American…

Mural by Cuban street artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada in the neighbourhood of Colegiales (and a taxi cab in front) How would you like to live in a house that is, quite literally, a work of art? I think I might. The second walking tour I took in Buenos Aires last month was a street art walk through several Buenos Aires neighbourhoods. I once again loved going off the beaten path into a few more residential neighbourhoods to discover the vibrant gems hidden on the walls of buildings, homes and public spaces. Exterior of a building in Palermo Before I talk about this little adventure, I have to emphasize what a different experience…

A flowering shrub in the Buenos Aires botanical gardens. As you may have noticed from my last post a few weeks ago, the little details of life have been getting me down lately. From not seeing my family in a very long time, to my husband disappearing for most of the day every day to agonize over his PhD thesis and return home at the end of the day utterly exhausted, to studying at home on my own every day because there are no cafes in town to go to, at least to change the scenery… well, all of it has added up and as a result I have been prone…

Authors’ note in 2018: from 2011-2013, I maintained a blog called “Postcards from Amanda” about my extensive travels in Chile and Argentina. Although I have since taken that blog offline with the hopes of one day publishing a book on my travels from that time period, I have decided to archive a few of my favorite posts from that era online here as articles that will make them, once again, publicly available. I am now providing them here, post-dated according to the original date I first published them online. In early December, I returned on a bus from Talca, Chile in the agricultural heartland of the country, to Santiago, where…

In Talca’s central square Last week I was in Central Chile visiting the wine-producing region of the Maule Valley. Now, this isn’t exactly a place that is on the radar of many tourists, although I think it must see a fair stream of visitors thanks to all of the agricultural industry in the region (including the local headquarters of many American-owned companies, such as Dole). From Santiago, many tourists head west to the seaside cities of Valparaiso or Viña del Mar, not south to the agricultural towns. But I am not one to follow most tourist itineraries. Blossoming bougainvillaea “tree” Talca’s central square In all fairness, I also went to Talca…

Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Córdoba, Argentina It’s always lovely to visit historic cathedrals that are well cared for and very much in use to this day. This isn’t a comment on religious practices of modern times; rather, I am happy to see that such beautiful spaces are still useful places of worship and appreciated by a city. Near Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Córdoba, Argentina That was certainly the case in Córdoba, where the city’s numerous breathtakingly beautiful cathedrals – it felt like there was one on nearly every corner – are still an active part of daily life in the city. Services are held in the evenings, with…

Avenida 9 de Julio When two friends and I were in Buenos Aires a little over two weeks ago, we took a walking tour and loved the experience. It was the first time I had ever taken a walking tour of a city – with an excellent private guide to boot – and I quickly realized that it has to be the best way to see a new place. Buenos Aires is a daunting city to cover on foot. The size of the Capital Federal (downtown) is 80 square miles, or about 3.3 times the size of Manhattan. The entire city of New York (all five boroughs) is 300 square miles,…

Walking around Buenos Aires Last weekend was a holiday weekend here in Chile, and needing a bit of a break from the unforgiving sun and barren desert landscape, two friends and I hopped on a plane and travelled across the continent to beautiful Buenos Aires. We landed in a somber, late-autumn climate – with temperatures in the upper 60s and low 70s F (18-20 C) – periodic rain, mist, and a few leaves changing color and falling to the ground. We stayed in an apartment, an experience I’d highly recommend over a hotel to anyone visiting any city for more than a few nights. For one thing, it puts you…