Eve of the Paris Adventure (30/12/2014)

Here I am the night before another incredible adventure with people I count lucky to call my family. We are heading off on another family affair to the most romantic (according to a liege of tourist blogs) city in the world, and we could not be more excited!

Not only will we be fortunate enough to spend part of our vacation with another family we hold dear, but we get to have one more adventure as our little family unit! We get to try delicious foods and drink copious quantities of wine all while spending our days amongst the splendor of Paris, or the home of Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. [If you comprehend this reference, you should probably join my dear sweet parents for movie night as you will fit in nicely!]

I was reminded by a dear friend that all the best things happen randomly in life, so bring on the random! Paris, show me what you got!

Here's to an epic start of 2015; I will commence my New Year aboard a plan with complete strangers and I cannot think of a better way to begin my 2015!

xoxoEmma

Travel Rules

Rule #1: Life is not fair.

Rule #2: Nothing goes according to plan.

Rule #3: Everything will be fine.

These are the three basic rules that this year has taught me. So it goes. This next year requires another adventure. Being away from home, from what is comfortable/usual/"normal" allowed me to let go, to be truly content.

Lima: home sweet home (8/5/2014-14/5/2014)

Coming back to Lima after our life-changing experiences in La Paz, made me tht much more grateful for this amazing city. Experiences ranging from randomly learning Japanese from my Peruvian taxi driver to the most incredibly touching Día de la Madre celebration with our Peruvian family. After traveling for four weeks, eating a home cooked meal (causa and arroz con pollo anyone?) with a mom who hugged and kissed you like one of her own was amazing. Staying up all night salsa-ing with the master and eating what was probably the greatest ceviche of my life also did not hurt! I became an expert Lima taxi negotiator; Luis and Vanessa set goals for me, as a gringa, to negotiate down to when trying to get around Lima. When a driver accepts your terms for taxi fare by saying that the price is practically "un regalo", you know you have made a breakthrough.

Vanessa joked with me that Lima was "mi barrio" and you know, in some ways it is. I love that city. Sitting here in Fort Lauderdale waiting for my flight back to SF, makes me realize how much I already miss it. I even feel love for the reckless taxi driving! We definitely prayed to the patron saints of Peru, San Martin and Santa Rosa in our taxi on the way to the airport after the driver slammed on the brakes, ramming us into the front seats multiple times. 

I miss the beautiful artsy-ness of Barranco,with its lovers' bridge and multiple spots ideally situated for some serious PDA, Peruvian-style. You are so welcome, by ther way, for learning about PDA! I miss those bizarre art galleries with incredible and yet mildly disturbing art.

I miss playing kabu in random places and learning how to play pool using only Spanish. ¡Qúe chevere! I miss learning new words every day... "Te quiero como mierda" being a phrase of love and friendship. I miss my family and friends who are, at this point, scattered across the globe.

Most of all, I miss waking up every day without a care in the world, being able to decide what I wanted to do THAT day. And, as evidence by the fact that I only wro one blog post for my entire last week in Lima, should tell you that I was simply having too much fun to write!

Besitos,

EmBoss

From rough to amazing... Welcome to South America (7/5/2014)

Bolivian Immigration and Narcotics Police, and originally planning to not leave the airport. Being told that we would be booted our of the airport. That is all.

To eating dinner and drinking some Bolivian beer in La Paz with a bunch of New Zealanders until catching our 3:40am flight to Lima.

What did we learn class? In S.A. nothing ever goes according to plan but somehow it always manages to work out!

EmBoss

P.S. We do not have photos from today, but more to come in th future!

TCOB (6/5/2014)

We were exhausted after our week in Santiago, so we decided a calm day with catching up on all our business being the main focus. However, the primary focus of the morning was definitely finding an expresso. Santiago's preference for Nescafé was seriously causing problems in our lives. Real coffee please!

That night we headed to the Kiwi hostel, which was close to Mercado Central. We ended up walking through a sort of downtown area, and immediately decided that any late night transport would definitely occur in a licensed taxi! Dinner was amazing; we made the New Zealand version of nachos, which we enjoyed with delicious bottles of Chilean red wine. We also expanded our vocabulary; mince, skull it, and mean are now effective parts of my vocabulary. We ended up hanging out on the rooftop with an amazing view literally for hours, before realizing that we were all on the same flight the next day through La Paz, so we made plans to take the subway together.

Chip chip Cheerio!

EmBoss

Getting cultured (4/5/2014)

This morning was devoted to getting cultured, as Sunday is free museum day. We hit up the Museo de Bellas Artes, which had all different types of art, ranging from the 1800s to modern art. We really liked the Larco exhibit which was brutal and beautiful at the same time. His use of the color red was incredibly striking. We particularly enjoyed the faces of these young girls; weirdly innocent in these freaky scenes with blood of domestic animals etc. We enjoyed the Larco exhibit more than the others, although some of the more contemporary art was quite interesting.

The Museo de Arte Precolumbiano was also cool. Aymara metalworking is gorgeous and so detailed. Marisky particularly enjoyed the kipu, as this was one of five left in the world. The Spaniards destroyed most of them as they systematically conquered the Incas. Thoroughly enjoyable.

We took the funicular up to watch the sun set next to the Virgin Mary statue on Cerro Santa Lucia. This is the same location of Pope JP II's infamous mass in Santiago. The sky turned beautiful shades of pink and blue as the rays peeked over the tops of the cordillera. We followed up this ideallic evening with dinner at Galindo in the Bellavista neighborhood with friends from our hostel. I had this bean and corn stew with pumpkin and beef. Nomnomnom!

Here's to Valpo tomorrow!

EmBoss

Teaching the locals about Cinco de Mayo (5/5/2014)

So, we were super stoked to explore the glorious seaside city of Valparaiso, but little did we know the highlight of our day trip would be waiting for us on the TurBus. A lovely group of Kiwis was also on our bus! We spent all day with them, exploring the incredible street art on the hills of Valpo during our Tours for Tips walking tour. Our guide was exceptional, educating us about the history of Valpo and the pros/cons of Valparaiso being a UNESCO protected site. A hideous glass cube on top of an old building highlights one of the travesties that occurred prior to the UNESCO protection. Marsky also continued her habit of stepping in dog pooh and I definitely tripped multiple times on the terrible roads. I was particularly stoked to try a submarino, which is chocolate dunked in a glass of milk...Epic!

After our tour, we returned back to the Bellavista neighborhood to grab a bite and have a couple of drinks. The pisco happy hour special was simply too amazing to pass up so we literally were the the last people in the bar to leave. So amazing! I cannot wait for them to come to the states so we can show them around. We made plans to cook dinner the next day and continue our binge on the sweet Santiago life with our Kiwis.

Besos,

EmBoss

P.S. You are welcome dear Kiwis that you now know what a real San Francisco burrito and were able to experience the beauty of a nice Corona. We cannot wait for you to come visit!