South America

Our Rio de Janeiro sublet apartment.

Flaming Generators and 5-Minute Showers: Adventures in Short-Term Subletting

The question for many remains: what do you do when your short-term sublet fails you?

A typical, heaping buffet plate. (Martin Kalfatovic via Flickr)

Pay What It Weighs: An Ode to the Brazilian Kilo Restaurant

I filled with hungry glee, upon discovering Brazil’s pay-what-it-weighs “kilo” restaurants, known here as a restaurante por quilo.

Beach bums strolling the sands of Jurere Beach, Florianopolis, Brazil.

Florianopolis, Brazil Travel Guide: Where Beaches, Oysters and Firm Bottoms Collide

Florianopolis is a sizeable island filled with good eats, better beaches and really hot people. In a nutshell: It’s fantastic.

NOT the shawarma that did me in -- this one's a stand-in, y'all.

When Bad Shawarma Happens to Good People

I returned to my hotel after the shawarma incident, when suddenly I felt filled with a whole lot more than regret.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Chasing Iguazu Falls

For no good reason whatsoever, the thought of Iguazu Falls always left me unsettled. As a producer, writer and editor for the Travel Channel for eons, Iguazu Falls crossed my desk quite a bit — via the work and travels of other writers, of course. I’d see pictures of the […]

Rapa Nui chocolate in all its glory.

I Left My Heart in Rapa Nui

  I haven’t spoken much about this ’til now. Maybe I was ashamed of my gluttony; maybe I wanted to hold close to my heart the magic of those cocoa bean-filled days…and nights. You see, where once the words Rapa Nui stirred visions of mysterious Easter Island (and a vague […]

Argentina’s Mountain Mama: A San Martin de Los Andes Getaway

Argentina’s Mountain Mama: A San Martin de Los Andes Getaway

  When the going gets weird, the weird get going. Or something like that. At any rate, after a few days in Bariloche, Ayaz and I realized that this town felt more than a little bit off to both of us. Don’t get me entirely wrong: it’s in a gorgeous […]

Wait, That Wasn’t Sage? How to NOT Buy Psychoactive Drugs While Traveling

Wait, That Wasn’t Sage? How to NOT Buy Psychoactive Drugs While Traveling

Another day, another travel blunder. This particular misstep involved the heady combination of my best intentions and poor Spanish language skills.

Choose your own caption, please ... if you dare.

Argentina’s Lake District and the Great Seagull Caper of 2014

There now exists a priceless image of me, a cracker and a sharp-beaked bird in communion together for all to see (and mock!).

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Colonia del Sacramento: Take a Buenos Aires Side Trip That Rocks

There’s good reason visiting the tiny town of Colonia del Sacramento is one of Buenos Aires’s most popular day trips: it’s a straight-up hotbed of charm.

A balcony with a view. (And NO, I didn't take pictures of the naked neighbor, you pervs!)

I Found Joy in That There City (Naked Neighbors Aside)

Like honey attracts flies and Justin Bieber inexplicably attracts tweens, it seems my lot in life is to attract naked neighbors.

Sometimes your bus in Buenos Aires looks like a disco. And it is amazing.

How to Ride the Bus in Buenos Aires

If you’re in Buenos Aires for any length of time — from a few days to a few weeks — learning to ride the city’s extensive bus network makes sense.