South America Recap

[Real time note: We did arrive back in the U.S. on 1/26 and immediately got very busy!  Trying to catch up the blog now!]

Since we gave the other places a recap, we can't leave out South America!!  We spent all of our time in Argentina and Chile (mostly Argentina), so we won't speak for the entire continent, just these two countries.

--In both countries, we experienced a life that is much more laid back than in the USA (and Europe for that matter).  People are relaxed and happy.  Both Argentina and Chile seem to be trying to emulate Europe and it seems like Europeans might actually have a closer tie with South America than with North America.

--We did not exactly experience "summer" weather in Southern Patagonia.  I guess you could compare southern Patagonia to what summer must be like in northern Canada. It was not too warm, VERY windy, and variably rainy/cloudy/sunny throughout the day.

--Bariloche (where we spent 3 weeks) is a beautiful spot to enjoy the mountains of Argentina!  We would definitely recommend it for anyone who is wanting to get into the outdoors, but maybe not wanting to travel all the way to the tip.  They have great hikes and refugios to hike to in the area.

--Learn Spanish. I (Shannon) definitely had a lot of opportunity to use the Spanish I did know in both of these countries.  People spoke English less than any other place we visited. Though challenging at times, it really forced us to learn the language as much as we could. We also found that if you're at least trying to speak Spanish, people will try to help you out.

--If you want to enjoy delicious meals and good wine for an affordable price, go to Argentina! Malbecs and beef galore!

--Argentina definitely has a laid-back European culture that we enjoyed for the most part (although had a hard time adjusting to eating at 9 or 10pm!).  Speaking of that, we recommend going to a restaurant around 8 or 8:30- you'll never need reservations and you'll get great service because the locals aren't eating there yet!  Most of the restaurants don't open until after 8 PM.

--Chile felt a little more "sophisticated" than Argentina which has its perks... but also a higher cost of living.

--Stray dogs ran amok throughout Argentina... but sort of in a good way, they seemed happy and living the dream (although with some real battle wounds).  Made us wonder if cooping our dogs up was really a great thing.

--Alfajores or, as we called them, Ding Dongs are delectable and a good pick me up if you're struggling through laid back South America with an American prerogative.

-Dulce de Leche is basically caramel and entirely delicious and EVERYWHERE and eaten with EVERYTHING (says Scott).  Shannon isn't so keen on eating it in the morning.  Scott fears no morning sugar overload.

-The buses in Argentina were impossible to book in advance.  But it worked out great and they were fine.