Barcelona with a baby- Hotel Barcelona Catedral

Cafayate wine: a charming alternative to Mendoza

After a slightly treacherous but splendid time in Mendoza, we were intrigued to hear about Cafayate – a smaller wine region in Argentina, most famous for its Torrontes white wine. As a bigger fan of white than red, this peaked my interest even further and we decided to take a look. What greeted us was … Read more

Teens from Barrio Solidaridad in Salta

The selfishness of teens: volunteering with Cloudhead in Salta

Teenagers are obnoxious, right? Rude, selfish, little creatures that think they know everything better than everyone. This is what the British right-wing papers would certainly have you believe. While I can’t vouch for UK teenagers (although they seem pretty harmless on the whole to me), I can say that the Argentinian teenagers we met blew … Read more

Pena at the Casona del Molino 1

Video: Folklorico at La Casona del Molino, Salta

Salta is famous for its peñas, venues where musicians come together to play traditional folk music. Most of these have been turned into touristy nightmares with an organised sit-down dinner and staged show. We avoided these but were luckily told about one that retains its authenticity – La Casona del Molino. The casona is a … Read more

Victoria horseriding in Capilla del Monte

On facing fears

I was in a tunnel 15 feet under the ground, only just big enough to crouch and crawl through. The lights had blown a few moments earlier, just in time to see a bat skim the crown of my head. I peered through the darkness, uneasiness setting in as the earthen walls crumbled beneath my … Read more

Alien shop in Capilla del Monte

Hunting for UFOs in Capilla del Monte, Argentina

Prayer to Pachamama in Capilla del Monte

“I can’t wait to get back to the mountains” I said, as we trundled down a hill in Cordoba city on the way to a new hostel. Steve agreed. We’d been in the city for a few days and liked it – there were next to no tourists and it had a spritely bustle that had been a novelty after weeks in Patagonia – but the yearning for nature had soon kicked in. As our words registered, we leapt to the same conclusion: “What are we doing then? Let’s go,” and we hailed a taxi to the bus station.

Our chosen destination was Capilla del Monte, a small town about three hours outside of Cordoba, which our couchsurfing host had told us about. It’s famed for UFO sightings and has an abundance of vegetarian food – enough to sate both Steve’s and my curiosity.

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Wax Freud

Why are so many Argentines in therapy?

I started to notice it in Buenos Aires. Friends would meet me a drink “after therapy”, my Spanish teacher would fit me in around her sessions, and everyone would pepper conversations with “my therapist says…”. I soon realised that nearly every Argentine I met was either in, or had been in, therapy – but more … Read more

Eguisheim, France – Real-life fairytale village

Why this is no longer a quest

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up, travel quote

The word quest has been niggling at me for some time now. Before we left, I was delighted with it. Yes, we were on a quest around the planet to find the answer to how we wanted to live in this world – to find what makes us happy – to, dare I say it, find ourselves. But something isn’t sitting right with that statement now. It implies there’s an endpoint and a definitive answer to who we are and what we want, when actually it’s a state that lives in constant flux. All we really know is what we want now – the quest to find a way to live ended the moment we woke up to that and stepped out of our lives in London. Before that moment, we were dreaming of ‘something else’, but now we’re living that dream.

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Victoria on the Ruta de Vino near Mendoza

Bikes and wine in Mendoza: 6 tips for a safe combination

When I dreamed of biking round the Mendoza wine region, I conjured a scene of quiet streets and pretty landscapes. What I didn’t envisage was speeding cars and heavy goods vehicles. Combined with wine-soaked tourists and narrow roads, this could be a disastrous combination and, having not been on a bike in years, I must … Read more