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Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind

(Greg) The wind down here is intense. It is what makes the Southern Ocean, The Drake Passage and “rounding the Horn” so perilous. This crazy wind, I am told, is the result of the coriolis effect (wind created and intensified by the rotation of the earth) and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current which is the strongest […]

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In ’79

In ’79

In ’79 in Patagonia, at the bottom of the Western Hemisphere, the National Park of Torres del Paine was renamed and its first hotel was christened. The first visitors would arrive in the ’80s. The 1980s. So while most of our friends were frequenting fraternity tap rooms or channeling John Travolta up North, this 240,000 […]

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Sand Boarding

Sand Boarding

Snowboarding is something I might have wanted to try one day, but when I imagined it I pictured white, cold snow; not tan, hot sand. Well in the Atacama there is no snow, only sand. So it is called Sandboarding! We turn the corner in the canyon, walking on the ash and gypsum. We see […]

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Thanksgiving Calama-ty

Thanksgiving Calama-ty

(Andrew) Thanksgiving Day in the airport. We all knew that holidays on the road would be complicated. Yesterday, while Dad was reading our itinerary, we confirmed we will have our Thanksgiving dinner in a hotel, the Altiplanico San Alfonsa, in Santiago. For the first time I am sort of dreading Thanksgiving. Now our plane to […]

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Biking to the Desert Dead Sea

Biking to the Desert Dead Sea

(Reis) In the beginning I was a little sketchy about this whole mountain biking thing. But as breakfast went on, my confidence grew. Now, we step onto the terrace where the biking will start. I hop on my snazzy red bike, and I am off. After doing a few practice rounds, my self faith is […]

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AT&T: our phone delivered

AT&T: our phone delivered

(Dana) As veteran travelers, we should know how to protect our gear. Unfortunately, I let down my guard. Knowing I didn’t need my brand-new iPhone at 17,000 feet in Peru, I left it in my bags at the hotel. Dumb. No surprise, it was gone. After beating myself up for a while, we arranged to […]

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Toro! Funky Foods Argentina

Toro! Funky Foods Argentina

We hung out all week in Buenos Aires with our good friends the Goulds. They taught us Spanish, showed us the city, took us to the premier of Harry Potter 7 with Spanish subtitles and introduced us to the “underside” of Argentine cuisine. See the video below for the yummy details:

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Soccer Field or Battlefield?

Soccer Field or Battlefield?

(Alex) Boca and River, equivalent to Yankees and Red Sox in rivalries, met last night at River’s stadium here in Buenos Aires. Boca is Red Sox, while River is Yankees. River’s stadium holds about 65 thousand people, 61 thousand of them are River fans, the other four thousand people were Boca’s biggest fans. All confined […]

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More Inca Info

More Inca Info

(Reis) Since my classmates at Chickering are studying Incas, I thought I would give them more info that I have learned: The common mistake most people make is calling all people of the native Peruvian empire Incas. “Inca” is actually the name of the supreme ruler of the empire, like a pharaoh to the Egyptians […]

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Amazon Incredible

Amazon Incredible

(Andrew) We finally arrived at the Amazon and spent four nights aboard the Delfin II. My favorite components of our time here were: 1. Leaf cutter ants. We went for a walk in the forest. It was extremely sunny and humid on the water, but cool and moist under the canopy. When we stepped in […]

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