In search of umami, Author at In Search Of Umami

Devils Throat Waterfall Argentinian side

Why is long time travelling different than a vacation? Those 8 subtle differences…

So we just came back from South America and everyone is envying us because we had such a loooong vacation. But guess what... we don’t feel like we were on vacation. Long- time travelling is a lifestyle that changed our life completely and it’s not comparable to a vacation. Here is why we feel our journey is different than a vacation:

No time limit or anyway not a close one and no plan…

On vacation I always had a list of things to see, try, do. Every minute I was busy or I was thinking about what I’m gonna do next. Now we have a sea of time. We can talk to people without thinking we will be late for something, we can read about local culture and we can go with the flow. When we were in Argentina next to Iguazu Falls it was raining insanely for 4 days. Everyone had one or two days to see the waterfalls so they had to go but we could wait for the perfect weather. We also end up seeing more of the "not so touristic" places.

…But we do have money limits…

Let’s face it we are not really millionaires. So we have to be selective. We sleep in dorms with many other people, we volunteer, we keep track of our expenses, we think before we spend. And we cook mainly ourselves. On vacation we were normally more willing to go a bit crazy, go for nice dinner, stay in a nice hotel.

… and limit of stuff we take

Packing for vacation I always wanted to have options so I took a dress for this, a dress for that, shoes for this, shoes for that and make up and maybe even some hair products. Then I would sit on my suitcase to push something more in. On a RTW (Round The World travel) I have to drag all that stuff the whole time so I took only things I really needed. So one pair of shoes, one pair of slippers, two pairs of socks (ok that was a mistake) and obviously not too many cosmetics. Only the absolute basics. Our backpacks are around 11-13 kilo each depending on the amount of food and spices we drag around (yep we almost have a kitchen in there)

Travelling we can’t go home…

Simply cuz we don’t have one. We left everything. So we can’t really unpack for long. And there is no privacy. We always share something, if not a room then a bathroom or a kitchen

…so we miss things

Our friends get married, celebrate their birthday, get sick and we are not there. Ok there is skype but it’s not the same. Not even nearly.

It became our whole life…

Earlier we woke up to go to work now we work on being good in our passions – JD in programming, me in photography. It’s not like I think National Geographic will hire me but I love it so I want to learn and I never know what’s gonna come handy when I’m going to search for a job.

…even though sometimes it’s tough…

On vacation it’s all fascinating and we never had time to get tired with the “new”. But after such a long time we long for a washing machine, hot showers, toilet where you can flush toilet paper. And generally stuff that work. And the food!! Omg European food!!

…we meet the most inspiring people ever

Maybe it’s our mind set or where we sleep but we meet amazing people that we would have never met on vacation. People that make us realize that everything is possible if you really want it. They open our minds and hearts and make everything worthwhile. Both travelers and locals make us see how different life can be and how we are the ones deciding about it.

A year in South America. How much does that cost? And why so much :)

In 368 days we traveled through Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and we paid short visits to Ecuador and Brazil. In total we spend of 24 938 euros for the two of us.

Can you do it cheaper? Yes, for sure. We met a guy who was only eating rice and sometimes for the variety leftovers from other people. We didn’t do that. We also didn’t drink water from fountains and we didn’t sleep in parks. We did volunteer every now and then. You can always volunteer more. It’s a reasonable budget of two people that like good food (mainly cooked ourselves during the travel), don’t mind sleeping in dorms but sometimes get a double room and definitely don’t go for drinks every other night. OK let’s break it down then:)

Which country was the most expensive?

As you can see below Peru was the most expensive country. We spent 75 euros per day with the two of us. In total 5227 euros over 70 days. That’s because we did a very expensive Salkantay trek and we went a bit crazy on very fancy dining and we bought a cheap laptop (around 200 euros). We also didn’t do any volunteering. Honestly speaking I definitely feel Argentina was the most expensive country. We spend 65 euros per day for us two but we saved a lot by volunteering there for a month out of 99 days in the country. During the month on the farm, where we volunteered, we didn’t spend anything as the food and bed and rats were all included:) Otherwise the budget per day would be much higher. While expenses in different parts of Peru are comparable, in Argentina they are really different. For amazing colorful mountains and delicious wine in the North we paid way less than for omnipresent ice and coldness in the South. In Patogonia for a bed in a dorm in low season (so in total winter) we paid around 18-20 euros while in the north for that price you can find a nice private room with private bathroom.

Which country was the cheapest?

Bolivia. No doubt about that. Food, local transport and hostels are ridiculously cheap! And fun. While Colombia or Uruguay can be compared to Europe, Bolivia is definitely the furthest we got from the western world. The typical Bolivian Cholitas, their outfits and their hats- incredible. And I still can’t forget the dead baby lamas for good luck… On average per day we spend 45 euros so over 48 days “only” 2346 euros.

What were the budget breakers in South America?

Well definitely Patagonia in Argentina. It’s one of the most beautiful things to see there but it’s really expensive. We went there in low season and it was still quite pricey and the variety of food was just ridiculous. We went there mentally prepared to eat instant noodles and potatoes and that was already difficult to find. That I’m not going to mention that we bought the most expensive pack of pasta there for 5 euros (nothing fancy just pasta).

Another one would definitely be Machu Picchu in Peru. We spend 843 dollars with the two of us to do an organized Salkantay trek to get to Machu Picchu. You can definitely do it on your own but Machu Picchu is still really expensive. Especially if you want to get a train to get there and then a bus and then maybe sleep somewhere close…

We also didn’t deny ourselves a paradise experience on the islands of San Andres and Providencia. We couldn’t cook there so we had to eat out every day and even though it was really cheap (around 5 euros for a meal) but it’s still not as cheap as something you cook yourself. We also didn’t go there to chill on the beach and count the seals. We went diving. Even though a two tank dive is only around 45 euros it’s still quite a lot of money for two people for more than one time.

One time we also decided to pamper ourselves with renting an apartment. We wanted to spend Christmas in a flat not in a dorm and we didn’t want to share a kitchen or bathroom. As a matter of fact, we didn’t even have to share a bathroom with each other.

OK, so on what did we spend all that money?

Accommodation was the most expensive part. We spend 6334 euros. We slept in many places. Countless dorms, some private rooms, sometimes a tent and a few times even a hammock which we definitely don’t recommend. A few times we went crazy on nice private rooms like in Minca for a room with a terrace and a nice view or Christmas when we rented a whole apartment for just the two of us. If we only slept in dorms we could probably cut the budget by 2000 euros.

To get from one place to another we spend 6212 euros. That includes also our flight to Buenos Aires from Paris (780 euros for both of us) and our flight from Colombia to Barcelona (1059 euros for the both of us). In South America our main mean of transport were local buses which were cheap everywhere except for Argentina. There for a 24 hour bus ride we paid around 130 euros (imagine in Peru an overnight bus was around 40 euros). And you need a 24 hour bus to get anywhere in this huge country. Colombia was the only country where we decided to fly around a bit since it was sometimes even cheaper than a bus!! God bless their Viva Colombia (Colombian Ryanair).

Food is not far behind. We ate for 6180 euros. Most of the times we cooked ourselves (really around 85%). But when we ate out we didn’t go to the cheapest places. We preferred to spend a bit extra to get good quality food. We also went for a few dates and a few drinks. Nothing too crazy. Well maybe except the 2 times we went for super fancy dining in Lima🙂

On tours, museums, fees and all things that you could call tourism we spend 4381 euros. Definitely a big part of it was our Salkantay trek on which we spend 843 euros and an 8-day kayaking tour through the amazon for 562 euros.

Jandirk took also an intensive Spanish course for a month, 4 hours a day which cost us 363 euros.

448 of our precious euros went for peeing in public toilets, medicine, books and other little things that out of the sudden became big money :O

On equipment we spent 966 euros that includes our new laptop, clothes that we bought along the way and other little things.

Our tips to travel cheaply.

Keep track of every peso, euro, dollar spend. It’s the most important thing! For all of our expenses we have a spreadsheet to keep track and understand on what we spend our money and why. It helped us to be conscious with our spendings
Sleep in dorms, always choose a hostel that has a kitchen! Those two saved us a lot of money. Even in cheap Bolivia eating out is more expensive than cooking yourself
Volunteer when you can! It’s an awesome way to meet the locals and their culture and save a lot of money on accommodation and maybe even food. We volunteered chasing chickens on a farm in Argentina (WWOOF) and in hostels in Colombia and Panama (via Workaway)
When you go to Argentina try to take as much US dollars as you can. You save a lot of money exchanging dollars on the streets for the blue dollar rate. And it’s not as dodgy a business as you would think. No one will slice your throat when you do it. At least we didn’t have any problems... ever
Do your research! Check how much things should cost, ask the locals! We always checked how much a bed should be or a taxi or anything. Otherwise people will let their imagination loose with their prices and you won’t even know
Try to use local transport!
Try to travel off season
If you speak Spanish try to use it to be a translator for tours! It’s definitely a big save up when you can do tours for free because you can translate. I did that during the Lost City trek

On our blog you can also find detailed budgets from each country:) if you still have any questions we will happily answer them:)

Top TEN things we saw in South America (well one in Central)

„What did you like the most?” is THE question everyone asks us. So here we go, our top 10 of South America (and a tiny bit of Central). And all of these ten places we loved differently but equally as strong.

1. Off the beaten track to Choquequirao

That hike was absolutely the number one among the hikes for us. It was hard, painful but truly magical. While Machu Picchu is a beehive full of tourists, where you can’t walk around freely, it’s noisy and you can forget about peeing for some time, Choquequirao is peaceful and mystical. There are almost no people and the site is way bigger then MP so we could walk around freely and we saw just 3 people during the whole 1.5 day of walking around (yeah that’s how long it takes to see it). It’s also for only 40% excavated so the stones and terraces disappear in thick vegetation. When I even start to think about it I would like to go back and do it all over again.

2. Omnipresent ice in Calafate

The immense glaciers in Calafate were definitely one of a kind. The tourist attraction number one, Perrito Morreno, was breathtaking, huge and looking at the pieces breaking off was better than a football match. And it’s not so touristic in the winter…:) The Titanic-like pieces of glaciers floating around were just surreal to see, a bit like islands of blue ice in the middle of nothing. And hikes near Chalten where you could just walk around and see dry glaciers just like that was stunning!! I even miss the cold when I write it.

3. Under and above water wonders of San Andres and Providencia

Well, in San Andres we didn’t see any wonders except for garbage and general chaos. But Providencia was all we were hoping for and more!! Gorgeous beaches, water in 50 shades of blue and FOOD!! Everything we tried there was absolutely delicious and it was definitely the best we ate during our trip (except for super fancy restaurants in Lima). The best of it all was the diving: sharks, stingrays, crabs, families of fish and all just sooooo close and soooo many.

4. Warmth of the people and originality of the coast of Uruguay

Without a doubt people from Uruguay were the most educated of all nations we met. They knew so much about history of any country including Poland that I wish I could send all my future babies there for school. Not to mention people were genuinely interested in us and wanted to talk and talk and talk and … drink mate:) The coast has obviously stunning beaches with mostly hippie architecture (recycle houses, Heineken bottle floor etc) and cute little penguins and sea lions. In September you can also spot whales.

5. The Lost City of Tayrona

Simply incredible! When I googled it I was really not impressed but live, it’s another story. It’s immense, breathtaking and magical:) it’s so surrounded by thick vegetation that it gave us a feeling of a hidden place worth all the sweat and pain during the hot, dusty trek to it.

6. Charming little frogs and nature in “Mouth of the Bull”- Bocas del Toro

From Bocas we didn’t expect much since it’s very touristic. But we were positively surprised. Our hostel was so cute, charming and comfy, food was delicious and little red-dotted frogs stole our hearts. Not to mention we saw a huge boa and stunning green forests everywhere. And that’s just because we didn’t stay on the main island but went to Bastimentos.

7. Lakes and mountains around Bariloche

Even though when we were there it was covered in ash after a volcano exploded in Chile, it was an amazing region to see. The town itself looks just like a Swiss mountain village so nothing too special. But the surroundings!! Insane!!! Lakes and mountains everywhere and really many! In between them forests. Pure nature.

8. Kayaking adventures in the Amazon

That was probably the craziest thing we have done. Observing crocodiles not even from a distance actually:P fishing piranhas all the time, getting bitten by all those crazy mosquitos and all that accompanied by noise from all types of monkeys. To fall asleep in that chaos of nature with stars above our head and fireflies was really one of a kind. Just priceless.

9. Wine drinking and colorful mountains in the North of Argentina

If we lived in Cafayate we would become alcoholics! And that drinking different wine every day (yep there is plenty). Not to mention really close from the wine there are colorful mountains and canyons.

10. The villages in the coffee region

Those stole our hearts. Calm, colorful, green and the locals were as colorful as the houses. Warm and friendly. We found one of the best hostels to volunteer in and definitely the best Airbnb. We made friends that hopefully we will see again. We even started drinking coffee :).

Meet the Dortmundts

Lucky us, we come back to Europe and we arrive just in time for Jandirk's family reunion. Perfect opportunity to meet the Dortmundts for the first time in their (what it turned out to be) epic vacation destination- Rotenburg. I took prep for the event really seriously and requested a genealogical tree from Jandirk so that people don't have to repeat their names a thousand times. Especially that Dutch names are always unique, uncommon and on the edge of being pronounceable. The first people I met as soon as we arrive had to repeat their names because they were not on my tree... Some of them I still don't remember...
But it was still amazing and a very colorful weekend. 45 people and all sorts of personality. The crazy, the colorful, the typical dutch, the warm aunt (not even one in that category), the quite, the travel lover. All of that on one party. It all kicked off with a barbecue out of this world. When the meat from the grill got watered with some beer and German Riesling (wine) ambitious dutch music from tapes arrived. Hits like "beer and tits" and "I wanna have sex with the bold one" were reviving its glory. And even the oldest senior on the party stayed up till at least 1.30 am (that's the time we went to bed). The next day the whole family went by bus on a revival of their old vacation to see the pool, the campsite, the town. All the old stories were coming back and even to me (an outsider) it was a really heartwarming experience. We ended up in "their" restaurant. Unfortunately over there they got scared with our small group of 45 people and we could only order schnitzel, schnitzel or schnitzel and for the daring ones a salad. There was also a very limited Donald Duck dish for kids that only a few very special people managed to get. Even coffee or ice cream was out of reach for the guys in the kitchen. But even so it was a charming place, full of history. And they did have beer:)
Since we had a big house rented all for us we transferred the party over there. The senior of the family even gave a singing and dancing performance. Looking at him I was only hoping JD got some of those genes and he's gonna have that energy when he's that old and when its that late. I guess we will have to wait and see till we are the seniors of a reunion in a very far future.

Next stop – PORTugal

In Porto we visited my friend Marta, the same Marta that we visited in Galicia. She is currently living and travelling back and forward between Spain and Portugal. The be
st about friends moving back and forth is that you go with them so essentially you see two places instead of one. And except for Marta Porto has a lot to offer. It’s a vibrant city full of colors, azulejos (painted tiles on buildings), hip cafeterias and wine. In particular Port wine which story is quite funny.

In 17^th and 18^th century the British had war with France and the poor fellows had to quit French wine. Obviously Brits can’t live without booze so they had to find another alternative. Well Portugal. But unfortunately it was a bit far to transport wine as it was, so they figured out they should add more booze to it. More alcohol is always better and the brandy added in the process stopped the fermentation leaving some of the natural sugar not turned into alcohol, so sweet Porto became a perfect wine for transportation. Those marine folks who wanted to see sirens could definitely see them with less quantity and the other poor guys in England could get good wine.

The funny part is the grapes for Port are not grown in Porto but in Douro Valley but I guess the British took the name of the place that they took it from and I assume Porto is way easier to remember than Douro especially when you have a few glasses down.

We couldn’t visit Porto and not try Port wine, even though we are not really fans of sweet wines. The best way to do it is to go for a wine tour in one of the wineries or to sit in a bar and just try. We decided to visit a small winery- Burmester. It was an incredible tour. Our guide was the most enthusiastic and cheerful man on earth. He even told us his secret tohis state… he was trying everything that he was selling on himself. Maybe some of the Dutch restaurants could use his advice, the service would be faster and definitely more pleasant on both sides.

Since we are not only fans of wine but also of the grapes on the weekend we went to visit the famous Douro Valley. It reminded us of the famous Sil Valley in Galicia with its river in the middle of the mountains and terraces of grapes. It was spectacular especially where the prettiest winery was situated… the Sandeman was literally on top of a mountain, surrounded by grapes and overlooking the river. JD and I could probably stare at the grapes for hours just because we like them so much and because we have the time but Marta and her boyfriend Marco are not the type of people who can stand still in one place. So after seeing the whole valley we also went to one of the prettiest villages in Portugal- Aveiro. Honestly the town itself was a real disappointment with its cheesy gondolas going back and forth packed with tourists but Aveiro had also another face. Beach town… Charming, little place famous for its colorful houses. Really incredible. Too bad it was our last weekend with Marta and Marco. And even worse we don’t know when we’re gonna see them again. Nature of travel, you meet and then you go in hope someday you will come back.

Meet up in Vigo

Vigo… definitely not a top tourist attraction. No fancy cafeterias (well not many), not an extraordinary archit
ecture (nothing you wouldn’t see in Santiago or other Galician towns), not even any breathtaking museums but... it’s just authentic. Cheerful people, great food
everywhere, superb wine and rain:) and all of that stretched on many hills, all up and down, up and down… Probably to give opportunity of burning some calories gained in many homie restaurants. Vigo is also a gate to paradise- Islas Cies, very picturesque islands that look just like the ones in the Caribbean just with less garbage and ice water.

Although Vigo has a lot to offer we came here to meet up with my very good friend. I met Marta years ago when I was studying with her in Santiago. I was a foreigner, she wanted to be a foreigner in Poland. Both with tendency to be unrealistically optimistic and full of dreams of adventure and travel. Obviously we became friends. The four of us, The Martas and our down-to-earth boyfriends hit the road to see the beauty surrounding Vigo. Marta wanted to show us everything but the day only had 24hrs so we saw only the best of the best. And there is nothing better than a beer in charming town with stone houses like Pontevedra. All of the restaurants and cafeterias outside were adding
to the atmosphere and they were pleasantly busy, not too little people to feel it’s deserted but not too many to get mad that there was no place. And things got even better with laughs and food in Marcos home village, Poio. The octopus, the wine, the chicken… mmmm all delicious. The desserts were to die for. We also passed through Combarro, which is considered the most beautiful village in Galicia… Well for me it’s one of those places where I think, “glad I saw it, wouldn’t kill myself to see it again”. Pretty little town but very touristic. Which I still can’t say about La Toja. This charming tiny island is so breathtaking with its church totally covered in Saint Jacobs shells. And still there is not a single soul to see it (expect for the 4 of us), just like those years ago when I studied in Galicia. Nice to see some things never change.