Pro-Soup Propaganda: South America

Showing posts with label South America. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Heading To Argentina and Antarctica Today - Want To See My Carry-On Items?

Thanks to Tips of Travelling for the image!

Holy. Cow.

IT'S FINALLY HERE!!

The trip that I have planned for for the past several years is finally happening.

Much like I did with my trip for three weeks in Peru and Easter Island, I thought I would share what I am bringing with me for the next month. Let's recap: I get to DFW tonight and fly all night to Buenos Aires, spending all day Thursday there, and then heading to the airport in the wee hours to take a 4:45am trip to Ushuaia, Argentina, aka "The Southernmost City in the World." I officially leave on Saturday at 4pm on the M/S Expedition for three weeks with the goal of getting to Antarctica! After returning to Ushuaia on January 30 I will stay at a B&B until I leave on February 4 to return to Portland. Whew!

Like my last trip to South America, I will be carrying everything in my Patagonia MLC Bag and REI Purse. Surprisingly, my bag feels a lot lighter than it did when I went to Peru. I would be surprised if my bag was even ten pounds, seriously. So what *am* I bringing?

Clothes and Layers

Columbia Women's Back Beauty Pants

Smartwool NTS Midweight 250 Zip-Neck Sweater x 2

Patagonia Piton Pants (Currently on sale for 25% off on Backcountry!)
Patagonia Capilene 4 Pants (Currently also on sale!) (I wrote a love letter to these!)
Patagonia Capilene 3 top x2
3 Bras and 3 pairs undies
Columbia Hiking Shoes for bumming around ship (I need non-slip soles)
Patagonia R-1 Jacket
Patagonia Winter Sun Hoody
Patagonia Triolet Jacket
Patagonia Triolet Pants
Patagonia Better Sweater Hat
Mountain Hardware Windproof Gloves
North Face Apex Gloves
Merino wool buff
SmartWool Socks
Patagonia Merino Socks
Darn Tough Merino Socks
Swimsuit (Polar Plunge, baby!!) (There's also a sauna onboard!)

Electronics

Canon PowerShot S100 Digital Camera

Panasonic Lumix Shockproof and Waterproof Camera

Extra camera batteries

Travel adapter

iPhone & charger
Moto X & charger
MacBook Air & charger
Kobo Touch & charger
Camera & phone waterproof cases

Miscellaneous

Water bottle

Personal toiletries

Cash for M/S Expedition personnel tips and Argentina spending money

Tickets/travel insurance documents/trip details info

Passport (duh)

Rite in the Rain notebook & pens
Earplugs

If you want to follow along online, check out my Instagram here, or check out the M/S Expedition's Instagram! Or if you would like to see this adventure from Frank the Travel Cat's point of view, here is her Instagram! Here are some pictures of other adventures we've been on. I can't wait to update her map!

Seriously, though, a HUGE THANK YOU to anyone who donated money to my trip fund, hired me, paid for something, or what-EVER to help make this trip happen! I have been saving for this trip since 2011 and to actually be leaving on it today, fulfilling a freaking HUGE LIFE GOAL, is kind of nutty. So thank you!! :o)

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

My Carry-On Gear For Three Weeks in South America

Note: This post has been updated July 22, 2013, to reflect what I did not use or need.

I had a couple people ask me what I was taking on my trip since I will be both in the mountains for days and then in much warmer weather later in my trip, so I figured I'd just blog about it to share with anyone else who might be interested. (If you are just tuning in, I am going to Cusco/Machu Picchu, Peru for ten days, Lima for three more, then Easter Island for a week.) I will be carrying my things in Patagonia's MLC Carry-On bag and REI Purse (not this one but similar).

Clothes

2 Columbia sleeveless shirts - this shirt is very similar to what I own
1 Patagonia Capilene 1 stretchy long-sleeve shirt
2 Patagonia Capilene 1 stretchy t-shirts
Columbia Back Beauty pants
Columbia Back Beauty capris
Patagonia Houdini jacket
North Face Venture rain jacket
North Face Venture rain pants
SmartWool NTS Mid 250 zip-neck sweater
SmartWool NTS Micro 150 bottoms
Columbia Global Adventure dress - (Update: ended up wearing this once, so I could do laundry)
Board shorts - bought in HI
4 pairs Patagonia Capilene Underwear
Columbia hiking shoes - no longer in stock, but they're Omni-Tech hiking shoes
Teva sandals - no longer in stock, but they are water sandals
Swim suit
3 bras
Socks
Patagonia Better Sweater hat
iTap gloves

Cameras & Electronics

Canon PowerShot S100 Digital Camera - Not seen, taking these pictures ;o)

Extra camera batteries

Diana F+ Camera

LCA+ Camera

4 rolls of 120 film

14 rolls of 35mm film (Update: did not use all of it because my LCA+ wrist strap broke.)

Kobo Touch

iPad

Travel adapter

Miscellaneous

Frank is a necessity!! I look forward to updating her photo stream and map!

Lots and lots of sunblock :o) (Update: did not end up liking this sunblock much.)

Extra quart-size bag

Cash

Water bottle

Toothbrush

Headlamp
Insect repellant (Update: do Peruvian bugs not realize what bug dope is? This stuff didn't work.)
Deodorant
Cellphone charger
Passport and holder (Update: passport holders are cute, but I didn't use it.)
Trip papers (copy of passport, copies of trip info, etc)
Sunglasses
Lady time stuff
Coconut oil
Toothpaste
Mascara
Headphones (Update: did not end up using these at all.)
Razor
Earplugs
Dr. Bronner's liquid soap

I'm also bringing two pairs of work gloves, protective eyewear, and knee pads for the Machu Picchu part of the trip. (The ranger ladies at SERNANP ended up being SO thankful to have the gear donations from those of us who didn't need to keep our things. It made me feel good that they were appreciated.)

Snacks!

Note on the snacks: I didn't end up eating a lot of this stuff because we had so much food on the trip anyway, so maybe less snacks would be good.

ProBars
Chocolate chips
Dried apples (Update: I wish I'd had more of these! When hiking Waynapicchu these were PERFECT.)
Packets of almond and peanut butter
Almonds, both raw and wasabi-seasoned

Voila!

My bag weighs exactly 17lbs, which is the amount I can take as carry-on on LAN Airlines. I know it will be a bit lighter on the way back because I will have eaten all the snacks and will leave the stuff I used at Machu Picchu for someone else to use, as I have no use for it at home.

There you go! Everything I am bringing with me for three weeks in South America!

Update: So how do you think I did? I think I did pretty good as to figuring out what I would use or not. There were only a few items I didn't use at all. What would you have done differently?

There are affiliate links in this post. If you click through them and place an order I will get a very small commission, which goes toward my Antarctica trip in January!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Totally Missing the Best Sandwich Ever

It was so good because I earned it after hiking Waynapicchu in Peru in June. It was just whole wheat bread, dry, with mashed avocado, salami, and "lunch cheese" (yup, that's what kind of cheese it was) on it, but at that time it was the best sandwich ever.

Can you tell I'm dreaming of my next adventure?

Monday, July 15, 2013

Chile: Exploring the Mysteries and History of Easter Island

One of my favorite photos of myself!

Last week was Peru Week on Pro-Soup Propaganda. Well, my adventures didn't end with Peru. After two weeks there I met up with Jonathan at the Santiago airport and we headed on to Easter Island for five days of adventure! We stayed at a little bungalow I found on AirBnB. It was exactly what we needed and the only thing that could have made it better was a little kitchen so we could have cooked for ourselves. Food is REALLY expensive and we ended up eating a lot of $5 (absolutely delicious) empanadas.

I had scheduled two full day tours with Marc of Green Island Tours and I am SO thankful I did. He was awesome! I learned a lot about the island and we got to see a lot of little nooks and crannies that I don't think we would have other wise. After our two days with him we spent two days exploring on our own.

Easter Island is definitely one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and I definitely suggest a trip there, but I do think that four days sandwiched by two half days was a little too long to be there (for me, at least). I began to get a little restless and was happy when we left. Also, having to eat out for every meal was kind of sucky. We did eat some amazing food there and did splurge on a few nice meals, but I would have really rather cooked for myself.

Overall, if you have the chance, go to the island and see it for yourself! As you can see from the pictures below it's pretty stunning and hard to take a bad photo of anything!