CarrieandJonathan

We're finally in an apartment in Buenos Aires that we REALLY like.

But up until now, we have been having some big issues with our Buenos Aires Apartments. We went through a real estate agent who is from Buenos Aires and is based out of Florida.

We told her that we wanted a nice place that was quiet (and obviously clean, if we were going to be paying $1400 or $1500/month for the time we were here).

The apartment we originally had reserved, we got talked out of and got talked into this one. We saw that it was on a busy street, so we asked (before confirming our reservation) if it would be noisy. The real estate agent confirmed that it would not be noisy.

When we got to the apartment, it was both noisy and dirty.

So noisy, in fact, that on the first night, Carrie only slept about 2 hours, and I didn't sleep at all. Literally.

So I got up and made a couple of videos to show the real estate agent why we needed to move.

The dirt:

The noise:

And pictures...
Loud and dirty apartment in Godoy Cruz, Palermo, Buenos Aires

Thanks so much to Emily (Emily, you rock!) who let us crash at her apartment for three nights while her brother was in Paraguay (somewhere we'll probably also visit).

So, we complained loudly, but didn't get moved for four days, because we arrived at the apartment the night before Easter, and then Monday was also a holiday, so it was Wednesday before we moved into a different place.

And to the credit of the real estate agent, they did find us two nice apartments. (Although one had a very basement-like feeling about it, and we swept up 5 cockroaches when we moved in. But they were dead when we moved in, so that at least made us feel a little better.) We moved to that one from Wednesday-Saturday morning, and have been in the second apartment last night and tonight. Pictures of it will be coming soon, but it's very nice, and we're enjoying it a lot! Feels like we're finally able to settle in here for the rest of the time we'll be here.

In the midst of the apartment stuff, we also greeted our first visitors who are going to be staying with us during our time here.

Kevin Gianni and Annmarie Gianni have been friends of ours for about a year and a half now. Kevin and I actually "met" because they have a whole bunch of great health information online and I called him in November of 2006 to chat about his book... and then we started talking, and he invited me to work on a project with him in March of 2007, and they came to our wedding, and our friendship has been building from there.

Prior to yesterday, most of our time had been occupied with apartment hunting, and dealing with the apartment stuff. Other than eating at quite a few great restaurants at prices that are 2/3-3/4 the cost of what similar food would cost in the US... here's what we have been up to since finally getting moved into our home away from home yesterday.

(Since this has already gotten a bit long, I'll do this in another post - but we have now seen the Casa Rosada (Where Madonna played Eva Peron, in Evita, singing to the crowds), and had Gelato at (reportedly) the best Gelato shop in Buenos Aires.)

I'll just conclude this by saying that the challenges with the apartment have taught us A LOT about ourselves and about our desire and ability to travel to (and in) other countries, and I'll talk more about that at some point in the future.

Thank you for following along as we explore Buenos Aires, Argentina!!

Posted by Jonathan at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

1. What's your apartment like?

We'll answer that soon...

2. What's the weather like? Is it summer there?

We're in the southern hemisphere, so the weather is the opposite season as the northern hemisphere. This means that it is just the beginning of fall down here. So, just as we were beginning to see the very first buds and even a flower or two right before we left Colorado, we are just beginning to see the leaves change colors and drop from the trees here in Argentina. The weather is still rather warm (high 70s to low 80s), and pleasant. It is definitely more humid here than in CO (but it's hard not to be).

March is the rainiest month here. We've experienced a few rainstorms. The rain here is very different. It comes down in sheets. It downpours for about 20-30 minutes, and then stops. It might do this 2 or 3 times during the night.

3. What's the food like?

We have eaten at some really great places while we've been here. We ate at a really fantastic Mexican food place. The food was very authentic, and super tasty. The Argentineans tend to eat a lot of ham and cheese. A ham and cheese sandwich is on every menu we've seen so far. Pizza shops are on every corner (there's a large Italian influence in the neighborhood we're in). We've tried a few and really liked one. We also found a place that makes fantastic empanadas (which are also available everywhere you go). Tip - go to a pizza place for empanadas. They know cheese and dough.

We have yet to try parrilla (grilled meats - from every part of the cow, literally every part). Carrie, being (mostly) herbivore, won't try it, but Jonathan probably will give it a shot.

4. How are you getting places?

We're walking. Pretty much everywhere we go, we go on foot. And we're loving it!

5. Where are you in Buenos Aires?

We're in a neighborhood called Palermo. We're also kind of in the center of this neighborhood. Palermo is known to be one of the nicer neighborhoods in BA. We're quite fond of it. It has its "hippy" place, its "yuppy" place, and its "hip" place. Here's a map where you can see the neighborhoods of BA.

6. Have you seen Eva Peron's house yet?

No, not yet, but we plan to. We also plan to see where she's buried in the famous Recoleta cemetery. (Recoleta is another neighborhood in BA, and it borders Palermo.)

7. Is there really poop on the street?

Yes. We really have to keep an eye out for it. It's everywhere! People don't really clean up after their dogs. So, I wouldn't go around kicking leaves if I were you (you never know what's underneath them).

8. Are the taxis actually dangerous?

We've only ridden in a taxi once so far. We were fine. But, we were told by a friend to be sure and double count your change before you get out of a taxi to make sure that you got the right amount back. (Our friend didn't get correct change once, and it's sort of known that tourists are often short-changed in every major city in the world.)

9. What's the city like?

It's a big city. Big cities are a little dirty, noisy, and smoggy. That's how it is here. It's just like any other big city: constant motion, movement, and change. But this also means that there's really great shopping, food, people, activities, etc.

10. I saw in pictures that your bathroom has two toilets? Do all the bathrooms have this?

Every bathroom we've seen (the private bathrooms anyway) has had a bidet in it as well as a toilet. No, we haven't used it yet.

11. What's a bidet?

We don't really know, but according to Wikipedia: "Bidet is a French word for pony (and in Old French, bider meant to trot). This etymology comes from the fact that one rides a bidet much like one does a pony."

Posted by Carrie at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We got and get a lot of questions about our travel to Buenos Aires.

"You're staying at like, a resort, right?"
"How did you get that much time off of work?"
"Do you have friends who are Argentinian?"
"I'm sorry...How many weeks did you say you're going for?"

Most of these questions revolve around the basic question that no one's really asked directly, which is:

"A six-week "vacation" in South America? How Is That Even Possible?

We hope that by our example, we inspire others to do similar things in their lives, but here's the real answer to the question no one's asking directly.

How Is This Possible?
-------------------

In a lot of ways, I don't really know what to tell people about the idea that we're spending a good deal of time here in Buenos Aires.

Most people's lives are based around working a certain number of hours every week or every month at a JOB. That job is usually based in a specific location.

Emily and BoRyan (friends who are down here), are fortunate to have jobs with a company which allows them to work virtually.

But most people have that traditional job which requires that your life be structured around your work.

Also, most Americans think that when you leave the United States, or even when you're away from home for longer than 2-3 days, that you're actually going on some kind of vacation.

So when we say that we're going away for an extended period of time, we almost always get very puzzled looks. So we explain that we're actually going to Argentina to test out how we like living a lifestyle that isn't dependent on location. But that draws even more puzzlement and confusion from people about how that's even possible.

So we step back a bit, and explain that whether or not we're working, or earning income, has nothing to do with being "away".

And we are fortunate and blessed to have found a way to be able to have success with this kind of work.

It's come through a lot of late nights, a lot of work, a whole lot of learning, a ton of struggle, and it's come through using the awesome power of the Internet.

For most people, earning income without being tied to a location is such a foreign thought, that in order to explain it, I have to mentally step back from the picture and step back to where I started on my enterpreneurial journey - which is now nearly 10 years ago (and could probably even be traced all the way back to my parents' design wall printing business 15-20 years ago, but that's a whole other story).

10 years ago, I was really solidly introduced to the idea (through a guy named Dan Osborne - "Hi" to Dan if you're reading this...) that there could be something other than "go to school, get a good degree, so you can get a good job with good benefits." (And then work for 40 years at 40% (or less) of what you're worth so that you can retire on 40% of what wasn't cutting it (financially) to begin with. I knew that if you'd started in the job force prior to 1980, you would have the chance to actually succeed on the 40/40/40 plan, but I knew that gratuating in 1998, the 40/40/40 plan wasn't really all that realistic for me, because no one I know keeps jobs longer than 5-8 years anymore. But back in 1998, I just didn't know what the other opportunities could be).

One of the questions I was asked when I was first introduced to this kind of thinking was "If time and money weren't an issue for you, if you didn't have to have a job, and if you had virtually unlimited resources:
- Who would you be?
- Where would you go?
- What would you have?
- What kind of work would you do?"

And while going to Argentina feels like a new beginning, what I'm realizing is that being able to do what I am doing right now is a culmination of a process which began a long time ago.

And it's hard to sum all of that up for someone in a way that will make sense, without going into the explanation I have just taken you through while you're been reading this.

Having a partner alongside me to go with, to experience this new place together, is an amazing blessing (and in itself is a culmination and realization of things I've been working on for many years).

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Today, I'm realizing that even though this is a new journey, I've already come a thousand miles.

I'm so excited to see what Amazing and Great opportunities the next 10,000 miles will bring.

Posted by Jonathan at 03:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

We made it!

So, we've been in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a total of four hours.

And here are the most important lessons we've learned so far...

Lesson #1: Language Learning
No matter how much you listen to language tapes, (at least beginning ones), nor the help offered from friends and family who soeak a language (thank-you SO much for spending the time with us Laura) they just don't prepare you for what you'll need to know to get around.

So, we'll be struglling our way through our minimal Spanish (just as we've both done in German), screwing things up, probably offending people (on accident of course), and working to laugh at ourselves the whole time.

Hopefully we'll be able to convey the experiences well enough through our writing on this site to be able to have you laugh at with us as well.

Lesson #2: Taxis and streets

Pedestrians do not have right of way in Buenos Aires. We don't know if that's the law, but we've been informed in no uncertain terms that cars will run you down.

Of course, I didn't believe it, so I had to test it out myself.

Just kidding.

It's a big city.
Cars (and their drivers) generally do whatever they want when they're on the road in big cities.

Lesson #3: Pesos are represented by $, and airport currency conversion will likely NOT offer you the best rates.

We didn't convert currency at the airport, because they were only buying dollars at 2.75 Pesos to the dollar, when today's exchange rate is 3.167.

Moral of that story? Know the currency conversion rate before you go. We saved ourselves approximately 9 cents for every dollar we will convert by getting away from the airport currency and going to an ATM at a bank.

At the ATM though, it was rather confusing, because even though everything was in both Spanish and English, Argentina uses $ to represent the peso.

(The Euro uses €, pounds use ₤, etc...)

So I thought I was withdrawing $50 worth of pesos (about 160 pesos), when I was actually withdrawing 50 pesos... I didn't have enough to pay our driver unfortunately, but we got that all figured out.

Already so many lessons in just a few hours of being here.

It's REALLY time for a nap, after only sleeping about 2 hours of restless sleep on the night flight down here.

(We were on an older American Airlines plane. We have definitely gotten used to the more comfortable and more modern planes now operated back and forth to Europe, and are a bit spoiled by it. Moral of that story? A portable video player, or a good book, would have been an excellent idea - but that's another topic for later on.)

So a little (or big) siesta is what we're going to do now.

We're here, safe and sound, and will have pictures and more stories soon!

Posted by Jonathan at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

It has been over a month since Carrie or I have made an update to CarrieAndJonathan.com.

And we realized over the past week that many people don't know this, so here it is...

We're currently sitting at Denver International Airport, waiting for a flight to Dallas.

But Dallas is our connection.

The final desitnation, as the title of this post would suggest, is Buenos Aires, Argentina!

We will be living and working there.

The most common question we get when we go to travel somewhere is:
Why?

Because we want to experience what it's like there.
We'll be living and working in Buenos Aires, as we do at home, but will be experiencing what it's like in a different place.

Thank-you to everyone who has supported us in taking care of things at home while we're gone. We REALLY appreciate you!

So, here's a quick overview of Buenos Aires, as well as approximately where we'll be staying (in Palermo, which is a district of Buenos Aires).

Oh, and it's 1 hour ahead of the Eastern time zone in the US, so it's three hours ahead of Colorado.

More pictures coming soon (they're not uploading from the airport for some reason).

Stand back, Buenos Aires!

Here we come!

Posted by Jonathan at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)