When I met Victor in 2003, I proudly told him I was an experienced international traveler. After all, I’ve been on four trips out of the country! Victor, who at that point had only been on the plane once, from Belarus to the USA, was properly impressed. Straight out of […]
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Start From The Beginning: Hiking in Argentina We arrived in El Calafate a bit beat up from two days of hiking in El Chalten. My blisters had blisters, all my hiking socks were dirty and torn, and my supposedly waterproof brand-new hiking shoes were very much soaked through. But none […]
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Start with Part I of Argentina Travels to figure out who Ayala is and who we are. “First hike in El Chalten,” Victor said, “Is twenty-six kilometers. Next day, we’ll take it easy and do nineteen. The following day, we get to El Calafate and hike up a glacier.” “When […]
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Our guidebook passionately warned that Albanian red wine was utterly terrible and recommended sticking with white wines only. We are not big wine drinkers at all, but what we did want to see were the Albanian wineries. Of course, the best part of any distillery or winery tour is the […]
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We were driving down from the mountains, returning from spending three days in Valbona National Park. The narrow mountain road curved and zigzagged between steep ridges and precipitous cliffs, occasionally revealing breathtaking views of lush valleys and a fast-flowing river. We were heading towards the port city of Durres and […]
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