You asked. We answered.

Greetings from Buenos Aires!

Since our last update a month ago, we celebrated New Year’s in Playa del Carmen with our friends Andrew and Michael (you can read more about our Mayan holiday adventures with them here), and then hopped onto a plane to Buenos Aires (or CABA: Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), where we’ve spent the month of January.

Because we spent two months here last year, our time in CABA has been mellow, fun, and very relaxed. For us, it’s a very comfortable city. Perhaps because we’ve spent time here before or (more likely) because it feels so much more European than other locations in South America. When we return here, we feel a bit less like fish out of water than we do in some other locales.

January also marks two interesting milestones: 30 months since we left the United States and 12 months since we left Ecuador. At times, these past 30 months have been fun, exciting, frustrating, scary, lonely and awe-inspiring. Just about always, they’ve been full of gratitude and… ahem…. growth opportunities.  

To celebrate, we've got two things to share. First, we put together a little video of the past year. The images are (mostly) ones that didn't make the blog, and in no particular order; but I think the video captures the ‘whirlwind-ness’ that we experienced in 2025.

Second, we decided to answer a few of the questions folks have been asking.

What’s been your favorite location/city you’ve visited?

• M: It’s a toss-up between Alicante, Spain, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Both have a livability that’s comfortable and easy feeling. CABA has a breadth and depth of art, music, and parks that is unparalleled, while Alicante has charm, the Mediterranean, and is any easy point for exploring other parts of Spain.

• E: That’s difficult to say. Manta has a way of making life simple and enjoyable. BA is elegant and very livable. Alicante has simple, but outstanding food. And Mérida has a romantic charm that is hard to describe. So, my favorite changes easily, often depending on what I seem to be wanting the most at that moment.

What location/city has surprised you the most?

• M: Le Harve, France. It was just a little stop on our cruise last year, and I didn’t expect much from the city. I was wrong. It was oddly magical. We wrote a post about it here.

• E: Maybe CDMX. As expected, it is a beautiful, sophisticated, and utterly impressive city. I felt our time there to be a privilege, I learned immense amounts, and I enjoyed many parts of it. But I expected to ‘like’ it more. I think that my affinity for cities may have a size limit.

What’s one thing you miss from the United States?

• M: Convenience. The US is the most convenient country in the world, and it is easy to access anything you need. Also, significantly less dog poo on sidewalks. I miss that too.

• E: Plentiful, cheap, and universally available potable water. Places that don’t have it have bottled water workarounds that are, at worst, inconvenient. But the absence of it puts such a point on the uneven distribution of abilities, resources, and challenges. Conversely, it is also a reminder that the US is, I think, the most convenient country, which I sometimes miss.

Anything you’re missing from your time in Ecuador?

• M: Of course I miss the friends we made there. We were there for 18 months and developed strong friendships. I also miss the proximity to the beach and the ocean every day. We’re returning there for two months this summer, and I’m looking forward to both the friends and the ocean.

• E: The peacefulness. Our steady circle of friends. The beach. That I understood how most things work there. And, we’ve been gone long enough that I (almost) miss plantains.  

Where has it been easiest to settle into?

• M: Again, Alicante and Buenos Aires are hard to separate here.

• E: That distinction is probably shared by two places: Buenos Aires and Alicante. Both are innately livable and it is reasonably easy to figure out how to live life there.

Where has it been hardest to settle into?

• M: Probably Merida. It’s a surprisingly difficult city to learn and is not very pedestrian friendly. That said, we had friends of friends there who welcomed us and enveloped us into their community. So, from a social and heart-nurturing perspective, it was a joyful place.

• E: It took me a long time to understand how CDMX worked, and it works at a pace that I don’t always appreciate. We were there only a month. I don’t think I ever felt really comfortably settled there.

What’s been the biggest challenge when it comes to living in short-term rentals?

• M: The moments before arrival. Will it match the photos? (usually) Will everything work? (most of the time) Will we be stuck in a horrible apartment for a month or more? (only once- and horrible is a strong word)  

• E: The sofa. They’re all made for small people.

What do you pack with you to make ‘home’ more comfortable?

• M: I travel with two good cotton pillowcases and two pillow protectors. The state of pillows in many AirBnBs is questionable, and the quality of bed sheets varies. I always want to know I can put my head and face on something decent.

• E: A decent chef’s knife. Because I like a good tool in the kitchen and because I can’t pack a sofa.

We know you love food. What are some of your favorite food experiences/places?

• M: Spain has a grocery store chain called Mercadona. They are, literally, my favorite place in Spain. The cheese, the jamon, the prepared foods… I could write poetry about this store.

  Another store: there is this little cheese shop in Alicante that we first visited in 2024, when we spent 4 days there. Erik fell in love with it, and charmed the heck out of the cheese lady. When we returned for 6 weeks in 2025, it was one of the first places we sought out. Watching his face light up at the cases of cheese, watching him unknowingly flirt with the cheese lady... it's an absolute delight that I'm sure we'll repeat this year.

• E: What I love most is the diversity of experience and how local food captures local history, ecology, and tradition. I am fascinated by how, in some places, food is shaped by both local abundance and local scarcity, and how it becomes an embodiment of identity and pride. It shows how tradition matters. Sometimes, it seems that there’s meaning beyond the food, reflected in how some places embrace seasonality, so that some specific, special dishes are available only at certain times. Mérida probably gets the distinction for having both “real” local food and fancy versions of it adapted for a globalized palate. And when food is not “from there,” it is interesting to see its local evolution. How German or Italian food is now in Argentina. How Chinese food adapted to local circumstances. How Ecuador loves an egg on a hamburger. My favorite thing is when the food is about more than just what is in front of me.

What is a cultural difference that surprised you?

• M: When I left the US, I had visions of integration... those visions were quickly thwarted as I realized that I was arriving in places where people have their own lives, their own concerns, their own communities... and often have no need for the immigrant (me) in their day to day lives. It helped me understand why so many recent immigrants to the US end up living near others from their home country. But that said, everyone we've encountered has been patient, kind, and welcoming. Sadly, that feels like a cultural difference from the US right now.

• E: This is a difficult question. Even though we spend extended periods of time in a place and get to know it and some people a little, I’ve come to understand that I’m little more than a transient passerby. I’m very far from understanding culture. What I do get are experiences about how things are done (or seem to be done) in a place. When we visited one of the Hanal Pixán celebrations in Mérida I was startled by the surprise food sharing of Mucbipollo. The joyful inclusion was as delightful as it was surprising.

What is a cultural difference that’s been really difficult for you?

• M: Garbage and litter. In both coastal Ecuador and parts of the Yucatan, giant piles of garbage are dumped in the streets. People walk down the street and unwrap a candy bar and throw the wrapper on the ground. It’s an interesting thing to observe and brings out my judgement in a way I don’t like.

• E: Many places we’ve been to do not embrace the real or performative display of urgency that I am used to from life in the US. Often, quite the contrary. Most days, that’s welcome, because, really, what’s so important. And some days that is exasperating. I find the exploration of how I react to the observations I make to be of the most value to me, because I get to understand myself a bit better in the process.

What's one travel hack to share?

• M: Hotel lobbies have bathrooms. When you're wandering a city and you need to go, look for a larger hotel (like a Marriott/Hilton/etc) and just walk in like you're a guest.

• E: Be sure to travel with good footwear. Most exploration happens walking or standing.

What's Next for 2026?

• M & E: We'll be staying in Buenos Aires through mid-February, then sailing the Atlantic for just shy of three weeks until we disembark in Europe. We'll spend March and April in Spain, again on the Costa Blanca. In May, we'll visit family in Germany and Minnesota, and then stop briefly in California. June and July have us returning to Ecuador, before settling into Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in August; we'll stay there through the end of the year. After that, who knows?

Many hugs to all for following along on this adventure with us!