Hi there! Pickle Deli Square is a collection of my experiences living, eating, and traveling the world. Currently an expat based in Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
Colonia day trip: the town itself
Colonia really reminded me of Hoi An in Vietnam. Both are Unesco World Heritage sites, both are by the water, both have low, historic buildings, both have tourist-to-local ratios of 10:1...
Colonia day trip: package tour
I had been wanting to take a day trip from Buenos Aires to Uruguay to check out the Unesco World Heritage city, Colonia...
How to drink mate
Mate (mah-tay) is one of those things everyone has to try when visiting Argentina. It's a traditional drink, that my Spanish teacher says is a communal activity - you have friends over, and pour some water, a friend drinks some, you pour some more water and give the cup to the next person, etc. (sort of a personal hygiene nightmare for me, but that's just me)...
I am getting tired of dulce de leche, oh no!
I would have never thought I would get tired of dulce de leche...
Labelling empanadas
I've had a chance to try empanadas a few times so far, and the last couple of times, I noticed that some places have a system for labelling their empanadas by flavor.
Cool restaurant, but what's going on?
Last night I went to a restaurant I scoped out my first night here - even at 10 and 11pm, it was lively and full of people. Plaza Asturias on Avenida de Mayo.
Snack-y food in Buenos Aires
I've mentioned before that my favorite type of food has got to be casual snack-y food, like dim sum, samosas, things like that. So not surprisingly, I've still not had the Argentinian steak dinner but have had a lot of other casual eats.
Signs in Buenos Aires
I find that the street signs in Buenos Aires are a lot more pregnant with narrative, compared to the ones I see in the US...
Close-up of Chicken toy
Upon request, a close-up photo of the chicken toy...
Street Market in San Telmo
Today I had planned on going to Colonia, Uruguay for a day trip, but unfortunately the return ferry was fully booked! I knew there was a Sunday market in the San Telmo neighborhood, so I went to check that out instead...
Soaked!
After Galerias Pacifico, I went over to the waterfront where there's Resavera Ecologico Costanera sur, a nature preserve that's sort of marshy and is supposed to have a lot of different birds living in it or flying through it...
I can read Spanish (art-speak)!
When I realized that art-speak is truly universal...
First Impressions: Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires really reminds me of traveling in Asia's developing nations... I know it must be some sort of travel writing no-no to do this sort of compare/contrast exercise, but I guess for me, it really put me at ease since BA seems quite familiar already...
Trip Report: SAN-IAD-GRU-EZE
My RTW trip will probably be somewhat rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches as far as my accommodation and activities...
Off to see the world!
Boarding now for my flight to Sao Paulo, and then connecting to Buenos Aires...
I am missing Cincinnati
Today, I had two reasons to miss Cincinnati:
My favorite foods in San Diego
A lot of people think that because I love eating so much, and I love travel, my favorite dish must be from a hole-in-the-wall somewhere in the world that's inaccessible, or that my favorite restaurant is a place where some hotshot chef practices...
Roadtrip Roundup: Favorite hotel overall
My favorite overall was not the most expensive, nor the cheapest, nor particularly remarkable in its design, inside or out. It was just the most comfortable, with the best value overall...