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Bingo Abroad

Bingo Abroad

On January 13, 2018, we set off from Portland, Oregon to tour the world, from hiking the Andean Mountains in Peru, SCUBA diving the Red Sea in Jordan and adopting an elephant in Kenya. En savoir plus🇺🇸Portland
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    • Bingo AbroadBingo AbroadThe Global Adventure
      Great spot for an afternoon

      W Trail - Day 4

      22 novembre 2019, Chili ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      Day 4: Cuernos to Torres Central; 7.2 miles

      Overall another good day but it did feel a little long - clearly we are starting to get tired. But this hike was my favorite - incredibly gorgeous views of the blue lake from above and mountains all around. We even got to see two small avalanches today!

      With the great weather, we had a picnic lunch with Janet and Elaine along the trail, then made our way over to Torres Norte.

      After being so excited to get a shower after the long day, of course we found out the water was out. Who knows why. So instead we enjoyed some beers outside with blue skies and views of the Torres. Definitely thought when we were prepping for the trip, we’d be bundled up freezing cold all wee, not soaking up the sunshine!      En savoir plus

    • Bingo AbroadBingo AbroadThe Global Adventure
      1Frances Glacier

      W Trail - Day 3

      21 novembre 2019, Chili ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

      Day 3: Paine Grande to Cuernos; 9.8miles

      Great day! Relatively easy hiking with beautiful views of lakes and big mountains, and surprisingly nice weather. We did a short jaunt into the French Valley to the Frances overlook. Sadly we didn’t get to see an avalanche at Frances Glacier but we did hear a couple roaring - very loud and cool.

      We made it to our next lodge, Los Cuernos where we had a fancy private cabin. It was beautiful and clean and overlooked the lake below. I had best shower in a week but sadly Brice got a freezing cold shower, making him not as jazzed about the room upgrade.

      We enjoyed a fun dinner with friends we made on the trail - Janet and Elaine, and Andrew (from Portland) and Kerry, all of whom we met the first night. Loving the ambience and friendliness here.      En savoir plus

    • Bingo AbroadBingo AbroadThe Global Adventure
      With fellow hikers Catherine and AdamFinally some clear skies! Just in time for sunset.

      W Trail - Day 2

      20 novembre 2019, Chili ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

      Day 2: Grey to Paine Grande; 6.8 miles

      Much better day today! It started with a good, filling breakfast then a short walk to the nearby mirador. Wow, the glacier was amazing that close up, especially seeing the big wall of ice and all the icebergs floating around! So so cool.

      Then we started the hike back down to Paine Grande. We weren’t super excited after day 1 but the weather was much nicer and the trails were already much drier, so it wasn’t as difficult or unpleasant. The weather was nice.

      We got to PG in late afternoon, in time for a few rounds of drinks at the bar. We chatted with a nice couple from Amsterdam and had dinner with new friends who are from Denver. The people on the trail are all so friendly and great, making this much more fun.

      And even the camping was ok!      En savoir plus

    • Bingo AbroadBingo AbroadThe Global Adventure
      Ready to start!
      Goodbye broke down bus.So thankful for waterproof bootsWhat should be the trail...

      W Trail - Day 1

      19 novembre 2019, Chili ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

      Day 1: Bus, catamaran, hike to Glacier Grey; 6.8 miles

      Talk about a rough start. After a 5:20am wake up call, we got on the bus to Torres del Paine eager for our adventure. The earlier bus was supposed to be better because we’d have an hour less on the bus plus arrive for the earlier catamaran giving us an extra 2 hours of time in the park. When we were only 30 minutes away from our stop, the bus broke down. So we just had to sit and wait while another bus came the 2 hours from Puerto Natales. As it was pouring down rain and I was dreading the weather once we would start hiking, I was happy it to be in the bus a little longer.

      Finally a new bus came, we made it to our stop and after some “negotiating” with the catamaran captain we were on our way. The clouds cleared and we got some great views to start. Once we arrived on land, we started out for our supposed 3.5 hour hike with some enthusiasm. That quickly ended thanks to the massive mud puddles along the route. Due to all the rain the previous few days, there wasn’t much trail and it was almost nonstop mud and walking in creeks. At one point it was literally like walking down a waterfall.
      Then Brice fell and broke his walking pole - at least it wasn’t his leg! But that just sent him over the edge. We weren’t enjoying the day and it just seemed worse.
      Finally we got to the lodge - in 5 hours vs the 3.5 hours we expected.

      Fortunately Refugio Grey was super nice, our room comfortable and the other people in our dorm friendly (and quiet sleepers!). We had a delicious and filling dinner while complaining with other hikers about the hard day. It was nice knowing everyone else struggled too. Plus we agreed we would bail out if the second day was just as rough. Not the best start to a trek I’d been planning for over two years by any means but trying to be hopeful for improvement.      En savoir plus

    • Bingo AbroadBingo AbroadThe Global Adventure

      Smart or not adventurous?

      15 novembre 2019, Chili ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

      Today we attempted to drive to the Pali Aike National Park to hike around its massive volcanic crater. But sadly after 2.5 hours in the car, we realized our little rental car likely wouldn’t make it through the large puddles on the gravel road to the park. We opted to turn back rather than risk getting stuck in the mud in an area with no cell service, no nearby town and rarely another car. Good call or did we miss out on a good adventure? 🤷🏻‍♀️

      At least along our drive we did see tons of guanacos (basically large llamas), a little red fox, some giant bunnies, a really fat hawk, and more sheep than we did in New Zealand.

      And then we got blue skies once we returned to Punta Arenas!      En savoir plus

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    • Bingo AbroadBingo AbroadThe Global Adventure

      Los Pengüinos

      12 novembre 2019, Chili ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      We got perfect weather for a day trip out to Isla Magdalena to see the island of penguins. It was smooth sailing for the hour long boat ride through the Strait of Magellan.

      We were told on the way out there, in 2007 it was reported there were 65,000 pairs of penguins! The population has decreased but there should still be thousands on the small island. So once we arrived, I saw black and white creatures dotting the land and thought it was a swarm of penguins. No, nearly all of them were seagulls. I think the better nickname for the island should be Seagull Island with a Handful of Penguins.

      Nonetheless we did see quite a few penguins, most of whom were inside their little burrows keeping their eggs warm or were plucking grass for better insulation underground. They were cute and funny as always when waddling to shore, and made the weirdest noises when encountering another penguin.

      On the way back we swam a few pods of dolphins to keep those of us who weren’t napping entertained.

      Not the most exciting of tours ever but still a fun afternoon.

      One of the best parts of the day was chatting with an older couple from Spain - all in Spanish! I’m sure we didn’t sound great and it wasn’t the longest of conversations due to our limited vocabulary but it was nice to know we haven’t lost that much Spanish since our last time in South America.      En savoir plus

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    • Bingo AbroadBingo AbroadThe Global Adventure
      1

      Made it to Patagonia

      10 novembre 2019, Chili ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

      After 2.5 years of planning we finally made it to Patagonia! We are currently in Punta Arenas, a small city at the very end of continental Chile. It is much less remote (good cell service!) and much larger than we anticipated (130,000 population), plus better food (we’ve had some delicious meals).

      The town is a little rundown, trash on the sides of the roads and graffiti on most buildings (though to be fair, we aren’t totally sure if before the protests there was less graffiti). There is no cute touristy area like in Cusco nor a lot of activities right in town..

      All that being said, we do still kind of love it here. A long esplanade lines the water with bike and walking paths, there are a few hip coffee shops and restaurants with beautifully plated food, and such friendly people.

      We are here six nights, which is nearly forever for tourists who usually stay only a night or couple hours before taking the bus to the town closer to Torres del Paine, but we have an awesome apartment hotel and liking that we get to explore this area a little longer.      En savoir plus

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    • Bingo AbroadBingo AbroadThe Global Adventure
      Tea Connection, a great place for lunchAt least we still got beautiful sunsets from the hotel roomProtests just a few blocks downOne amazingly swanky lounge at LAX

      Excitement in Santiago

      9 novembre 2019, Chili ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

      I was pretty nervous heading to Santiago - were the news reports true about the intense rioting happening in the city, or were they exaggerated? I wasn’t sure. We got our first glimpse of the answer right when we got to our hotel in Providencia, one of the nicest neighborhoods in Santiago - the front door was boarded up and we had to use a nearly secret entrance through the garage “for our safety.”

      Once inside the hotel, all seemed safe and normal. We headed out to an early dinner across the street, being told it’d be best to be back before dark. Our nice meal on the patio of a Japanese-Peruvian restaurant was cut short when hoard of people started appearing on the nearby street, with flags, masks and bandanas, clearly ready for the night’s protest. We were ushered inside quickly, finished our meal then headed back to the hotel. From our window, we saw giant military trucks drive by covered in spray paint and people throwing rocks at the police cars and heard chanting and banging on pots and pans. Exciting for our first night.

      The next day assured it was nice and calm during the day, we headed out for a walk. The streets are beautiful, lined with massive trees. But also you can see the distress - political graffiti on most businesses, nearly all shops on street level had boarded windows, either from being smashed or in precaution. It felt both safe, especially seeing the locals go about their days, but also you could notice the tension.

      Then as we walked down the street by the largest skyscraper, our eyes started to water and throats felt on fire. Everyone around us put scarves over their mouths. Tear gas. We’d just been hit by tear gas, well not really hit as much as we felt the effects from last night’s tear gas. Still pretty potent.

      After that we were more apprehensive but continued on, happened upon a great cafe for lunch, a swanky mall to buy a couple last minute hiking things, and a nice spot for dinner and drinks. We still managed 8.5 miles of walking around the city and no other issues.

      Our last day was the most uneventful with a walk in a large beautiful park, some tasty ice cream to cool off from the hot temps and even our hotel’s front door back open.

      Overall thankfully it was a much easier trip to Chile’s capital than I feared. But also more of an experience!      En savoir plus

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    • Bingo AbroadBingo AbroadThe Global Adventure
      Beautiful lounge in LAX

      Off we go again!

      6 novembre 2019, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

      Here we are sitting at LAX, about to board for our flight(s) to Chile. A lot of nerves and anxiety have hit me the last few days in preparation, as the political situation in Santiago is sketchy at best, tours we were excited about have been cancelled in northern Chile and Argentina continues to have economic currency problems. Perhaps not the best time to be traveling to South America. I guess that’s what we get for booking something a few months in advance (which we’ve done only 2 or 3 times before on this journey)!

      But hopefully all will be ok and we will have a good time. We are both excited to visit in some new countries we’ve never been to, practice our Spanish and see some beautiful mountains and glaciers.

      Here’s to another adventure!      En savoir plus

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    • Bingo AbroadBingo AbroadThe Global Adventure

      7300 Miles Later

      24 octobre 2019, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

      Well, we officially survived our West Coast road trip. Two months and eleven states later, we are back in Oregon. We saw so many great National Parks, listened to a crazy number of podcasts, visited more McDonald’s than I’d been to in years prior, ate a lot of PB&Js, and visited quite a few friends and family.

      By the Numbers:
      • Miles Driven: 7,300
      • States Visited: 11
      • National Parks Visited: 15
      • Days on the Road: 55

      Top Sights:
      • Mammoth Terraces in Yellowstone. This was definitely our favorite park, and this was my favorite place within Yellowstone. The travertine made by calcium carbonate in the hot springs makes everything look snow covered. The reflections in the ponds, the weird layers of rock forming staircases, the dead trees still standing in the water, it was all beautiful in a weird way. Even better, there was a family of elk hanging in the terraces.
      • Rim Trail in Bryce Canyon. It was my second time to Bryce and I loved it just as much. Seeing the colorful pink hoodoos popping up all over the canyon is magical.
      • Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. Simply stunning and a little scary to be able to see deep into the canyon from the arch.

      Best Surprise:
      • Hiking in the Black Hills of Custer State Park. It surprised us how beautiful it is out there in western South Dakota.
      • Relaxing on the coast in Mendocino. Just before arriving back in Oregon, we stopped in the small beach town, a couple hours north of San Francisco. Massive crashing waves, big bluffs and gorgeous sunsets. I could have stayed watching the view from this incredible BnB for days.

      Coolest Towns:
      • Durango, Colorado. We loved this little town. Beautiful spot right in the mountains and along a river. Cute historic downtown area with really good food, great live music, and a perfect BnB to stay at.
      • Santa Barbara, California. Right on the beach. Awesome local restaurants, hip bars and wineries. Spanish-colonial architecture everywhere. Friendly and mellow vibe. What’s not to like?!

      Best Non-Hiking Activities:
      We did a lot of hiking, so we had to switch it up on occasion.
      • Biking 24 miles along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was hard not to gawk at the views along the ride but fortunately we never fell off while doing so!
      • Miss Behave Gameshow in Las Vegas. When we needed a break from nature and national parks, we hit up Vegas for a few days. This was a hysterical and fun show, ridiculous and outrageous.

      Best Tip:
      • Gypsy Guide app! “Jim” was our roadside companion and guide through 9 National Parks. It made those trips so much more interesting and fun. Plus then we had to do less planning, always a plus!      En savoir plus

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