Frequently Asked Questions

Q: As of today, you have been gone from Seattle for almost 2 months. Are you missing winter yet?
A: Nope. We are definitely not missing winter. We are missing other things, but not winter.

Q: Okay, what are you missing?
A: Arn has been missing pretzels. While you can get Cheetos, Doritos, and every flavor of potato chips in South America, you can’t get pretzels. Deborah did arrange for our friend, Bryon, to mule a bag of pretzels to Ecuador. However, that was a 1lb bag and they have been gone for ages! A few days ago, he got lucky and found pretzels imported from Israel. They are not as good as his favorite brand at home; however, he is still enjoying them. Deborah is missing peanut butter. She found peanut butter in Ecuador and Chile. Unfortunately, she didn’t buy a big enough jar. The grocery stores in Argentina are completely devoid of peanut butter. After asking many people in many stores, she has finally decided to just go with the local custom and she bought caramel de leche instead. And yes, we know all about the peanut butter and peanut product recalls in the U.S. Still, Deborah knows she has 3 jars waiting in our cabinet at home.

Q: Is there anything you failed to pack that you wish you have?
A: Yes, Deborah wishes she had packed her “Big Girl” Pants for kayaking. Arn also wishes that Deborah had packed her “Big Girl” Pants.

Q: Is there anything you brought that has proven helpful?
A: After our bike trip in the fall, Deborah put together a “repair kit”. So far, the sewing kit, duct tape, and zip ties have all proven very helpful. In fact, we could use a few more zip ties. They are great for securing zips on luggage when you are leaving them behind in a hotel, bus, van, etc.

Q: Have you lost track of time?
A: That depends. If you measure time as day of the week or day of the month, then yes we have very much lost track of time. If you measure time as “how many more clean pair of underwear do you have”, then absolutely not.

Q: How is your Spanish progressing?
A: Arn’s Spanish is awesome (yes, this is Deborah writing because Arn wouldn’t give himself this kind of credit). He can cover all the necessary travel topics and much, much more. In Peru and Ecuador, he demonstrated that he can express a wide range of emotions. In Chile, he demonstrated that he can get his wife out of trouble (more on that later). As for Deborah, she has mastered a few key phrases: “Do you have Coca Cola Zero, Coca Cola Light, Peanut Butter, etc”, “I want _____.”, “Where is the bathroom?”, and “The same for me” (this of course is used after Arn orders everything perfectly for himself). Recently, Arn swears that Deborah was talking in her sleep….in Spanish. Given that this is the kind of thing that Arn would love to dream up and tell her about, it is with doubt that this fact is accepted.

Q: Have you had good weather?
A: Yep. It is summer! The days were still short in Peru and Ecuador. In Chile and Argentina, the sun is setting after 9pm.

Q: Have you had any bad weather?
A: Yep. There are two days of it that we are likely to remember for a long time. We had one day at Machu Picchu. It rained like crazy that day. We donned all of our rain gear and had a great time checking out the drainage systems built by the Incas. Just last week, we had another day of miserable weather. It was about 45 degrees and raining. Again, we donned all of our rain gear and all of our warm layers and went for a metric century ride (~60 miles). We pedaled the “Siete Lagos Road” (Seven Lakes). Half of the ride was on dirt; the other half on pavement. All of it was ridden in the rain, or the rain and wind, or the wind. All brief moments of sunshine were not to be trusted. If you don’t cycle, then you don’t know how cold 45 degrees can be. Think numb feet and hands --- all day. Still, it was totally worth it for the scenery that could be enjoyed. Unfortunately, the low clouds covered a fair bit; however, we did see all seven lakes.

Q: What has been the best surprise?
A: You know that we are very motivated by food. So, discovering the fabulous tastes of the Peruvian chefs was a fantastic surprise. We have enjoyed their cooking in Peru, Ecuador and Chile.

Q: What has been the most unexpected surprise?
A: Hmm….as of late, we have been fighting with the ATM machines in Argentina. For foreigners, there is a 300 peso limit at the ATM (this is about $85 U.S.). You can get 300 pesos, put your card back in, and get 300 more. You need to couple this with a single (or so we thought) ATM network. Things had been going pretty well until Arn’s card was spit back out with some message about “we will call your cell phone”. We tried different banks, but the ATM network was the same and the result was the same. We called the bank in the U.S. and they said everything was fine. So, we pulled out Deborah’s ATM card. Guess what? She had a 6 digit pin and the network only accepts a 4 digit pin. Luckily, we were able to call the bank in the U.S. to change the pin. We were able to get cash, but only up to her daily limit (something she set back when she was first out of college --- so you just imagine how often we’ll be going to bank with her card). We called American Express to find an ATM that accepts their card. Bummer…those ATMs are in Buenos Aires. After walking the town, we did find one bank with an ATM on different system and we managed to get Arn’s card to work. What is the moral of the story? Get a 4 digit pin if you don’t have one, increase your daily ATM limit, call your bank before you leave home to let them know what you are doing (so they don’t put on any holds), and whatever you do ---- carry a lot of cards! (Note: you can pay for “goods” with a credit card, but not “services”. So, bike rentals, tours, and guides are all “cash only”).

Q: What has been the scariest moment?
A: Before arriving in Chile, Deborah would have said there was a “wall shot” in the river in Ecuador that totally freaked her out and was the scariest moment. However, that answer changed after driving in Chile. We decided to go check out this surf wave on the coast. We enjoyed a 1 ½ hour drive from wine country to the coast. It was all going good until we drove into town. The sign said “city center to the right”. We didn’t want “city center”; we wanted “big ass wave”. So, we continued. The street made a turn and started uphill. At this point, we nearly took out two motorcycles that were coming head on down the hill. Deborah slammed on the breaks, but the motorcycles were coming downhill on a gravel road. The first guy cleared the front end of the car. The second guy started losing control of the motorcycle and it slid sideways. We thought for sure he was going down on the gravel road and slamming into the front end of the car. Luckily, he held on, got the bike upright and cleared the car. It was at this point we realized the motorcycles were cops!
The police officer chewed Deborah’s butt in Spanish. While her Spanish stinks, she understood enough to know that he wanted to know if she can read. Arn did a great job of explaining what happened and that we never saw a “one-way” (No Entrada) sign. After presenting paperwork and lot of screaming, he let us go.

Q: You’ve been gone almost 2 months and you both have short hair. What have you done about haircuts?
A: Arn is in the habit of getting international haircuts. So, he got his hair cut shortly after arriving in Santiago. It took almost 45 minutes, but it was a nice cut. Deborah has decided to live with the “devil” she knows --- her Seattle haircut grown out. Her plan is to skip a haircut for three months. Ask again in two weeks to see if she changes her mind.

Q: What is the funniest thing you have seen?
A: Wow that is a tough question. Two days ago, we saw a guy pedaling a bike on a bike stand. The rear wheel had an interior fly wheel with a belt connected to a grind stone wheel on the handlebars. As he pedaled, the grinding stone turned and he was using it sharpen knives. Who knew that we could set up a knife sharpening business for Deborah while she rides her bike on the trainer?!?!

Q: What has been the most frustrating thing?
A: Read the post on “Flushing Roulette”.

Q: Have you noticed any differences in the drivers from country to country?
A: In Ecuador, the drivers don’t use their headlights at night. They are “saving” them. In Chile, the law requires that you have your headlights on all the time. In Argentina, the drivers are very encouraging and relatively courteous to cyclists.

Q: Does the sound of Spanish change from country to country?
A: Yep. People are much easier to understand in Peru and Ecuador as long as they are not speaking too quickly. In Chile, our joke with people was that the Chileans eat their words. People cracked up laughing when Arn would explain this in Spanish. They are tough to understand. They speak very fast and drop all the “s” sounds at the end of words. In Argentina, the people are easier to understand than the Chileans, but they change the pronunciations of a few things --- “LL” in Spanish is usually a “Y” sound. In Argentina, it is a “J”. It takes a while to get used to that.

Q: Have you stayed healthy?
A: Well, Arn picked up a couple of different colds --- one in Peru and one in Ecuador. Deborah managed to avoid this. At the present, we both look like our legs were in a fight with a rose bush and lost. This was the result of trying to mountain bike on a hiking trail.

Q: Your “ESB Tour” included a daily road kill count. In all of your cycling, have you seen much road kill?
A: Believe it or not, we have seen almost no road kill. The total count is one cat and one dog that were seen from the van and one dog seen from the bike.

Q: After the “ESB Tour” Deborah had a lot of DOA clothing (things that fell apart from use). How is the clothing mortality on this trip?
A: Deborah’s paddling shoes will not be returning home. She has had to duct tape the soles onto the shoes. While other kayaker’s consider this appropriate, she is a bit paranoid about knowing that the soles are attached when she wants to scout and portage. Arn’s running shoes will also not be making the return trip. They were nearly dead before we left home. Deborah’s walking shoes are in the same category. Arn has one shirt that was burned in a dryer in an Ecuador (you can seem the imprint of the dryer). That won’t be going home. Deborah’s paddling gloves were torn on a rock she hit, but they have been sewn back together. And, there is a sports bra that may not make it until the send of the week!

Q: Are you having fun?
A: For us, summer is our favorite time of year. This year, we are enjoying a bonus summer. We didn’t plan everything perfectly --- some things we over planned and some things didn’t go as planned. Still, we have had a lot of different experiences and have had fun along the way. At different points along the journey, we have thought of different family members and friends and have said, “You know who would really like this?” You might be surprised how often your names came up. It has been fun and continues to be fun. Chile and Argentina call to us in our language --- long days, nice temps, not too much rain, beautiful mountains, nice rivers, and wonderful places to play. So, we are certainly enjoying a very sweet part of the trip.