After Geysir, we made our way to Gulfoss, Iceland’s most popular waterfall. I have to say that I see why it’s popular. While not as electrifying as some waterfalls, it’s still powerful and dramatic in its beauty.

The long path down to the waterfall’s edge is an adventure enough. Bring an umbrella or be prepared to get wet. As you move closer to the waterfall, the spray feels like heavy rain.

I would also recommend that you wear some sturdy shoes with a good grip. The rocks next to the waterfall are a touch slippery. Okay, fine, they’re…well, scary.  I was not about to keel over into the rapids below. The running joke for Husband J and me had to be the fact that visitors are allowed to get up close and personal with the waterfall. There’s no way that would happen in the U.S. Lawsuit, anyone? Also, is it me, or wouldn’t a rail be good here?

Without the protective rail, you do get some good pictures though. Please note my hat, gloves and multiple layers. Husband J’s friend, Mr. G., kept apologizing for the weather, which was apparently colder than normal for late May in Iceland.  I have to say that I couldn’t be happy in a place where 40 degree Fahrenheit weather is normal for May. I’m barely making it through a May full of low 60′s.

Yes. We acknowledge the cheesiness of this pic, but my husband is cheesy.

While Gulfoss is probably not the most awe-inspiring waterfall I have seen, there is nothing like getting so close that you can touch (or maybe jump in in this case?) to make seeing a sight even more exciting.

Have you ever gotten closer than usual to the heart of a tourist sight? Where?

Baby C turns six weeks tomorrow (already!), and I have to say that it’s been a combination of mesmerizing, tiring and the steepest learning curve ever.  She has grown from the little peanut she was at birth to this full fledged baby. Each night after being with her approximately 12 hours per day by myself (Husband J works long hours), I often don’t have energy to even keep my eyes open much less whip out my laptop. Being a parent to a newborn can be a little rough. Someone asked me how I was doing, and I said that my life has been taken over by an 8 pound person with no teeth and a strong set of lungs.

I’m getting to the point where I need to start doing fun little things for myself, and blogging is definitely one of those things. I think I realized today that I am going to have to take charge of my time a little more (well, to the extent you can with a young baby). Let’s hope that I can do that.

I’ve also been feeling guilty that I haven’t traveled anywhere new yet that I can feature on this blog. Do you guys mind that I still have tons to write about India, haven’t even scratched the surface of Iceland and barely talked about food in Argentina? I have so much to share, but I guess I feel a tad inadequate because I have nowhere new and exciting to share with you.

I will say that Husband J and I are thinking about our first trip with Baby C for later this year. I’m toying with how ambitious we’ll be with a baby, but that’s for another post.

This was just to say hi and to say that I am thinking of all of you.

How are YOU doing?

Jazmyn has been chosen to travel to Brazil this summer as part of a program called the International Youth Leadership Institute. She’ll be spending time in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador da Bahia, and both Maceio and Palmares in the northern part of the country. Can I say that I am jealous? I’d love to go back to Brazil! (Check out my posts about my trip to Brazil here). As part of the program, each student must raise money that will go towards their travel costs. Jazmyn is combining her artistic talents and her love of animals by selling sketches of South American wildlife. Samples and more information about the sketches are below. You can also just donate, and there are links below to do just that.

Under normal circumstances, I would not solicit money for me or anyone else on this blog, but I have to say that Jazmyn is a special young woman, and I can’t think of a better reason to hit you guys up for money than to help her reach her goal of learning more about Brazil, its language, history, culture and environment this summer. To me, this blog is just not about telling my story but about inspiring others to create their own stories by exploring the world. Please help Jazmyn create her own lifelong memories.

Here’s Jazmyn in her own words to explain more about the program and her fundraising efforts.

PLEASE SEND ME TO BRAZIL!

“If anybody tells you your dreams are too big, tell them that the world they are living in is too small.” –Brown, 23

THROUGH A PROGRAM CALLED IYLI (The International Leadership Institute), I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY ABROAD IN BRAZIL FOR A MONTH THIS SUMMER. EVERY TRIP IS SUSTAINED THROUGH SCHOLARSHIP, BUT THE STUDENT MUST FIRST DEMONSTRATE THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS THAT IYLI PROMOTES BY RAISING A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MONEY. THE OPTIMAL GOAL IS $1,000 TOTAL, BUT ANY AND ALL MONEY MADE IS APPRECIATED AND WILL GO DIRECTLY TO SUPPORTING THE STUDENT IN INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL THROUGH IYLI.

IN BRAZIL, STUDENTS WILL GET A HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE IN THE CULTURE OF SOUTH AMERICA, VISITING LANDMARKS AND MAJOR CITIES AS WELL AS BEACHES, FORESTS, AND RURAL AREAS. THE TRIP IS BASED ON COMMUNITY SERVICE, SO ANY MONEY DONATED WILL NOT GO TO WASTE! STUDENTS WILL BE TAUGHT ENVIROMENTAL SKILLS AND WILL DOING COMMUNITY SERVICE WORK THROUGHOUT DIFFERENT AREAS OF BRAZIL.

I BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE PLAY A GREATER ROLE IN THE WORLD THAN WE LIKE TO TAKE CREDIT FOR. WE LIKE TO PRETEND AS IF WE HAVE ALREADY DISCOVERED WHATEVER IS OUT THERE. I WOULD LIKE TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WORLD THEY LIVE IN AND TAKE CHARGE IN THEIR COMMUNITIES. THIS MEANS UNDERSTANDING THE ENVIRONMENT AND RESPECTING WHAT IT HAS TO OFFER. WHAT BETTER WAY TO EXPERIENCE THE WORLD THAN TO TRAVEL AND SEE IT ALL UP CLOSE?

YOUR DONATION WILL GO TOWARDS DEVELOPING A MORE VERSATILE STUDENT WHO WILL BETTER UNDERSTAND THE WORLD AROUND HER AND PROMOTE OTHERS TO DO THE SAME. YOUR MONEY WILL AID IN HELPING A STUDENT WHO WANTS TO LEARN PORTUGESE, WHO WANTS TO STUDY THE ENVIRONMENT, AND WHO WANTS TO GAIN A NEW APPRECIATION FOR WHAT GOES ON OUTSIDE OF NEW YORK CITY.

PLEASE SUPPORT BY PURCHASING A HAND-MADE SKETCH OF A UNIQUE SOUTH AMERICAN ANIMAL. THE PHOTO THE ART IS CREATED FROM IS CREDITED. HERE ARE SAMPLES OF MY WORK:

Based on a photo via Flickr River

Based on a photo via Violet Darkling

Based on a photo via Flickr

ALL DONATIONS ARE APPRECIATED!

Please visit IYLI’s website for more information about the organization: www.iyli.org

To donate via PayPal online, go to:

Iyli.org, and click on the “Donate” button. Please put “JazmynBrazil 2013″ when making the donation. 

Thank you for your contribution!

If you would like to purchase a sketch or have any questions about IYLI, please feel free to contact me at: travelabroad.iyli@gmail.com

I will be taking requests in April for any other South American animals you would like to see on the webpage that are not already there. I will also be taking special requests if you have a friend, family member, or pet you would like drawn in return for an additional donation. Just send a photo of him/her to the email above.

Thanks again for your support!

JAZMYN

It’s a girl! Please welcome Baby TAO aka Baby C! She joined us last Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 3:55pm. One of the things I’ve learned about my daughter so far is that she is definitely on her own time and likes to do her own thing. She flip flopped in the womb like there was no tomorrow and is super active already! I also notice that she’s hungry ALL THE TIME. What can I say? She takes after her mother.

Here are a few pics we’ve taken of her so far.

I’ll hopefully have some nicer pictures to share soon. Yes, I know that she looks nothing like me.

Also going forward, I probably won’t post about Baby C much. If anything, I may give updates from time to time, but Husband J and I prefer that she not be front and center here. If there is a topic related to travel with babies, kids, and family travel, she’ll of course be very much a part of that post. While I love blogging, I’m still a pretty private person. I hope you guys understand.

Thanks again!

Terri & the TAO Family (whoa….)

I’ve already written about the majority of our day on the memorable Crucero Leal by MarPatag Cruises here. After being on the water for hours, we finally got a chance to stretch our legs at Puesto Las Vacas, a small inlet in the Spegazzini Canal area.

We stopped for the heck of it and to walk off our beyond delicious lunch by traipsing around the shore of the bay.

 Our boat, the Leal, in the background

The coolest part of this little excursion was hanging out in this cabin right on the water. If I have not said it already, Argentina is a country of immigrants, many of whom came to the Patagonia region to work in somewhat harsh climates tending to cattle and sheep (Vacas means “cows” in Spanish, so if I remember correctly this area was for cow herding until the 1970′s.)

We entered the home of a Scandinvaian man who lived here at one point with his family well into his later years (I think his 70′s?). The cabin really gave us a sense of how people survived here without much of anything (no running to the supermarket here) and in major isolation. Yet that’s really the story of people in this part of Argentina. People had to be tough, but I suspect they liked the beauty and tranquility.

After our history lesson, we got to share in one of Argentina’s national drinks, mate. Mate is a very popular herbal tea that is an Argentinian staple and actually found in other neighboring South American countries. Traditionally, Argentines would sit at a campfire somewhere (or anywhere really) and pass around this tea in a calabash container, also called mate, with a metal straw known as a bombilla. These containers with bombillas come in a variety of sizes, and they are often beautifully decorated. I’m kicking myself for not picking one up before we left. Usually I’m not really into sharing drinking containers with strangers, but for the sake of authenticity, why not?

Pouring the mate  (This very nice man was our main waiter for the day)

As you can see, the yerba (the actual tea) is a tea with thick bits of leaves and maybe even some bark? I was glad to try it, but I have to say that I wasn’t in love. It tasted extremely bitter and chalky. I heard before our trip that mate was an acquired taste; and boy, was that true. Honestly, I think it needed some honey or sugar. You can get mate anywhere in Argentina, including higher end cafes and in tea bag form, so perhaps that’s a better place to try it for the first time than my introduction to it here in a cabin in the middle of Patagonia.

After our tea was done, it was off to the boat, and we were back to MarPatag’s dock by the end of the day.

 Not a bad sunset…

Just so you know, one of the other reasons I chose this day cruise was for the the food. That’s for another post.

For most of us living in the U.S., the closest thing we get to traditional Masala Chai is a Starbucks Chai Latte. I’ve been a fan of this drink for years while acknowledging that it’s probably far from authentic. Yet here I was drinking the precursor to that tea knock-off in probably the smallest, most local place possible. Would Starbucks measure up; and more importantly, did I care?

It was up to this man to show me and Team Ozzie, how it’s done…literally.

One of Madhogarh’s Chai Wallahs (I’m assuming that there’s more than one, right?)

First of all a little vocabulary:  ”chai” is a generic word for tea in Hindi. It doesn’t refer to a specific type of preparation of tea. Masala chai is really what we were having, and what I would continue to crave in the mornings with breakfast while in India. I usually don’t drink caffeinated tea, but I couldn’t resist this, especially having it fresh everyday.  It’s common to find chai stands all over India selling Masala chai. It is a hot mixture of very strong black tea (usually Assam tea, often of the mamri variety), whole milk, a spice blend (usually made up of ginger and cardamom, with the addition of cinnamon, peppercorn, and cloves but the mixture varies), and sugar (lots of it). Apparently, everyone has their own twist on making Masala chai, so I can’t really tell you a process, but there are lots of great recipes via Ye Olde Google. The basic method is boiling water, milk, tea, and spices, and then straining it.

When we rolled up to the chai stall, it was definitely buzzing. There were several men of various ages gathered about chatting. Needless to say, quite a few of them took an interest in me, and I was quite fascinated right back. I could totally tell that they were talking about me, but of course I understood nothing. I did make out the word “African” though.

For a variety of reasons, the chai spot is really like the local bar. It’s where people (Read: Men) go to shoot the breeze and meet up with friends. In my mind, the chai wallah isn’t just providing tea; he’s also creating community. As a tourist/traveler, I appreciated getting to the local hang out spot, even if I couldn’t really communicate and I was definitely out place. The village men smiled at us, and I think they appreciated that we happily drank our tea.

This man was kind enough to let me take a picture of him.

I couldn’t leave you all without showing how this chai wallah makes his tea. Perhaps it will inspire you to make some at home.

So cheers, everyone, and try some (Masala) chai in the near future, even if it is at Starbucks.

By the way, his version is better than Starbucks (big surprise). The milk adds creaminess, but it doesn’t overpower all of the other ingredients, which often happens with a poorly made Starbucks chai. Often you get a weak spice kick with Starbucks, but there was no doubt about what I was drinking here.

Do you like (Masala) chai tea? Do you enjoy checking out local watering holes, bars, and meeting spots when you travel?

Happy New Year! We’re already one week into 2013. Crazy, isn’t it?

2013 is already shaping up to be a big year for me and Husband J. That’s because……..

At Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. I’ll definitely write about this.

We’re expecting a little Baby TAO! I am due with our first child late March/early April.

So far pregnancy has been pretty good to me. Most days, I feel pretty good, and I am trying to remain as active as ever while balancing preparing for a baby and getting some ducks in a row professionally before this child’s arrival. I find much of this preparation to be overwhelming. Due to the information hog in me, there’s a lot I’d like to learn about baby care and pregnancy, and lots of gear to research in an effort to try NOT to buy it. Trust me when I tell you there is so much to out there you supposedly “need” and should buy (or have people buy for you) to the point where it’s a bit ridiculous, in my opinion. You know your life is changing when you spend a half-hour discussing crib mattresses with your mate instead of where to go for the evening. Although this isn’t a lifestyle blog, I promise that I’ll write a post about some of my observations about pregnancy.

Speaking of writing posts…have you noticed a distinct drop in my blogging output? Yeah, pregnancy wasn’t so helpful with that. The first trimester can make you feel awful. I usually write in the evenings, but that was also when I felt the worst in the first few months. People may call it “morning sickness”, but I felt horrible from 2pm until it was time to sleep. It really knocked me off of my schedule and blogging flow (for lack of a better word). From then on, it was hard to continue to be motivated on a regular basis to blog since my routine was all out of whack.

A few people have asked if we’ll still continue to travel, and my answer has been, “I hope so.” Obviously where and how we travel will change, but we hope to continue to do it. I have no idea what personality this child will have nor what kind of parents we’ll be, so that’s a factor in determining future travel plans. I’m not going to assume anything, but I don’t think I have to pack away a passport now that we’ll be expanding our family. We’ve already gotten a little blowback from one member of Husband J’s family at even the suggestion of taking future Baby TAO to visit my family in Antigua, a three-hour direct flight from and in the same time zone as New York. Go figure…

I’ve still got so much more to write about Iceland and India, and just a few more posts regarding Argentina, so definitely stick around.

 B’Hai Temple, New Delhi, India

Interior of Hallsgrimskirkja, Reykjavik, India

Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia (El Calafate), Argentina

Tiger in Ranthambore National Park

Geysir, Iceland

Statue of Manuel Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Gulfoss, Iceland

Eva Peron’s Tomb, Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires, Argentina

It’s the eve of a New Year. Can you believe it? 2012 has been a good year for me even if I am always beating myself  up. I need to be happier with who and where I am in 2013. What about you?

I can’t imagine going to three more radically different places than I traveled to this year (Argentina, India & Iceland), and the good eating wasn’t just international either. I had some great food right here in New York City. As is my usual end of the year tradition, I want to highlight my Top Ten Food pics for 2012. Here are some of my favorite eats/feeble attempts at decent food photography for 2012 (links to past posts included, in case you missed them):

1. These are the best pancakes EVER!! I’m going back to the Pancake Month at Clinton Street Baking Company in February.

 Banana Pancakes with Bavarian Cream, Toasted Coconut & Warm Maple Butter 

2. I ate a lot of great food courtesy of some wonderful special invites from my friend M. I now have a newfound respect for Austrian food thanks to the chefs from Edi & the Wolf and Seasonal.

 Smoked Wild Salmon with Mustard Creme Fraiche, Leek Water & Crispy Brown Bread

3. By far, the best meatball parmigian sandwich, I have EVER tasted in my life. I went back with Husband J, and he says it’s in his top two as well. I’ve also tried the chicken parm, and it’s equally good. I’m going back to try the eggplant, too.

Meatball Parm Sandwich at Parm

4. Discovering Argentinian pizza was a pleasant surprise.

Tomato, Olive, Ham Pizza at Guerrin in Buenos Aires, Argentina

5. I miss India’s spicy breakfasts. Nothing like a little cumin in the morning.

Breakfast Tiffin at Saravana Bhavan, New Delhi, India

6. I know it’s just a hot dog, but it’s a darn good one. The Icelandic people are very lucky.

The Everything Hot Dog from Baejarins Beztu Pylsur in Reykjavik, Iceland

7.  Celebrating a family milestone with an excellent meal!

Pan-Seared Foie Gras with Pinot Noir Cake, Foie Gras Ice Cream and Green Grapes at Castle Hill Inn, Newport, RI

8. High tea: I need to do that more often.

Raspberry Tart at High Tea from the Alvear Palace Hotel, Buenos Aires

9. Anything sweet with glitter deserves a mention.

Kaju Katli in Jaipur, India

10. I still haven’t written about the steaks in Argentina.

Ribeye from Don Julio, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Any favorites from these set of pictures? What are you hoping to eat or cook more of in 2013?

Travel photos are coming later!

1. Color makes travel better.

Maybe I’m just addicted to color this year, but don’t bright colors make you happy, too? I love this passport holder from J. Crew. Will I look chic at the immigration check point? Perhaps.

2. The Braggy Traveler?

Okay, I have my own travel map for the blog, but I’m still jazzed about possibly putting up a map of my own in an office or family room (if I had those rooms anywhere in my home).  For this map, all you do is scratch off the countries you’ve been to. Fun or braggy? Who knows?

3. Juiced up.

It’s almost 2013, and there is no way to travel without some form of technology, even if it’s an IPhone. At the same time, I think the hotels are trying to hide their outlets. Have they not gotten the memo about the needs of the modern traveler?  I love these extra long cords from ICordination. Problem solved?

J. Crew makes another appearance on this list with these teeny IPhone backup batteries. I would love to just keep this in my purse to whip out when I need a charge.

4. Counting down the hours.

Tell me that you don’t love the New York Times’ 36 Hours weekly series. Sometimes it’s a bit off the mark. Am I really going to go to every fancy restaurant in town for one weekend? Probably not. Yet it does give a nice overview of what a place has to offer. Now you can read them non-stop. This book is limited to the U.S. and Canada, but the limitation isn’t a bad thing. There’s so much to see in these two countries.  Enjoy!

5. Comfy and soft…

This gift is beyond my budget, but maybe not for you. I would use this slipper and blanket set from Max Mara on my couch. No travel necessary.

So that’s it. A little late, but you can always give an IOU for any late gifts. I feel like the holiday season lasts until New Year’s Day anyway.

Merry Christmas to all!