ARTICLES
Candy From A Baby
BootsnAll.com, May 2003
In the economically-depressed city of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2002, dealing with social unrest becomes a part of the journey.
ENTRIES FROM THE GLOBAL TRIP BLOG CHRONICLES
Great Adventure
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted February 13, 2004
DAY 114: When Lara and I signed up for a tour of the Argentine side of Iguazu Falls with the Hostelling International office, we spent the extra 10 real on a tour called “Gran Aventura” that included both a truck and boat ride. Like the Six Flags theme park with the English translation of the tour name, the tour included a wet and wild ride through the roaring rapids of the Rio Iguazu.
Bye, Bye Brazil
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted February 29, 2004
DAY 132: Lara was up all set for her last opportunity for our daily morning cheese, Gilmore Girls and Touched By An Angel. It being Saturday, The Warner Channel on our satellite TV was running cartoons instead, and so the only thing to do was pack our bags and clean out the apartment. Lara was still pretty angry that Luis yelled at us the morning before with false accusations instead of approaching it professionally — especially after all the problems we had with them that we let slide — and didn’t want Angramar Turismo to get any more satisfaction out of us. She made sure she packed the fairly heavy bottle of tomato sauce in her bag instead of just leaving it behind for the owner to have.
“I know it’s childish, but fuck them, I’m going to be childish.”
Flashbacks in Buenos Aires
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted March 01, 2004
DAY 133: In February 2002, I spent a day in Buenos Aires during a stopover en route to Antarctica. During that day, I wandered around the central part of the city, looking for a new camera to replace the one that had broken on me, seeing the main sights on the way. Just over two years later I was back in BA visiting the familiar sights, and everything came back to me — including the familiar words of spoken Spanish I had been accustomed to hearing four weeks before. After being in Portuguese-speaking Brazil for a month, I had to revert back to my broken Spanish speaking ways, although I still kept on saying “obrigado” instead of “gracias” (“thank you”) and had to correct myself all the time.
It Takes Two to Tango, But Hundreds to Start A Revolution
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted March 02, 2004
DAY 134: Two days prior, I was in Rio de Janeiro — a city of samba — but had flown to Buenos Aires, a city of a different dance: the tango. If there’s one thing to be associated with Buenos Aires, it’s the tango — however, if there’s another thing, it’s political demonstrations.
Colors of Buenos Aires
Posted March 02, 2004
DAY 135: Outside the window, the sky was grey with a light rain coming down from rain clouds above. A look up the skylight in the atrium of the hostel, I saw raindrops on the glass. The weather sort of put a damper on the plan I had for the day: to go on a bike tour of Palermo, the middle-class neighborhood northwest of the city, full of scenic parks.
I was telling Pepo, the industrious French accountant that I met the night before about my need for a change of plans. He replied with a saying he had heard from others about the temperamental weather: “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.”
Last Meals Before Africa
Posted March 03, 2004
DAY 136: I woke up in time to meet up for the meeting of a bike tour at 9:30. However, realizing that I had many chores to take care of before leaving Buenos Aires (and South America for that matter) — buying medicine for my irritated eyes and cough, doing laundry, checking out of my hostel and, of course, Blog duties — I was glad that I blew it off. I did however make time to experience the characteristic cuisine of Buenos Aires one last time. Aside from the steaks, my other weakness was for empanadas — a tasty treat found all over the city.
Adopted Families
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: Chill Out In Chile"
Posted December 22, 2010
DAY 5: “[When you go to Mendoza, go to this restaurant called ‘Petrona,’]” said this American college kid who had been studying abroad in Mendoza, Argentina. Emily and I had met him as he was on vacation with his Minnesotan mother and sister at the empanada place in Viña del Mar. “[Look for a bearded guy named Mathias and tell him you met a guy named Robert. They sort of adopted me as their son. They’ll be excited that you met me.]” Robert gave us an address and I said we’d look his adopted father up when we journeyed into a bonus country on this “Chill Out in Chile” travel blog: Argentina.
Not that it is a completely different country; without political borders, regions are regions, and Mendoza, Argentina isn’t too far from Santiago — Chile is a thin country after all. Emily had intended to go eastbound through Mendoza to meet her friend Ina and eventually work their way to Buenos Aires for New Year’s — while I headed south to Patagonia — but we had such a great rapport that me going with her to Mendoza for a quick jaunt into Argentina only made sense.
Goldilocks and the Three Wineries
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: Chill Out In Chile"
Posted December 23, 2010
DAY 6: When the original Italian winemakers came to Argentina — a century before escaped Nazis from Germany made home in Argentina — they probably had no idea that in the future of the 21st century, tourists would flock to the Mendoza region to choose from several competitve bicycle rental companies so that visitors could be drunk on wine while attempting to ride from vineyard to vineyard without wiping out. The most known bicycle company is “Mr. Hugo” because everyone and their mothers recommended it — secretly because they were all getting a commission — in what a simple Google search result said was a shady racket.
“Apparently Mr. Hugo is the only thing that exists,” Emily said sarcastically after hearing Mr. Hugo’s name a sixth time that morning. “Fuck Mr. Hugo!” We were determined to give our business elsewhere, and thankfully a travel agent in town named Ana mentioned that there are several bike companies to choose from (after recommending Mr. Hugo of course, but admitting her commission).
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ABOUT ERIK R. TRINIDAD
When he’s not making a living as an interactive/motion designer or playing with fast food, Erik R. Trinidad is a travel writer, blogger, video host and producer focusing on adventure and culinary content. His work has been featured on National Geographic Intelligent Travel, Adventure.com, Discovery.com, Saveur, Condé Nast Traveler, and 
Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why, which also includes the work of Tim Cahill, Doug Lansky, Jennifer Leo and Rolf Potts. He has also referenced his travel experiences in his solo book, Fancy Fast Food: Ironic Recipes with No Bun Intended.
For over ten years, Erik has traveled to the seven continents of the world — from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo — with a curiosity for exotic foods and a thirst for adventure (and writing material). In his travels, he has been mugged at knifepoint in Cape Town, extorted by corrupt Russian police on the Trans-Siberian Railway, stranded in tornadic storms in the American midwest, and air-lifted off the Everest Trail by a helicopter that was thankfully paid for by his travel insurance. But it hasn’t been all fun; he has also donned a tuxedo amidst the penguins of Antarctica, paraded with Carnival-winning samba school Beija Flor in Rio, run for his life at Pamplona’s “Running of the Bulls,” cage-dived with great white sharks, gotten shot point-blank in the stomach in Colombia (while wearing a bulletproof jacket), and above all, encountered many people around the world, including some Peruvian musicians in Cuzco who learned and played “Y.M.C.A.” at his request. He loves the irony that, after everywhere he’s been, he has never been to Mexico.
Erik writes stories and news articles when he’s at his base camp in New York City, and continues his blog when he is on the road — provided he’s not occupied tracking down lost luggage.
Additional news/article clippings at ErikTrinidad.com.
See Erik talk about travel in an American Express ad:
Read about Erik in this feature article from Filipinas magazine by National Geographic Traveler Associate Editor Amy Alipio.