Our second installment of “The Expeditioner’s 2010 In Review” series comes from co-editor Brit Weaver. She’s planning a return trip back to South America, and she’s offering up some thought on the year past and predictions for the year to come:

Your Travel in 2010?

My travel in 2010 consisted of Buenos Aires, Patagonia, Uruguay, and New York City. For the upcoming year, I’m trying to make my way back to B.A. I fell in love with the people, the architecture and the face-sized steaks, and I can’t wait to get back. While there I hope to check out the Mendoza region and Montevideo, capital of Uruguay: the city on the sea.

Travel Tips from Lessons Learned in 2010?

If I were to offer up one tip, I would tell people to travel light. Whether it is luggage, in your walk, the way you talk or in your heart, a steadfast person is not as open to the flow of things. I learned that home is where my heart is and it beats in my chest.

Predictions for Travel in 2011?

Predictions? That’s always a hard one, but here it goes. I think Rio de Janeiro is going to have to wait for the World Cup to arrive to really take off, but I predict that the rest of Latin America (which is far cheaper to travel in) and Italy are going to boom (more so than already).

Travelers are becoming more adventurous with their choices for places to travel in South America as more travelers visit. And there seems to a movement towards romance in the world, and where better could you find that than in Italy, and especially in Venice?Plus, given the popularity of the movie and the book, lots of people are going to want to see the sites from Eat, Pray and Love.

[photo by GustavoBuriola/Flickr]

Three months flew by and before I knew it, I had to renew my tourist visa for Buenos Aires. The wonderful thing about Bs. As., other than the beef and beauty, is that the city is across the river from Uruguay. A one-hour ferry ride got me and my friends to Colonia, but we didn´t want to stay in the quaint town. We wanted beach.

From Colonia we took a 5-hour bus ride to Punta del Este, a well-known vacation spot for the porteños (Argentines). What I saw of the countryside was nothing short of breathtaking. It´s humble with small hills, a few trees, lots of cows, sheep, and horses. But something about it made my heart warm. Maybe it was the tiny towns we passed through, the kids playing football, the adults sipping mate. Or, maybe it was seeing what a country truly looks like, how the people truly live, on the inside.

We checked into our hostel, El Viajero, around 6 p.m., took a siesta, showered and were pumped to start the weekend. When we were about to hit the town, we walked outside and saw that it was pouring rain. What a bummer. We asked one of the ladies at the desk where to go and she said El Puerto, the Port.

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Your guide to heading out of the city and exploring what lays beyond Buenos Aires.

By Katie Hammel

For the ambitious traveler, the best of Buenos Aires can be seen in a few days, and even those who want to take a more relaxed approach can get a good feel for life in the city in about a week. But chances are you shelled out a good amount of money for those tickets to Argentina, so taking a short trip is hard to justify. Luckily, there are plenty of other areas in Argentina worth visiting nearby. During a recent trip to Argentina, my husband and I decided to spend a few days in Mendoza, then take a couple of day trips to the Pampas and to Uruguay, all doable side trips beyond the border of Buenos Aires.

Mendoza

Two hours by plane from Buenos Aires, Mendoza City sits at the heart of Argentina’s wine country. The area’s high desert climate at the base of the Andes mountain range is responsible for the uniqueness of the wine produced here. The city itself is small enough to explore in an afternoon, so you can devote the rest of your time to wine tasting or taking advantage of the region’s outdoor activities. For our first day, we chose to concentrate on the wine.

We’d booked a room at a bed and breakfast in the center of town. The owner’s son, Javier, offered to arrange a day of wine tasting for us. Since planning tastings in Mendoza on your own can be a little daunting for newcomers — staff at many places don’t speak English and reservations are mandatory — we decided to take him up on the offer. (more…)