thevermouthlog

[thevermouthlog]

moments this past year that reminded me why I love to travel

Guatemala:

exploring caves with a candle with water above my head

learning about sustainable farming and how to make chocolate from the local people in the village

seeing a volcano erupt all night after an excruciating hike

Italy:

seeing The David

Taking a shot of amaro with waiters at a steak restaurant in Florence

Learning to make fettucine from scratch

All the seafood pasta, tiramisu and limoncello spritz's

Spain:

Going clubbing alone for the first time

sea kayaking in Costa Brava

making so many friends in Madrid

Taking down Ibiza solo, seeing Dom Dolla and Fisher

Portugal:

Going to a rave in the middle of the woods

eating pastel de nata

Walking around MAAT and discovering ROMY on Spotify

falling in love with Lisbon

my first real experience with molly

Luis' visit and being reunited with my suitcase

swimming in the Atlantic

Mexico:

swimming in cenotes

eating my way through Oaxaca City - the mole, the ice cream, the blue corn, the tlayudas

cooking class with the family from Arizona

seeing the prettiest sunset of my life in Holbox

Erin's visit in Holbox and Cancun - jerk wings, tequila tasting, my fav free salsa in Mexico, beach days

making friends and going to the Sunday BBQ beach party in Puerto Escondido

all the art galleries in San Miguel de Allende

getting trapped behind the gates

NYE in San Jose del Pacifico (the people I met, temazcal ceremony, the hot shaman, the sunset, mountain views)

eating all the tacos de tripa in CDMX

spending time with Rosie

Xochimilco boat party

Sunday Sunset Party

Tolantongo day trip - and stopping by the side of the highway to drink pina colada

Colombia:

eating sudado de pescado (one of the best meals of my travel year, $5)

impromptu hike ending with a dip in the coldest waterfall

the greenery

comuna 13 tour - learning about the history of Medellin and the work of local artists, dancers, painters, free style rappers

pub crawl including the ball pit bar

Argentina:

tango show

learning to make empanadas at the hostel

the Monday drum show

drinking free wine at the local bar

Brazil:

partying with Kate and Spencer during carnaval

discovering Brazilian food

seeing Christ the Redeemer

drinking caipirinihas on the beaches of Rio

Thailand:

getting my scuba diving certification

completing the hilltribe trek and staying in local villages

thai cooking class

eating the best green curry of my life

seeing all the wildlife in the national park

motorcycle rides

Morocco:

all the colors, pottery and spices

eating couscous with lamb and caramelized onions

riding camels and climbing dunes in the Sahara

Quad bike ride in the desert

walking around the blue city

hiking and exploring Ourika Valley

Budapest:

seeing Chappell Roan

[thevermouthlog]

Feb 15, 2025, Buenos Aires

I had a really slow start today, and by that I mean I slept in until 1 pm and stayed in bed until 3:30 pm. I mean I needed it after the super exhausting journey I had coming from Colombia. Plus I had 2 weeks in Buenos so I was in no rush. At 4 pm I finally left the hostel to find food. I already knew I wanted to go to the San Telmo Market to try my first empanadas in Argentina. I went to this place called El Hornero de San Telmo and got the chicken and this spicy beef one. I was skeptical about the pulled chicken one because they are usually kinda dry but this was so good. The one one tho wasn't the best. It was stuffed with like beef stew so it was kinda liquidy.

After that I walked around the market and I was obsessed. This market is so beautiful and rustic. It has a few antique and thrift stores but mostly really good food. But it wasn't like the markets I was used to in Mexico or even Spain. These were so fancy, like each place was a mini restaurant with limited seats. I was still hungry so I picked a cute spot where they gave me a page with hand written menu and I picked mushroom croquettes. They were SO GOOD.

The market was closes pretty early at 7 pm so after the croquettes I walked to a coffeeshop near my hostel. I had passed it the night before and was already planning to go. There I got my first malbec and the pour was insane and cost $3. I ended up spending 3 hours here, drinking 3 GIANT glasses of malbec and talking to friends on the phone. I was pretty tipsy and ready for my night out.

[thevermouthlog]

Intro

Wow, I can't believe I still have access to my Tumblr account. Honestly I can't believe Tumblr still exists at all. But I am glad I found it because this makes it so much easier for me to start my travel journal - I mean I was prepared to go through the hassle of building a whole ass Wix site.

You might be wondering "hmm, Tashfia doesn't seem like a writer". And you are correct. I have tried several times through several phases of my life to maintain a journal, even if it meant recording little voice memos or jotting down some bullet points weekly. But I could never keep it up! I need the visuals. I document my days through a lot of bullshit photos and carefully curated Instagram stories. And I did that plenty since I started traveling in July 2024. And I continued to do so until I got robbed in Feb and lost my phone.

And that, my friends, is the whole purpose of this blog. Because I lost my phone and had to buy a really shitty, cheap one to get by for a few weeks, I kind of paused taking pictures (which was a whole other depression arc we are not gonna get into right now). However, it did force me to pay more attention to things as I was experiencing them because I knew I wouldn't have anything to look back to once it was over. A couple of my friends then suggested that I write down about my day to day in Argentina and Brazil - what I saw and ate and did and loved, while it's still fresh on my mind. Sooo, if you are curious, feel free to follow along and I will try my best to drag out the best tidbits and anecdotes from the back of my head.