Chasing Chey

Chase me as I travel around the world 🌍

[chasingchey]

BUENOS AIRES Travel Guide | SECRETS of Recoleta Cemetery | Bike & Walking Tour

I had a blast spending a few days in Buenos Aires and found that the best ways to see the city were to take a bus tour and a walking tour. One of the most interesting places I went was La Recoleta Cemetery. Yes, it's as creepy as it sounds (it says "We're Expecting You" above the entry gates) but it's rich in history and absolutely beautiful. If you do nothing else in Buenos Aires - EAT!! The food here is so amazing!! The best hot chocolate you'll ever have can be found at Cafe Tortoni where you'll feel severely underdressed compared to the wait staff wearing tuxedos! My favorite "hole in the wall" is a place called Chori - with award winning choripan, an Argentinian staple. My favorite neighborhoods to check out were San Telmo, La Boca, Puerto Madero and La Recoleta. Each offer a unique style and history with something exciting to see around every corner. 

[chasingchey]

24 Hours in SALTA, ARGENTINA | Teleferico Cable Car, Empanadas, and South America’s Highest Church Tower

I'll admit, I didn't know much about Salta before I arrived in Argentina, but it ended up being one of my favorite places in South America thanks to the friendly locals and amazing food! After riding the teleferico cable car to an amazing view point up the mountain in the morning, I had a great time exploring the rest of the unique city that afternoon and evening. Salta is home to the tallest (and second tallest) church tower in South America. My favorite place in all of Salta was Patio de la Empanada, where 7 food vendors share a patio and serve delicious (and super cheap) food. My favorite was stall #6, Alejandra's. The locals were so friendly and the live music made for an amazing atmosphere. Even if you only have 24 hours to spend, Salta is well worth the visit!

[chasingchey]

Driest Place on Earth | San Pedro de Atacama CHILE | Valle de la Luna & World's Best Stargazing

After crossing the border from the Salt Flats of Bolivia, I made it to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile! Just outside of town lies Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) which is a salty mountain range that closely resembles the surface of the actual moon. After trekking through the Cuevas de Sal Cañon (salt caves), the race was on to catch the sunset at the viewpoint overlooking the valley. It was truly spectacular! San Pedro de Atacama is an incredibly cute and quaint town (with tons of adorable street dogs) and is one of the best places in the world for stargazing since there is such low light pollution and an incredibly low amount of rain. I could LITERALLY see Saturn & Jupiter with my eyes!

[chasingchey]

Epic Journey Through SALT FLATS Bolivia | Salar de Uyuni | Abandoned Train Yard | Fish Island

Bucket list CHECK! I spent 3 days traveling through the Bolivian desert to the Salar de Uyuni... the LARGEST salt flats in the world! There's more to see than just the salt flats on this epic journey. Starting from the town of Uyuni and headed towards Chile, we passed through the abandoned train yard (or what I call the tetanus playground), learned how table salt was processed, took a million fun forced perspective photos on the salt flats, hiked across Fish Island, saw multiple amazing lagoons (including the Green Lagoon and Laguna Colorada), relaxed in the hot springs, played with flamingos at Canapa Laguna, drove along Licancabur volcano, saw more llamas and alpacas than we can count, and finally crossed the border into Chile. 

[chasingchey]

ESCAPE From Sucre | Traveling During A Major Protest | The Most ORGANIZED Protest I've Ever Seen

**Please note that Sucre is a WONDERFUL city that I look forward to visiting again someday and would highly recommend anyone visiting. We never felt endangered at any point during the protests - mostly just inconvenienced. I was lucky to be traveling with a group that included a local tour guide who was phenomenal and took great strides to get us out of the city** Traveling is a wonderful experience, but the world around you doesn't stop revolving just because you're on vacation. I traveled to Sucre, Bolivia right as a major protest was starting... and the town literally shut down for days. This was by far one of the most organized protests I've EVER seen (although I don't have many others to compare this to). The town decided to barricade the roads in and out of the city (using cars, rocks, furniture, we even saw tape across one roadway), and shut down many businesses during that time. We ended up staying for longer than expected because there was physically no way out of town. We heard that the roads were supposed to open for a few hours very early one morning to let in/out people and supplies. Unfortunately we didn't make it very far before running into more road blocks, so we walked. Luckily some locals decided to run personal cars as taxis between some road blocks which helped tremendously. We were able to eventually make it to the last road block and get picked up by a bus on the other side. Again, I never felt unsafe during my time in Sucre. However it was a good lesson in having a backup during your travels and knowing your options and resources should this situation arise.

[chasingchey]

Exploring SUCRE | UNESCO World Heritage Site, Best Chocolate, Stunning Views at Mirador Viewpoint

Sucre was by far one of the most BEAUTIFUL cities I've ever been to! It's whitewashed buildings and cobblestone streets are stunning, and it's one of the most walkable cities. It's no wonder this is a UNESCO Heritage Site! Sucre has some of the best sweets (ice cream, coffee & chocolates were among my faves) I've ever had! My favorite part was visiting La Recoleta neighborhood and checking out the STUNNING Mirador viewpoint! Unfortunately we were there during a MAJOR strike so many of the main attractions (4-wheeling, dinosaur footprints, the cemetery, Mercado Central food market) were closed during our time there. 

[chasingchey]

Solo Female Travels to LA PAZ, BOLIVIA | Exploring Witches Market, cable cars & sky high altitude

The first stop on my South America trip was La Paz, Bolivia! An absolutely stunning city with a crazy high altitude of 11,942' / 3,639m! I had tons of fun trying local foods (favorite = saltenas), riding the cable cars, and checking out the Witches Market where they have everything from souvenirs to dehydrated llama fetuses. A great city to start my South American exploration!

[chasingchey]

KEEP HOUSTON WEIRD | Beer Can House, The Orange Show & Turtle Racing

Besides having amazing food, Houston has a lot of weird and quirky things to do and see! Getting to Houston completed the first leg of our road trip, so we had to make it count by finding some unique attractions to explore. Our first stop was The Beer Can House, which is exactly what it sounds like (and also a tetanus playground). We also checked out The Orange Show and Smither Park, a cool park made of recycled materials. We highly recommend checking out these [highly instagrammable] places if you're ever in the Houston area. To wrap up our time in Houston, we even checked out a turtle race! Keep Houston weird! Food: Amazing Mexican food: ninfas.com Awesome breakfast: snoozeeatery.com

[chasingchey]

STANDING IN TWO STATES AT ONCE | They actually named this place Texarkana

We couldn't pass up stopping at a place called Texarkana on this leg of our trip from Little Rock to Houston. The town lies on the border of Texas and Arkansas, and yes you can be in both places at once! On our way out of town we narrowly avoided getting caught in a monsoon... the rain in Texas is no joke!

[chasingchey]

ADVENTURES at ANTHONY CHAPEL & HOT SPRINGS | Arkansas

Carly and I explored the adorable town of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Bath houses, breweries, and Fat Bottom Girls cupcake shop were our favorite places in town! Just outside of town we checked out Anthony Chapel, a beautiful glass chapel in the woods.

[chasingchey]

UNEXPECTED FUN IN LITTLE ROCK | Journey through Arkansas

We thought there would be nothing cool to do here... we were wrong! Little Rock had a great blend of culture, history and fun activities. We started our day exploring the city and venturing out to the River Market, a great place to try food from all corners of the world! We explored the Clinton Presidential Center, some local parks, the country's longest walking bridge, and the Little Rock nightlife. 

[chasingchey]

EXPLORING MEMPHIS | Brunch with Elvis & World's 10th Largest Pyramid

We had a blast exploring Memphis during our road trip. We enjoyed brunch at the Arcade Restaurant (Elvis's fave for fried peanut butter & banana sandwiches), explored the iconic Beale Street, and stumbled on the world's 10th largest pyramid... which just so happened to be a Bass Pro Shop. Inside we found a HOTEL, America's tallest free standing elevator, and an observation deck on top of the pyramid 😱 

[chasingchey]

ROAD TRIP TO MEMPHIS | Best places to eat along the way

Carly & I begin the first leg of our road trip! Watch as we travel from Chicago to Memphis and stop off at two amazing restaurants in the St. Louis area.