Portable Parents Blog

Imagine what you would pack if you were preparing to travel for a year or more.  All of the pants, shirts, shoes, jackets, toiletries, books, electronics, and various knick knacks…now throw it all away and start again!
This time pack it all into a single carry-on suitcase!
What sort of climate you ask?  Well, you need to pack for the tropical beaches of Costa Rica, the windswept desolate high plains of Bolivia, and winter in Buenos Aires of course.

I think for the guys it is a little easier…who needs underwear or clean pants?

Actually when we began our packing some 12 months ago we were not really sure what type of climate we would encounter having never visited the countries we were traveling to, and while we researched what types of weather we could expect during different times of the year, we were not even sure when and where we would be throughout the year.

We also expected to be able to buy a few things once on the road if we needed, assuming that we would not be the only people in need of a hat for winter.  The only rub with this idea is that something else would have to come out of the suitcase in order for the new item to fit.

For the most part our choice of clothes and accessories has suited us well during the year, but we have run into a few issues.

Gigi has outgrown all of her clothes…at least once.  We have been able to find some items, a few shirts in Ecuador, new socks, hat and mittens in Bolivia – but most of the items are simply too small for her.

Similarly Grant has outgrown…or in some cases grown into all of his clothes. His shoes no longer fit but we have been unable to find a pair that will fit him, we think that he now wears a size 13 and there are not a lot of places in South America with customers that have a shoe size bigger than a 10 apparently.  He is only now starting to complain about not having clothes….the previous 10 months he was fine with only wearing a couple different pairs of shorts and shirts.

Gina and I have not had to worry about growing out of our clothes, but both of us are wearing clothes that have seen better days.  When we made the decision last month to visit the U.S. in September this also meant that we would wait to get any new clothes until we were back and not have anything shipped to us here.

You might ask why not simply purchase clothes in South America, and there are a couple of answers to this question.

First, we have simply not found sizes that fit Sean anywhere in South America reminiscent of Gulliver.  We could have probably ordered some items, but then why not just have them shipped from the states with brands and sizes we are familiar with.

Second, the styles and fits are very different than we are used to, for example, the women tend to wear very tight fitting jeans something that Gina has not worn in a while and a style that she is not all too eager to return to wearing anytime soon.

All of our clothes have taken a pretty good beating this year.  You don’t usually wear then same couple of shirts or the same jacket every day, but that is exactly what we have done living out of a carry-on suitcase this year.  This has meant lots of washes and lots of wear, and many of our clothes are looking awful threadbare.  Our recent housesitting excursion was also hard on all of our clothes, the region of Missiones has red clay dirt that turned many of our clothes either red or dingy(er).

…and now we find ourselves in Buenos Aires in the middle of winter.  We are fairly accustomed to sticking out like a sore thumb in most places we have traveled because of our blond hair, blue eyes, and our height…but now in Buenos Aires we are sticking out because of our inappropriate clothes and general scruffy appearance.

It is quite funny to watch people stare at Grant walking around the city streets with shorts and flip flops (he has started wearing socks) – in his case it is not because he doesn’t have long pants (he does) it is because that is all he ever wears.  And he does not have shoes that fit but dad is too cheap to spend $100 U.S. on a pair that he likes, and he is too stubborn to like anything that does not cost $100 bucks.

Gigi’s jacket is much too small and is not a ‘winter’ jacket anyway…she does have a pair of mittens and a knit cap that we bought in Bolivia to keep her warm, but when this outfit is combined with a pair of pants that are some 3 or 4 inches to short it is quite a site.

Gina and I are pretty fashionable…if you consider the tattered tourist look fashionable.  Red mud stained shoes, sleeves that are frayed, and light raincoats round out our ensemble which fits right in with the urban chic of Palermo

It has been very wet and very cold this week in the city.

Yesterday we tried walking the 8 or 10 blocks to the bus station in the rain to go see a movie, and by the  third block we were all soaking wet.  Today the rain has stopped but the temperature is below 40 degrees and the wind chill is pushing it below freezing.  We go out for short dashes to the local business and back to the apartment again…thankfully we have a warm apartment.

We can’t see the faces of the people we pass on the street because they are bundled up under warm layers and scarves, but we guess that they have a smile on their faces as they see this blond haired, blue eyed, rather tall family dressed in ratty clothes more suited for summer wiz by them and duck into a local shop…and then whiz by them heading in the opposite direction.

Winter in Buenos Aires…

Want to read more from Sean?  He also writes for AffordableCallingCards.net where he blogs about his life as an expat.   Come by both blogs and share a comment!