Country

Morocco

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Morocco is somewhere both of us have wanted to visit for a long time. Mainly for the food.

We flew into Marrakech and got a guide to take us through the labryinth that is the medina, to our Riad. Riads are a really affordable and authentic accommodation option. They are run by locals and are comprised of a number of rooms surrounding an inner courtyard. They are very beautiful BUT the layout does not bode well for sleeping well. I get preetttyyy cranky when there is noise at bedtime, haha, so i was not that happy at this place.

The rooms were stunning and cheap – NZD$30 a night – but when guests arrive at 1am and have DINNER right outside your room, or when the owner has a dog that she decides to leave at home for the first time and it barks for FOUR STRAIGHT HOURS, Hannah isn’t happy.

ANYWAY.

Marrakech

It was very cool.

As I said, we were staying within the medina which is the walled old city. We spent our days walking through the souk bartering for spices, dishes, and a leather bags, drinking $1 freshly squeezed orange juice and giving the snake charmers a very wide berth. We also had some delicious tagines and found ourselves surrounded by ancient architecture and incredible tile mosaics. Marrakech is colourful chaos and we loved it. With all that was happening around us, we were instantly brought back to the present and were back in the travelling state of mind.

One of the days we got a massage and hammam combo. The massage was probably one of the worst I have ever had. The music was erractic jazz that was ear-piercingly loud and the women giving us massages were speaking to each other angrily the whole time. It was not relaxing. However, after the massage we had a joint hammam. Now, a hammam is a traditional Moroccan wash, basically Scott and I were siting in a stone wetroom, naked, while a woman in a towel dress soaped us, exfoliated us, and washed us about six times. It was quite funny thinking about the situation we were in but it was actually really awesome. I don’t think I have ever felt that clean in my life. Highly recommended and a great traditional thing to do, but do not do this with someone you don’t know every well…

Essaouira

From Marrakech we got a 3 hour bus to the beachside town of Essaouira. Here we stayed at the White and Blue hostel which we found on AirBnb. It was really good. Again, right inside the medina, and the host was super chill and attentive. We had two nights here and filled our days once again exploring the markets, eating amazing falafel shawarma, and buying two epic rugs for our new London flat. Yay.

Jimi Hendrix spent a bit of time in Essaioura during the 60s and you can see why. The close proximity of the beach creates a really relaxed vibe, the people are chilled, the markets are filled with woven bags and baggy fisherman pants, and you get offered hash on the street.

Tafedna

After two nights we were picked up by taxi organised by our next accommodation – a retreat thing in Tafedna called L’ane Vert. Tafedna is a really remote beach about an hour south of Essaioura and it was amazing. It really is in the middle of nowhere with only a little fishing village down the beach which looked rather abandoned. There are about 10 rooms, most of which are beautifully decorated traditional Berber tents. We had the Habibi tent which had a really comfy double bed, couch and stunning bathroom all for about 28euro a night.

The main house is where everyone hangs out, if they aren’t at the beach. The house has a fantastic views and sunsets from here are so stunning. You can get really well-priced beer, cocktails and wine, and then there is the food. So. Good. There are always two choices for breakfast, and then lunch is a choice of a tapas platter or yum sandwiches. Every night we were here, we headed up tot he main house around 6pm, got a bottle of red and watched the sunset while reading our books and listening to their resident DJ play an awesome playlist of chill songs. As the light got darker, the staff lit candles and everyone relaxed on their eclectic collection of couches and armchairs. The dinner menu came out at 8pm and consisted of choices in starter, main, and dessert. Everything was so so good, and super fresh.  After dinner we walked back down to our tent under the most insane starry skies.

Our time at L’ane Vert was exactly what we wanted. We managed to really relax and reflect on what an amazing trip we have had. The staff are volunteers from all over the world and it creates a really interesting fun vibe. I would highly recommend it.

Merzouga

We took a taxi back to Essaioura, and got on a bus back to Marrakech, stayed the night in a hotel, then first thing in the morning got on a 12 hour bus to Merzouga, a tiny town in the middle of The Sahara. The bus ride actually wasn’t too bad, it was through the day so we got to see a lot of scenery including the Atlas Mountains, and then I took two sleeping pills and before I knew it, we were there. I was actually pretty out of it so my memory of getting to the accommodation and having dinner there is fuzzy… but the next morning I woke up in the Sahara! Sleeping pills are so great.

We were staying at a place called Kanz Erremal. This place was frustrating. It is really beautiful; the rooms are nice, it is quiet (yay), it has a lovely outdoor area complete with pool, AND it is literally right on the Sahara – there is nothing between you and the dunes. BUT the service is very average; pretty unprofessional and inattentive, and the food is pretty close to just plain bad. If they fixed these two things this place would be one of the best we had been to the whole trip.

We were only in Merzouga for two nights, one of which was supposed to be a night out in the desert, but Scott was quite ill the whole time so we literally did nothing. Which wasn’t a bad thing. We walked in the Sahara, met a man called Yousef, watched the sunset over the dunes from our rooftop, and had lunch down the dusty road poolside at another hotel. It was a bit of a weird time and we were in weird moods so were actually quite keen to get going to Fez – our last destination on the trip.

Fez

After a nine hour bus ride (our last of the trip!!) we arrived in Fez. Once again we were at a riad we found on Airbnb right in the medina. Right when we got off the bus a guy approached us offering to walk us to our accommodation. We knew we would have to pay but this time we had both taken sleeping pills and probably would have got lost inside the twisting turning alleyways of the medina, so we said yes. We actually also committed to letting his brother take us on a guided tour of Fes the day after.

As we had arrived at 5am, we slept for a bit and spent the day walking through the souk, eating lunch at Cafe Clock (the first of most meals there), and dinner at Chez Thami – a locally run little restaurant with amazing Pastilla. Pastilla is a filo pastry meal filled with chicken (or pigeon) and vegetables, covered with a dusting of cinnamon. So yum.

The next day we had our included breakfast on the roof of our riad and met the guy for our city walking tour. He was a really nice guy with great english and it was cool to see both inside and outside the medina. We learnt every little part of the old town has to have five key features to be considered its own neighbourhood; a kindergarten, a Hammam, a water source, a bakery, and a mosque. Everything you need really! Part of the tour was having the guides friend come and pick us up and drive us outside the media and up to a view point. It was cool to see Fez from above and the car was so baller I felt like a Kardashian…without the bum. We also visited a tiling factory where they do all the beautiful intricate mosaics and Scott did some pottery. It was a good tour but we felt a bit jipped as at the end he said it was slightly more than we agreed on. Oh well.

The next day Scott signed up for a cooking class at Café Clock and I went and got a massage. He said it was really fun; they got to pick what they wanted to make off the menu and then the chef took them to the local markets to buy the produce. My massage was also bloody great.

The rest of our time in Fez was spent eating at Café Clock – again and again and wandering the medina, picking up the last our little trinkets for the flat.

Then, all of a sudden it was here; the time to go back to our new home and reality for good – or at least a few months until we do our first little trip away again…

Trip over.

Amalfi Coast

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As one last hurrah before we settled into the ‘real world’, we headed to the Amalfi Coast. For four nights, we stayed in an awesome AirBnB with five of our favourite people from New Zealand who are now living all over the place.

From Gatwick, we flew to Naples and then took a taxi to our Air BnB in Amalfi. Taking the bus is a better option financially, but there were four of us aaaand we just wanted to get there, so we got a taxi.

We were greeted by our hosts daughter who led us through the lemon trees to the house. Two of our friends were already there and we enjoyed some homegrown limoncello while trying (and failing) to communicate with our host Raffaele, before heading out for pizza and the first of many Aperol Spritz.

Raffaele was the most amazing host. He was never without a smile and despite him not speaking any English and us not speaking any Italian, he made the best tour guide, driving us around and picking us up from wherever we wanted to go.

On our first full day we ventured into the Amalfi town, got some pastries and coffee and strolled the stunning streets without a plan. After a couple of hours we headed back up to the house via a local market to meet Maddy – our last but definitely not least addition to our Amalfi crew. She got settled in and we spent the afternoon on our deck overlooking the Amalfi coast eating Caprese salad, cheese, prosciutto, freshly-baked bread, and drinking Aperol Spritz. Horrible, huh.

The next day Raffaele drove us to the ferry and headed around the coast to Positano. After a ‘breakfast’ of pizza and coffee, we hired some beach loungers for 10Euro each which was apparently ‘a very good price’, and spent the day swimming in insanely clear water, lying in the sun and drinking some cold beers. After some gelato we headed back, stopping in at the market to buy a few bottles of wine and ingredients for another big platter that we enjoyed watching the sunset over the sea. Again, another horrible day.

On our last full day in Amalfi, Raffaele drove us to the beautiful town of Ravello. We spent a few hours meandering around the quaint alleyways, leading us to a stunning garden estate overlooking the whole coast. We settled under a shady table on the cliff edge and had a glass of rose (pretty sure it was at least 11am so it’s ok) and headed back into the town square. After we got the bus back to Amalfi, half of us had a swim and headed back to the house to chill and the other half got the boat around to the next bay for some more beach time. That night we had our last dinner at a place that had a great view, great wine, and average food. It didn’t matter though because the company was great too.

Everyone else left super early the next morning while Scott and I had a sleep in and made our way back to Naples by bus. But not before finding AMAZING sandwiches in Amalfi town – blue cheese, walnut and prosciutto still-warm bread anyone? Yes.

The next night we stayed in an AirBnb in Naples. To be honest, apart from delicious pizza, Naples wasn’t that great. We put it down to issues with our London flat coming in via email, and the resulting anxiety of reality. That didn’t last long though as we were off to Morocco 🙂

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London (stop over)

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Dad and Diana picked us up from the airport which was soooo nice. I was very excited to cuddle him. They took us straight to a beautiful English pub in the country where we all chatted about our time away and about missing home 🙂 We spent the next few nights in Sussex with a very dear family friend, Harry, but headed into London to knock off a few meetings with recruiters and flat viewings. We managed to squeeze in a BYO with some work friends from home which was awesome, and then headed back to Sussex for some down time with dad and Harry’s surprise 80th the next night. It was good to have a little taster of London life while still being able to say ‘not quite yet!’, because the next day we were off to the Amalfi Coast!

We said more sad goodbyes to dad, holding him to his promise of coming back next year, and he dropped us at the airport. How good is family.

New York and Washington D.C.

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New York

We flew to New York via Chicago where my friend from home, Fraser, popped to the airport to visit us 🙂 We arrived in New York and caught a Lyft to our AirBnB. It was in a rather nothing part of the city and quite far away from anything, but it was right by a subway line and the guy whose place it was was away so we had a whole apartment in New York to ourselves for NZD$50 a night.

By this stage we were pretty tired. It had been about 5 and a bit months on the road, and the pace since we arrived in the US had been much much faster than previous. New York is one of my absolute favourite places but we were just really tired and knowing we had a few days there meant we kept it really chill. We visited the Brooklyn market, walked around Dumbo, met up with Scott’s cousin Rob for lunch, visited the World Trade Memorial (really beautiful), bought stuff for a platter from Wholefoods, and chilled on our little deck. After two days here, we dropped our big bags at Rob’s and caught a bus to Washington D.C. for three nights. (See below)

Once we got back to NY we spent a night at Scott’s cousin’s place in Brooklyn. We visited the Fort Greene Market with some good friends from home, saw the Statue of Liberty and Wall Street, ate some pizza, did some laundry, went to a comedy show and had quite a big night out at a speak-easy. Our last two nights were spent at an awesome AirBnB in Bushwick. The space was so lovely and the host was awesome, let me know if you would like the link. Again, we kept it pretty chill. We went to another comedy show, strolled the Highline, visited the top of The Standard, Central Park, Fifth Avenue, and the Met. I only saw one famous person and that was Christina Ricci #Casperforever.

On our last night in New York we went to Sleep No More. It takes place in an abandoned old hotel and involves everyone putting on a mask and following characters around the hotel for three hours. You just wander into different rooms, rifling through drawers, reading notes left on desks, looking at jars of god-knows-what in hospital rooms, until suddenly a character will run past you or burst into the room that you’re in and a whole scene will play out. It is quite amazing. All these little scenes happening around a massive hotel, making up one big story. I won’t tell you how it ends incase you go, but it is really full on and awesome. The acting is beautiful, the theatre is fantastic. The whole experience, from the moment you enter the smokey bar area before it ‘starts’ until the end, is pretty seamless and totally unique. I was thinking afterwards that my favourite character was actually the audience. Wherever a character went there was a stream of silent audience members in Scream-like white masks running after them. I would be watching the actors but then look around at the full scene in front of me and there are 50-60 strangers all wearing masks, heads tilted like creepy horror movie children, watching on in silence. It made the whole experience a million times more creepy, a million times more effective, a million times more wow. And then you just leave the hotel, all going your separate ways, like you didn’t just have this crazy intense experience together.

On our way home Scott and I stopped into Bathtub Gin. Rob had recommended it to us, but when we turned up, it was just a closed coffee shop. We walked up to a woman that looked like a waitress cleaning up and she said ‘table for two?’ I wasn’t sure what to say as all I could see were chairs on tables and the day’s leftover croissants still in the cabinet. But we nodded, slowly, and she pushed a wooden panel in the wall and the whole freaking wall opened up. There, behind it, was a real speak easy, jazz band and all. It was awesome. This red velvet-walled, secret den. We ordered a delicious cocktail each and spent the whole time just taking it all in. It was a very cool, very New York night.

The next day we explored Bushwick before heading to the airport to catch our plane to London and leave the America’s for the first time since we started.

Washington D.C.

We loved the place. Yes everything to do is touristy, but it’s touristy stuff with actual meaning. Once again we were AirBnb-ing a little bit out of the city, but it was cheap and easy enough to get in. We started the first day with a big brekky and walked around The White House. For some reason I was very giddy with excitement. Obama isn’t really just a president, he’s a celebrity. And I have a weird fascination with celebrities. So we stood in front of The White House taking silly photos like all the other muppets, and got told off by Secret Service for standing on the road. I was quite surprised at how many security guys were standing around, but then as we got to the corner of the building, three massive helicopters took off from The White House and flew right over us. A Secret Service guy pulled up behind us on his bike and I picked up the nerve to ask, ‘Excuse me, was The President in one of those?’ ‘Yeeep’, the man responded. I think I actually squealed. If only Obama had known there were some Kiwis down there he would have said whaddup, surely.

Scott walked while I pretty much skipped our way to The Mall. We hired bikes and rode from the Washington Monument right down to the Lincoln Memorial. It really is a beautiful city, and I loved reading about all the history and seeing places I’d only seen in Simpson’s episodes and Forest Gump. To get out of the sun we the rode to the Natural History Museum where we watched an Imax film about all the National Parks we had just visited. The footage was so spectacular and we felt so grateful and proud that we had just experienced all of it. After walking around the museum we hired bikes again and rode along the waterfront to Georgetown, to a restaurant called Farmers Fishers Bakers that was recommended to me by Ash. Her main reason for going was the cheese dip and holy moly it was worth it. After eating, we went to drop our bikes off at one of those little stations but they were all full, like, every station, everywhere was full. It was verrryy hot and very frustrating, but finally we dropped them and headed home.

The next day we went to see the Capitol Building and had an awesome tour around the old government rooms. Our tour guide was absolutely fantastic and her passion and enthusiasm were contagious. It’s a very cool building steeped in important history and I loved it. Afterwards we headed to the Space Museum where we watched two films in the planetarium one of which was narrated by Neil de Grasse Tyson. We then walked around and saw the actual space suit Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in and THE ACTUAL Wright Brother’s plane. The actual one. Coming from New Zealand, there is never anything ‘actual’ so this was very exciting to us. After the museum we went to get highly recommended ramen from Daikaya and went back to our room to chill.

It was from about New York that the idea of impending admin was dawning on us. Getting a flat, a job, bank account, all that, had started to creep into our conscious despite our valiant attempts to ‘live in the moment.’ Any ‘chill’ time was now spent tweaking CVs and convincing landlords to take us on despite having no income…

LA, Vegas and Canyons

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Finally got around to writing the US part of the trip… 

Los Angeles and Vegas

After our whirlwind Cancun adventure we flew to Los Angeles, picked up our Jucy van that we’d be living in for the next month, got some In’n’Out and went to see my sister, Alley, and Lewis. It was awesome seeing family and just as I thought it couldn’t get any better, there was a knock at their motel door and my beautiful muma walked in. Needless to say I dissolved into tears and spent the next week squeezing her. Scott and I spent the next two nights in Los Angeles sleeping in our van in a carpark and on the side of the road (free accomm!) We had some delicious fresh food, saw Radiohead play, strolled along Santa Monica Boulevard, and tandem-biked along Venice Beach.

On the third day we loaded up our van with everyones luggage and mum, Ash, Scott and I drove to Vegas. (Lewis and Alley flew). I loved catching up with my muma and sis, and singing obnoxiously loud to the Chilis all the way.

Once in Vegas, we checked in to our hotel and some of my very best friends – Grace and Ben -turned up 🙂 We got dressed, had some drinks in Ash’s fancy room and went out for dinner. Grace and Ben had come from a manic few weeks at home, and Scott and I had come from a very chilled 5 months travel, so none of us were really in the mood for Vegas…and it’s definitely a place you have to be ‘in the mood’ for. Still, so fun to be out with everyone 🙂

The last day in Vegas I chilled by the pool with mum, Ash, Alley and Lewis, Grace did some shopping and the boys walked the strip. That night we all went to a Cirque Du Soleil show which was super saucy and really good, had a funny dinner that was very hit and miss and said goodbye. The goodbye was unexpectedly tearful and once again, for a fleeting moment, the thought of ‘why am I moving away from family?’ crossed my mind. And I reminded myself that it was an adventure: one that could last as long as I liked. One that I had to give a good go.

Grand Canyon

The next morning mum, Scott, Ben, Grace and I set off for the Grand Canyon via the Hoover Dam to do our overnight hike. We stocked up at Whole Foods (the best place ever) and set up camp just outside the Canyon entrance at a campsite called Ten X. Two days prior, mum had a taxi driver who told her people die doing the overnight Grand Canyon hike all the time and Grace told us their Search and Rescue team was the busiest in the country, so that night we all ate Scott’s delicious dinner a little nervously, not really knowing what was in store.

The next morning was an early start – though not early enough – as we only ended up starting the walk at 8am. They recommend you avoid walking from 10am-4pm, and as our walk to the bottom was about 6 hours…yeh.. it was hot. The consolation was that it was also seriously stunning, and there were hardly any people – maybe that was because they did what they were told… The walk was actually pretty mellow right up until the last 2km or so. We were right down at the bottom of the canyon by this stage and there was zero breeze. Thankfully at the campsite there is a little river. We peeled off our clothes and sat in it for hours, each taking a while to feel alive again.

Down the bottom was actually the most unpleasant part of the experience and was what for me, made it such a challenge. There was no respite from the heat or a way to get properly clean. The dinner we made was horrific and overnight it only ‘dropped’ to 26 degrees. One thing though – the stars were insane.

Listening to the advice from the ranger, we woke at 3am the next morning and were walking by 3.30am. Seeing as it was an estimated 7 hours uphill, we wanted to be done before the sun found its full power. We spent the first two hours walking by flashlight, watching the dreaded sun creeping its way across the canyon. It felt like a race against heat, a race we were definitely going to lose. We ended up getting out at around 10.30am feeling very tired but very proud of ourselves and eachother. I must say I also felt pretty cool walking past all the day hikers feeling very profesh.

By that stage mum was very keen for a good shower so she got a hotel room for the night and i reluctantly (lol, not) joined her. Grace, Ben, and Scott had showers at the hotel and went to set up camp while mum and I bought some Peanut M&Ms, blue cheese, chips and sparkling apple juice, and ate it in bed while watching Friends. Bloody good. Unbeknownst to us Scott had been caught in a flash storm, sheltering from lightening in a campsite toilet while Grace and Ben had taken the van for supplies. I would have felt bad…if i’d known.

I can’t remember feeling more snuggly or satisfied from endorphins as I did that night. All the while trying not to think about the fact it was mums last night with me.

The next morning Grace, Ben, and Scott picked us up and we drove mum to the Greyhound bus station. Once again, there were tears. Not fun.

Zion National Park

The four of us then restocked the van, and continued on in the direction of Zion National Park. That night we found a great little campsite in the middle of nowhere, had some G&Ts and an epic burger made by Scott and went to sleep.

The next day we drove the rest of the way to Zion National Park but found the entrance was closed due to a ‘tractor-sized boulder’ blocking the road. Fair enough. We had to drive all around the other side and were worried our plans of getting a spot at the popular and small campsite would be foiled. Alas, we ended up getting the last spot at the campsite – hurray.

We set up and Ben got to his usual handyman routine of setting up a very necessary tarp. After a bloody good lunch of gas cooker quesadillas (seriouly the best and easiest camp lunch ever – thanks mum) we set off to do two very short walks to the Weeping Wall and the Emerald Pools. Zion National Park is stunning but it is also very small, which means the tourist numbers are very concentrated. As these two walks were really short, there were a lot of people on them and they weren’t overly enjoyable. Still, we had to do something to earn our G&Ts.

That night Scott and I went to the ranger talk on dinosaurs they had found in the park. That’s probably not necessary for you to know but there it is anyway.

The next morning we tackled a slightly harder walk – The Watchman. This was wayyy better as we passed about six people the whole time, and the views from the top were really cool. That afternoon we did The Narrows, which is a walk through a knee-high river through a narrow canyon. Very cool, verrrrrryyyy busy. Grace and I gave up a wee way in and sat on the side while the boys went a bit further. It was very entertaining watching people struggle over wobbly rocks and mini rapids. Sorry, but it was.

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We went back to our van for dinner and set off the next morning for Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon is again really beautiful with tall skinny (rather phallic) rock formations clawing at the sky. We didn’t do any walks here, but instead parked up at a few spots and walked to some lookouts. That night we stayed at a motel in Salt Lake City which was a welcome change from the cramped quarters of our van. Plus, we got to shower and wash our undies – luxury.

 

Cuba

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Havana

We arrived in Havana at night and were taken to our casa in a 1950s black BMW. Throughout Cuba the best options for accomm are the casas. Each casa is run out of a family’s home with a maximum of about 2-3 rooms and they cook you breakfast and dinner if you want it. Each casa is government approved and the government takes a certain amount from their business. On average people in Cuba earn about $25USD a month, and for one night at the casa it’s about 20USD each so these people are definitely the wealthier ones.

We arrived at our casa to super warm welcomes from our new little casa family and from our good friends from home, Guy and Emma, who we were really excited to see. Roly, the man of the house made us a few rounds of amazing mojitos (he had recently retired from 40 years at one of Havana’s best bars), and we headed out for dinner. Immediately we were harrassed by some locals who were far more in-your-face than anywhere Scott and I have been, not scary just a bit full on. We found a relatively good place for dinner, had some more drinks and then drove out to a club called Fabrica De Arte which is a really well known gallery/concert venue/bar/restaurant – so everything really. Unfortunately when we got there the line was wayyyy down the road and around the corner and we couldn’t be bothered waiting so we headed home.

The next day was all about exploring. Walking around Havana was probably my favourite parts of Cuba: neighbours hanging out of their windows chatting to each other, kids playing marbles on the street, men sucking on cigars, and that all too familiar reggaeton beat emanating from every second home. After a really nice and inexpensive lunch of pulled beef, salad, delicious croquettes and very strong $2 mojitos (the standard price) at El Chanchullero (recommended), we did the touristy thing and hired an old school car from an hour drive a around the city. As cliche as it was it was also awesome, and extremely hot.

After that, we got some ice cream – Nestle is the only brand and you can only buy it in tubs – okay, if I have to… We headed back to the casa for some time out of the insane heat and then went out for a surprisingly tasty dinner at El del Frente. The food in Cuba is rated very poorly so our expectations were low, but thanks to some good recommendations we actually enjoyed it. We spent a few hours here sipping on Negronis and Mojitos and eating yum tacos, and then went to watch some amazing live music in what felt like an old school hall. The musicianship was incredible and a few random people from the crowd got up to join – fun times.

Vinales

The next day we got a 4.5 hour taxi to Vinales. It was supposed to be 2 hours but our driver decided to stop randomly throughout the drive and have a smoke…yeh. This was the first time we experienced why, despite being beautiful, these old cars are not great. No air con and sticky leather seats aren’t that fun in the Cuba heat. We made it to Vinales and to our next casa where we were greeted by Osviel, our lovely host. He offered to make us dinner so after a walk around town and some drinks on the roof top, we enjoyed a massive dinner including a huge lobster tail each, for $10USD.

The next day we went horse riding through the stunning valley to a cave which we had a quick dip in. Now, if you have been reading this blog you’ll know bikes aren’t really my thing and yet I have found myself on them a few times. Well, horses are on a whole new level of ‘not my thing.’ Like, I reaaaaalllyyyy don’t like them. I have been on a horse maybe three times and every time I have been thrown off in some form. I appreciate they are beautiful but i’m good just looking from a distance, thanks. So I was feeling pretty queasy as we neared the start of the trek. I told the guide i didn’t like horses and so he gave me Fletcher, who he promised was the most ‘traquillo’…and he was! Good old Fletch looked after me and I actually managed to enjoy myself…for 5 minutes…when I could see the end of the trek. The landscape in Vinales is incredible. It’s so green and surrounded by crazy huge rock formations covered in the native flora. We stopped half way at a little shack for a drink and listened to an awesome local band. We also sat puffing away on a cigar while a local told us all about the making process. The swim in the cave was literally in a cave, like pitch black if not for headtorches, and the water was brown with mud, but it was fun! All in all it was a good day, Fletch was nice, but I still don’t like horses.

That night we had a great dinner at El Olivo, after which we sat up on the rooftop of our casa watching a dramatic thunderstorm roll in.

The next day we took a taxi to the second largest caves in Central America, and then on to Cayo Juntia for a bit of a beach day. This day was a bit average to be honest. I mean, caves are great and all, but if you’re not actually doing caving or something, they can get a bit boring. The beach was beautiful but because of insanely slow service, we spent 2.5 hours of the 3 hours we had waiting for food, and then it started raining. We did get some fun swims in though, and like I said, the beach was really nice.

Vinales was very pretty and very chill. Casa Osviel was awesome and the air con was prob the best we’ve had the whole time.

Trinidad

From Vinales it was back through Havana to Trinidad – about a 4.5 hour drive all up. They say Trinidad is like going even further back in time than Havana and I would agree. It was similar to a few of the cities we have seen so far, with the cobblestone streets and coloured buildings, but for me it lacked a little bit of interest. Though maybe that is just because of the fact we’ve seen a few similar already. We spent our two days there, walking around the city and visiting Playa Ancon – another beautiful beach. Once again the casa we stayed at was great as was the food.

After that it was back to Havana for another meal and drinks at El del Frente, before an early flight to Mexico the next morning.

Little Cuba tidbits:

  • Because there is pretty much only one bus company (controlled by the government), transport is really expensive. You kind of only have that and the old cars to choose from which annoyingly actually makes Cuba slightly out of a standard backpacker budget if you want to explore.
  • All along the motorways, there are people standing around holding out cash trying to hail taxis. I have no idea how long they stand there but there are a heap of them.
  • Cuba is rather frustrating; it’s hard to buy anything really, apart from rum. And rum is about the same price, if not less, than water. Food is also hard to buy. We found Pringles, cocoa, milk powder and ham. That was about it. I still don’t know where the locals get their groceries.
  • On Sunday everything is shut – which is worse than the south and central norm. Our casa family told us they shut because they don’t get power that day. Speaking of power…
  • Their electricity comes from burning diesel they get from Venezuela. BURNING DIESEL! So good for the environment.
  • There weren’t actually that many people around.The only time you saw a heap of people were in lines for ATMs, currency exchange places, and wifi cards and zones. This is because there were maybe one or two ATMs in the cities, or a few more but many didn’t work, and the only way to get internet access was to line up for a card and sit in a wifi zone.
  • The beaches were full of locals getting wasted. They sit as a family in the water (not sure if they could actually swim) with bottles of rum. It wouldn’t be a big deal if they didn’t just leave these bottles to wash up onshore of these stunning beaches.
  • There is a lot to do to prep for the direct USA flights. They will need to improve infrastructure, airports, money, supermarkets, and restaurants.
  • Graffiti and billboard propaganda featuring Che Guevara and Fidel Castro is everywhere.

But with all this in mind, we wanted to visit before Cuba got easy, before it was made to ‘keep up’ with the rest of the world, before it got touristy. And 100% it was one of the most interesting countries I have ever visited.

It seems most Cuban people have a basic, happy life. Their homes open up onto the streets and it feels like the neighbours can just turn up to each other’s house without a reason. They don’t shut themselves off from each other like a lot of Western countries do. It is a serious step back in time, and some streets look like movie sets rather than reality. One of the things we noticed compared to where we have been is that there were no visible guns or obvious crime and kids were out and about at all times of the day and night. The Cuban people were really friendly and they all have a natural swagger money can’t buy. They seem happy, and I couldn’t help but wonder what they will have to sacrifice in this push to make their country more ‘user-friendly’.

Mexico

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Cancun

We weren’t going to go to Mexico at all but it worked out about the same price to have two nights in Cancun as it did to spend 12 hours in a random airport. So hey, why not.

We hired a really epic little apartment overlooking the beach and spent two nights and one day there with Guy and Emma. We knew going in that Cancun was average; it is pretty much just resort after resort lining the beach – not at all what Mexico really is. But we actually had a really fun time. We spent our time making antipasto platters, drinking, and swimming in the INSANELY blue water.

Our first night there we planned to go check out the town but ended up just getting really drunk in the apartment and singing power ballads before we got a stern knock at the door from an angry neighbour and went to sleep = success.
The next day we walked along the beach, got an epic burrito, and chilled. That night we took Guy and Emma out for dinner as their engagement present. The food was ok but there was a classic mariachi band and it was nice to do something semi-fancy.

Scott and I were off super early the next day to LA. So yeh, a short and pretty sweet visit to a nice enough part of Mexico I won’t be visiting again. It was exactly as we expected – a fun/funny/relaxing way to end our South and Central American trip.

Lake Atitlan

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There have been a couple of places that have really surpassed my expectations, and Lake Atitlan is one of them. We arrived to the port hot, tired and frustrated and subsequently got absolutely ripped off on a private boat ride to the town we were staying at; San Marcos. (being sweaty and tired is not conducive to good bartering). There are quite a few towns around the lake and after visiting a few, San Marcos was our favourite. It was by far the most picturesque and had a really cool hippy vibe and little markets stalls with everything you might need. San Pedro is the most touristy and honestly it looked really shit. Each to their own though.

We did, however enjoy a 30 minute boat ride through what I would liken to Guatemala’s version of the Milford Sound. The water was beautiful and was surrounded by huge green volcanoes and amazing mountains. The lake edge was dotted with stunning accommodation that was a mix of perfect small log cabins, sprawling resorts, and private accommodation. It seriously looked like somewhere in Europe, like an undiscovered little paradise.

We got to San Marcos, picked up some last minute supplies and got a tuk tuk to our little cabin we found on Air Bnb. The cabin was owned by a German called Castro who has lived in San Marcos for 13 years. Castro lives in his own house on the same land. It was definitely one of the best accomm deals we had the whole time. The cabin was so beautifully done, in classic German style it had everything we needed and all of the amenities were simple and aesthetically pleasing. We had done a big food shop in Antigua before we left, and spent the next 5 nights looking over the lake and volcanoes, in our own private cabin with a super comfy bed, chilling, drinking maybe too much wine, and cooking food (for the first time in a long time).

We had only booked three nights as we were anticipating going north to Semuc Champey, but that was closed due to government/local disputes so we extended our time there. While in San Marcos we visited San Pedro (average), had a 1.5 hour Swedish massage (epic), got some very cool pillow covers and a wall hanging from the Chichi markets (Central America’s biggest), and jumped off an unexpectedly high platform into the lake (lost my bikini top).

I would highly recommend Lake Atitlan and specifically San Marcos and the cabin we stayed at. It was super affordable, so chill and beautiful. It is really quiet so would be good for a time when you want to escape the tourists and chaos for a bit. The only slight negatives are that it is surrounded by forest so there are a few spiders, and the toilet is a long drop outside, which would be fine if I hadn’t seen the spiders.. We saw a lot of epic accomm all around the lake so there are definitely other good options.

Sadly our photos of the Chichi markets and San Marcos disappeared…

Antigua

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After arriving in Guatemala city we jumped straight on a shuttle and drove the 1 hour to Antigua. The fact that Antigua was the capital once upon a time but isn’t any longer, has resulted in a city that showcases the best of both worlds; an established food scene and access to everything you need, while still being chill and small enough to walk everywhere.. There are Japanese, Thai, Italian and, Indian restaurants along with blue cheese, Anchor butter, and Mainland cheese at the supermarket (we freaked out at both of those).

We stayed a total of 6 nights in Antigua all at an amazing AirBnB run by a legend of a guy called Irving. For just $26NZD a night we had a private room with private bathroom, a kitchen we shared with only two other people and a rooftop terrace from which we watched Fuego volcano erupt with lava during our homemade breakfasts or yum cheese platters.
While there, one of the other guests called Anne told us of a project she was working on in a small coffee village a wee way away. She looks after the worker’s kids, all of whom are super poor. We had really wanted to do something to help so we offered to go to the market and buy some clothes for them which felt really good. She has since sent us pictures of the little kiddies showing off their new gears. 🙂
The market we got those clothes from was really cool; amazing fruit and veggie stalls, A LOT of fried chicken, clothes, fresh juices, leather goods, pharmacies, meat, everything. It was a really hectic, colourful, awesome market.

We spent our days in Antigua strolling the cobblestone streets, eating yummy food, and drinking micheladas. For anyone who cares, there were four restaurants of note.

PorQue No? Or ‘why not’ in english was an epic TINY little bar/restaurant on the corner of a street. From the street you can’t fathom how there is a restaurant in there, but to the side of the bar there is a little rope and ladder that you pull yourself up with and up the top there are about 5 tables for two. The menu is simple but relly yum and while you’re waiting you draw all over the walls with a vivid. Good times.

The second was a place called Origami. We found this place because the one we wanted to go to was closed but it ended up being delicious. As the name suggests it has Japanese influence and we got the best salad we’ve had all trip and a pork bento bowl for pretty cheap. So fresh and delicious 🙂

The third was another small place called Toko Baru. It was totally no-frills and I had two massive falafal pitas with epic homemade hummus for $6. Not bad.

And the fourth…was Maccas. As in McDonalds. We came because Irving told us it was a beautiful building, we stayed because McFlurrys and Double Cheeseburgers with mayo are freaking delicious. You can see photos below but there was a massive beautiful courtyard complete with water feature, amazing view of volcanoes, and old mate Ronald chilling in amongst all of it. Side note: I’m sorry but McDonalds is epic.

While there we did the Acatenango hike and went to Lake Atitlan for a few days. (Those are in other posts).

Antigua became one of our absolute favourite cities, though actually it’s more of a town. It has the same colour and quaintness of Cartagena but with a little more soul. The colourful facades are cracked and fading in places but it only adds to the character of this place. It was safe and didn’t feel too touristy. With friendly faces everywhere, tuktuk rides around town, unbelievable scenery, awesome markets, and good food, we loved it.