My Bloggable Day

Colourful Cusco & the Sacred Valley

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Bec

Just a few more snaps of our wanderings around the San Blas district in Cusco. It’s slightly uphill and therefore quieter.

Deserted streets are quite the novelty in Cusco, which is a tourist mecca. Around one corner was amazing street art:

Around another was an alpaca having lunch:

We wandered back to the main square (Plaza de Armas) and caught the middle of a wonderfully colourful parade:

The square lights up magnificently at night:

The surrounding hills twinkle with all the lights of people at home.

The Sacred Valley

About a million tour buses leave Cusco for the Sacred Valley every morning. It’s the kind of experience where you are herded like cattle from one site to the next in the 60km long valley, with barely enough time to snap a photo but plenty of time to buy a souvenir.

We meant to do a Sacred Valley tour before the Inca Trail but we were too busy being sick and preparing. This was a mistake. I highly recommend doing the Sacred Valley before Machu Picchu as all Inca ruins will pale in comparison if you’ve done the best first.

After a few hours on the bus (including a toilet/souvenir stop) we arrived at our first stop; Inca Pisac.

Agricultural terraces at Pisac

More terraces

We had some time to explore the ruins.

It was remarkably easy after the Inca Trail!

On our bus we met Fez, an IT worker from Sydney. Fez is travelling solo trying to find his life’s calling, he kindly offered to take our photo:

No, this has not been cropped.

Somehow I don’t think photography is his future.

When we got back on the bus Fez remarked that the gentle 45 minute walk we’d just done was so strenuous, he’d never polished off a bottle of water so quickly. This made me feel remarkably better about feeling like a total failure on the Inca Trail. Thanks Fez!

We drove down to Pisac city, for another chance to buy some more stuff, including silver, a big industry there.

We drove for ages to get to our lunch spot, an absolutely disgusting buffet. It was about $10 each and so average and dirty. I was amazed we didn’t fall sick afterwards. It was at this point that Andrew and I were thinking of skipping out and trying to take a different bus back to Cusco. But we ended up persevering.

The next stop was Ollantaytambo, where we’d been previously at the start of the Inca Trail.

We listened to the guide explain the significance of the ruins, but as soon as free time was announced we made a beeline for the llamas hanging out at the bottom.

Hello!

We tried to get llama selfies but these guys weren’t having a bar of it. They kept hopping around like mad, trying to find better grass to devour. At one point one of them spat on someone. Not going to lie, it was hilarious.

Back on the bus we went!

We went up and out of the valley. The view of snow capped Andes was probably the highlight of the day for me, especially when we stopped here:

Yes it was another souvenir stop, but if you walked past the stalls there were llamas and donkeys hanging out on the hill. It was just before dusk and the golden light was magic.

https://instagram.com/p/86mECnl6OY/?taken-by=mybloggableday

Our final stop was to a ‘traditional’ market where women showed us how they dyed alpaca wool and wove material. It was actually really interesting, until the demonstration ended and the ‘buy stuff now’ part started.

Weaving

We skipped the shopping and saw the end of a beautiful sunset.

The Sacred Valley is definitely a tourist trap. But I’m not sure if you can miss it, it’s rather beautiful. Don’t you hate that?!

Posted in Travel | Tagged Cusco, Peru, Sacred Valley, South America, Tour, Travel | 6 Comments

10 Tips for hiking the Inca Trail

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Bec

Machu Picchu

First and foremost, DO hire a porter! Carrying stuff uphill at altitude is hard. We ended up paying for a porter on day 2 and 3, it was well worth it.

DO train in advance! And practice carrying a heavy backpack.

DO take clothes made from synthetic quick-dry material. I wore a cotton long sleeve top on the first day; it got drenched in sweat and didn’t dry for 3 days.

DON’T wear shorts or ¾ pants; mosquitoes annihilated everyone who wore shorts on our trek. It was ugly. And itchy, I imagine.

DO make sure the music on your smart phone is available offline. If you plan on listening to music to get you through the difficult uphill stretches you may find yourself in a pickle if your Spotify, iTunes or Google Play doesn’t work without internet.

DON’T overdo it on the snacks. You are so well fed on the trek that you will just end up carrying them around.

DO bring earplugs. I swear by earplugs in hostels but naively thought we would be fine without them on the trail. Barking dogs and heavy snorers proved me wrong.

DO take a wireless charging pack for phones and cameras. Or make sure everything is fully charged.

DO take dry shampoo ladies. I wish I had, never felt so gross in my life!

DO try and stay an extra night in Aguas Caliente to visit Machu Picchu again the next day (showered and well rested) if you can spare the time. I was so tired having been up since 3:30am that I really didn’t appreciate or take it in.

Posted in Misc, Travel | Tagged Hiking, Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Peru | Leave a comment

Machu Picchu

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Bec

Machu Picchu was built by the Incas in the 1400s and later abandoned. It is an impressive stone citadel built entirely without mortar and wedged discretely in between soaring mountains. The Incas lived there, farmed and worshiped there. It was ‘rediscovered’ by Yale professor Hiram Bingham in 1911, who was led there by a Peruvian guide (although some say a German explorer first set eyes on Machu Pichcu decades before).

Amazingly, Spanish conquerors never made it to Machu Picchu which is part of why it’s so well preserved. Nowadays, plenty of people make it there.

But despite hoards of people and expensive bus tickets, train tickets and entry tickets, Machu Picchu is well worth the visit.

In case you missed it, we hiked there on the Inca Trail. The day after the hike ended we returned to the ‘lost city’ to take more in.

Slightly more rested, we walked up to the postcard perfect view point and set on a ledge for a while. People watching and appreciating the beauty of this ancient wonder.

Nothing quite as sexy as a pair of hiking boots!

After our visit I recalled that I started a rudimentary bucket list back in 2012. The first item on the list? See Machu Picchu.

Tick.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Hiking, Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Peru, Travel | 3 Comments

Hiking the inca trail: days 3 and 4

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Bec

Day 3

This was what I saw when I unzipped our tent on day 3 of the Inca Trail:

Sleeping in the clouds

Day 3 is a 16km day. After breakfast it was all uphill for the first part of the day. After about 20 minutes we were looking down at where we had camped the night before:

Tiny!

Some of the gang

The clouds swirled around as we ascended, constantly changing the view.

We reached the Runkuracay ruins (3,800m or 12, 464ft):

We reached the top of the second pass (the first pass being Dead Woman’s Pass on day 2) and took part in a traditional offering with coca leaves and stones we had carried from the stream we camped near.

I wished for a painless day and for good weather upon arriving at Machu Picchu. The gods must have known I don’t have a spiritual bone in my body, as neither wish was granted!

We descended down the other side of the mountain towards Sayacmarca.

Sayacmarca ruins in the distance

SAMSUNG CSC

About 20 minutes later it was time for lunch. We had a semolina/tomato starter:

Soup:

Stuffed peppers and rice:

And chicken and vegetables.

A member of our group was celebrating her birthday that day and magically after lunch, this appeared:

Our chef Houmberto

I have no idea how they managed to bake a cake or keep cream cold for so long. Such is the magic of the porters.

After lunch we watched some frisky llamas gadding about.

This one tried to mount the other

Llama parade

Poser

The walk after lunch was lovely and flat, passing through rainforest-esque scenery.

From the third pass we caught a glimpse of Aguas Caliente, the closest town to Machu Picchu:

Tiny town in the valley

From the third pass things begain to go downhill, literally and figuratively.

More ruins

I found the descent brutal. Far worse than going uphill. My crappy knees complained with every laboured step down. No amount of music, internal pep talks or self motivation could cheer me up:

Hating life

It took us a very long time to reach camp. At one point I had stopped to sob for a while, trying to find the motivation to keep going. When we reached our tent and I immediately curled up in the foetal position.

I felt a bit better at dinner.

Day 4

There’s nothing like waking at 3:30am to make one feel better. #sarcasm

I have no photos of the final few kilometres because honestly, I didn’t need any reminders. It was raining, I was sore and couldn’t wait for it to be over.

The Sun Gate is the final stop before you reach the end. There is meant to be a view of Machu Picchu but all we could see were clouds.

Visibility became a bit better as we got lower:

Sort of

We got to Machu Picchu and were surrounded by clean, showered day trippers. I was envious. And completely out of it. Dazed.

We posed for a group picture:

I took a GoPro selfie:

I don’t think I really appreciated the ruins until we’d checked our bags and had something to eat. We then took a tour around the massive complex.

https://instagram.com/p/8wMaZiF6Ja/?taken-by=mybloggableday

Llamas!

Towards the end of our tour, David from our group proposed to his girlfriend, Becky. It was the sweetest thing ever and a really nice way to finish up.

We got the bus down to Aguas Caliente and enjoyed one final meal together as a group before swapping Facebook details and hugging goodbye. What an epic experience to tie us all together.

Andrew and I had decided to spend a night in Aguas Caliente in order to get some rest and visit Machu Picchu again the following day. So we checked into our hostel, took showers and fell asleep without dinner.

The trek was an amazing experience, with soaring highs and crushing lows. I’m glad I did it. But I certainly won’t be signing up for any more multi day treks. More on Machu Picchu to come.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Hiking, Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Peru, Trek | 5 Comments

Hiking the Inca Trail: days 1 and 2

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Bec

Well, we did it! We hiked the 45km from Chillca along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. You may recall I was pretty anxious ahead of the hike and it turns out my anxiety wasn’t entirely unfounded, it was tough. The trail peaks at 4,215 metres above sea level (13,776ft) at a place charmingly known as ‘Dead Woman’s Pass’. There are steep inclines and declines, stone steps and rocky paths. It is freezing one minute and stiflingly hot the next.

But we packed our bags with everything we thought we could possibly need and waited nervously for a bus to pick us up on Friday morning.

Day 1

We stopped for breakfast before heading to the drop off zone, a short way before the official trail starts. It was kind of chaotic as we plus many other hikers and groups assembled ourselves and our packs, fending off women selling everything from bandanas to hiking pole accessories.

Our fearless leader and guide Saul from Peru Treks gave us instructions and we walked towards the official starting point.

Saul

Which was here:

All 16 of us

We really could not have been in a better group of people. I was nervous we’d end up with a bunch of jerks and know-it-alls but everyone in our gang of Americans, Canadians and Australians was lovely.

And so it began.

The scenery on the first day was grossly different to what I had imagined. It was quite dry and hot. Snow capped mountains sat regally in the distance, but close to us were cactuses and dusty paths.

The trail was busy with horses and donkeys and it wasn’t long before we encountered our first equine traffic jam.

Our first day was a 16km day. We made the very naive mistake of not hiring a porter to carry some of our stuff and having never really hiked with more than water and a camera, this was challenging.

About half way in we caught sight of our first Inca ruins, Llactapata:

Wow

Those Incas knew how to build them strong.

Shortly after Llactapata we stopped for lunch. The porters, whose strength and agility is nothing short of magic, had of course beaten us there and set up our dining tent.

These guys carry all our food, cutlery, dishes, mugs, cups, tables, chairs, tents plus much more in huge 20kg packs. Then they practically run past you without breaking a sweat. Seeing them work was definitely a highlight of the entire trip.

Andrew ready for lunch

How do I begin to describe the food? Each meal we sat down to had multiple courses, each of them more delicious than the last.

Lunch on the first day comprised:

Fresh guacamole

Soup

The most garlicy garlic bread I’ve ever had

Trout, potatoes and rice

Vegetables

I learnt the hard way that stuffing yourself before resuming hiking is a really bad idea. I felt full and sleepy and the rest of the day was far tougher than the first half. It was a slow and steady incline for most of the way, which I find more difficult and annoying to hike than a steep incline.

The scenery helped

Wayllambamba, the last community on the Inca Trail, was where we camped for the night. We arrived tired and completely drenched in sweat. I had an unsatisfying wet wipe ‘shower’ and rugged up in my thermals. My mood lifted over dinner as we got to know our fellow hikers.

We went to ‘bed’ on very thin mattresses not worth their weight and I struggled to sleep with the loud snores coming from a nearby tent.

Day 2

Honestly, my first thought when I woke and realised where I was and what I had to do that day was “oh shit”. Day 2 is the famed ‘hardest day’ that takes you up steep inclines to the highest point of the trail, Dead Woman’s Pass. It is also the shortest day, being 12km.

But Day 2 wouldn’t be so bad, because this time we had an ‘unofficial porter’ carry Andrew’s large backpack. This meant that Andrew carried my smaller backpack with only the things we would need for the hike and I carried nothing at all (bliss).

‘Unofficial porters’ are meant to be independent guys working along the trail that take up to 10kg for about $44 a day. But we didn’t see anyone and I have a terrible feeling that one of our group porters took the bag for a bit of extra cash. I have absolutely no proof of this however. There are very strict weight restrictions on how much a porter can carry and good treatment of porters is taken very seriously by the trekking companies.

Andrew packing the big bag ahead of hand-balling it to a porter

Speaking of porters, on the morning of Day 2 each porter introduced themselves to us and we reciprocated, which was really nice and helped make us all feel like a team. Team Yellow. Our oldest porter was 60, amazing.

We headed onwards and upwards.

Scout boy chic

With nothing on my back and tunes in my ears, I got into a really good zone, putting one foot in front of the other.

The guides and porters swear by chewing coca leaves (which come from the same plant as cocaine) to help with altitude and keep energy levels up. I wasn’t a fan of sticking dry leaves in my mouth, so had to spit them out before they could do anything for me.

This does not show how steep it was

Llama! Or Alpaca? Not sure

Before too long it was time to stop for lunch. Our lunch spot was really windy and cold, but the view was great.

It was a relief to get inside the dining tent and away from the wind.

I didn’t photograph each course this time.

But it was still delicious.

We stocked up on super expensive bottled water (worse than Australian prices) and continued on our way.

We had our sights set on the peak and the only way was up.

Llamas from very far away

We made it to the top, to Dead Woman’s Pass at 4,215 metres above sea level (13,776ft) without too much trouble at all. I had read blog posts that told accounts of vomiting every couple of steps from the altitude at this point, so compared to that we were just fine!

All smiles at the top

Can you see the tiny people on the trail?

At the peak

Of course after reaching the peak the only way to go is down again, which is great for the lungs, not so great for my particularly average knees.

But it wasn’t actually that bad at all and we made pretty good time.

We arrived at our campsite a bit earlier than the previous day and were served tea, popcorn and biscuits at about 5pm ahead of dinner at 6:30pm. Obviously.

What was meant to be the worst day turned out to be my best. More to come.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Hiking, Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Peru, South America, Travel, Trek | 9 Comments

Exploring the San Pedro Market in Cusco

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Bec

Good news! I’m back from the brink.

If you missed my somewhat dramatic altitude sickness post from yesterday click here. I woke up this morning feeling much better, although I am still completely out of breath after walking up an embarrassingly short flight of stairs. Oh well.

Today we did some chores ahead of the four day Inca Trail we are starting on Friday (petrified, I am petrified, more on this later), before heading back to San Pedro Mercado for lunch. We ate there on Monday before I was stuck down with illness.

I love to explore markets when I’m travelling. It makes for excellent people watching and exploring aisles and aisles of curious wares is so fun. Markets are often a great place to eat delicious cheap food and San Pedro is no exception.

I highly recommend starting your visit with lunch.

At the back of the market is the food area. Each aisle is dedicated to a certain type of dish; soup, rice dishes etc and you stroll along as vendors shout their menu at you. Once you find the right place you take a seat on a white bench in front of the stall as your meal is cooked in front of you.

On Monday we had a two course meal, a quinoa and potato soup followed by lomo saltado:

Lomo saltado, I forgot to photograph the soup!

While the food here isn’t pretty, it is very tasty and cheap. We paid 5 soles for two courses, which is roughly $AUD2.50.

Excellent news: half of one of the food aisle is dedicated to desserts. Ice cream, cakes, jellies and other sweets. On Monday I tried tres leches:

‘three milks’ cake

It is soaked in three kinds of milk; evaporated, condensed and heavy cream. It looks pretty ugly in that photo but it is heaven.

Today we had Arroz con huevo + salchicha (rice with egg and sausage) for 4 soles, that’s less than $2!

Again, ugly but delicious. It certainly doesn’t help that the sausage is splayed out like an octopus.

With a full belly, it’s time to explore. You could meander down Carb Lane:

Haven’t you always wanted bread in the shape of a sun hat? I have.

Then take a stroll to Fruitville:

Which is conveniently located right next to Juice Junction:

Again, the aisle is lined with identical juice stands. You just have to pick a stand and take a seat.

Someone is excited for juice!

I went for orange, mango and passionfruit.

Deliciously tangy

Souvenir Central is one of the most colourful corners of the market.

❤

Cute

These llama keyrings are sold everywhere and I love them and I WILL buy one before we leave

But Flower Town certainly gives Souvenir Central a run for its money in the colour stakes:

So what did we actually buy?

Nuts and dried fruits to make our own trail mix and:

Alpaca wool socks to sleep in on the Inca Trail. Because today we found out it will be -10 degrees overnight along the trek to Machu Picchu. We are camping. MINUS 10. DEGREES. CELSIUS. So yes, I am freaking out somewhat. I’m also freaking out about the distance, the inclines, the declines, the altitude and the 13,780 foot peak known as ‘Dead Woman’s Pass’. What kind of name is that?!

I’m trying really hard to be calm and well prepared. So I guess we’ll see what happens. Kind of wish I was just catching the train to Machu Picchu like a normal person. Oh well.

Wish me luck.

Posted in Food, Travel | Tagged Cusco, Food, Market, Peru | 4 Comments

What altitude sickness feels like

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Bec

Well friends. Today has not been the best. I promised myself when we started this trip that I wouldn’t just blog the highlights, that this would be a ‘warts and all’ account of our travels. But then nothing bad happened! Trust me, I’m not complaining in the slightest. But really, how lucky are we to have gone almost 5 months without a bad day? Because we drove everywhere there were no missed planes or trains, miraculously no flat tyres or break downs, no lost passports (touch wood!) or stolen phones, aside from the odd cold or hangover there has been no sickness or broken bones and we’ve had one tiny argument this entire time. Sure there have been average days, but I digress.

I think because I’m not one to get motion sickness or anything like that, I bizarrely thought altitude wouldn’t affect me. Also we were at 11,000ft in Rocky Mountain National Park (for an entire hour!) so I stupidly thought I was immune. Well.

My sweet oxygen can

We flew into Cusco from Lima on Monday morning. This all started yesterday with a headache and slight breathlessness that was fine. We walked around Cusco and I took heaps of photos on my phone which were uploaded to Instagram, perhaps with the tiniest hint of ‘we are having the best time’ smugness. Apologies. I drank some local coca tea which is meant to help with altitude. My headache got a bit worse and I went to bed pretty early seeing as we had been up at 4:45am to catch our flight.

I woke at 3am with my head pounding. It was worse when I woke again at 7am. I took painkillers that did nothing. Then I took an altitude sickness tablet (Diamox) but vomited it up almost straight away. So I lay in bed with an oddly puffy face, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and the worst headache of my life until I could take another Diamox and keep it down.

At 10am Andrew returned with a kind of hilarious can of oxygen and pills for the nausea and headache. I was sick again.

I slept for a bit and then requested some sweets (because they taste just as good going down as they do coming up, graphic!). Then I just spent the rest of the day in bed feeling yuck. Boring. We watched a movie, I fell asleep. I have no idea if the oxygen can worked or if it was just a placebo but it sure was fun to use.

So what does altitude sickness feel like?

Kind of like the worst, most unjust hangover ever. Paired with shortness of breath and unshakable lethargy. But don’t get me wrong, I know my version of it was tame compared to the poor people who faint and have to get emergency air lifted out.

I feel kind of bad for wasting an entire day in bed but what can you do? Now just to cap off my extremely dramatic account of mild altitude sickness here are some photos from around Cusco yesterday:

Flying over the incredible Andes on our flight from Lima to Cusco

The colourful Mercado San Pedro (San Pedro market)

We had a great lunch at the market, quinoa and potato soup to start and then lomo saltado (a stir fried beef dish with potato, rice and salad, of course we did not eat the salad) for about $2.50. Amazing.

One of the churches in the main square, Plaza De Armas

These brightly dressed ladies hold lambs and take photos with tourists for money. Kind of a tourist trap but they make me smile.

The Plaza De Armas again

Peruvian pooches

I’m already feeling much better than this morning, so hopefully I’ll be back to normal and sightseeing again tomorrow. Only two more days until we start our four day trek up to Machu Picchu. Freaking out a little!

Posted in Travel | Tagged Altitude Sickness, Cusco, Peru, Travel | 13 Comments

Lima, Peru

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Bec

Hola!

We made it to Lima in the very early hours of Friday morning and after a very long immigration line and a very long taxi ride to our hostel, fell into bed.

The next morning we set out to explore our neighbourhood; Barranco.

It’s a trendy, boho area bursting with colour and street art.

We had lunch at a place called El Muelle. As soon as we sat down our waiter brought over a bowl of salty, fried (giant!) corn kernels. They were so good and addictive, we quickly dubbed it ‘crack corn’.

Crack corn

Andrew decided not to test his shellfish allergy and went for beef and rice.

Which was delicious. I had two kinds of ceviche, which is raw fish cured in citrus juices.

Not a pretty photo

It was tangy and spicy and delicious.

A prettier photo, the difference an Instagram filter makes

On our second day we ate in the tourist district in Miraflores, bizarrely dubbed ‘pizza street’ (it was all Peruvian restaurants?!). All the restaurants seemed to offer the same stuff, so we picked the one with pretty tablecloths.

Pisco sours

A Pisco Sour is claimed by both Peru and Chile as their national drink. Its a combination of Pisco (local brandy), lime, simple syrup and an egg white. The first two we had were so strong it took me over an hour to finish mine!

Andrew had chicken and rice covered in a delicious coriander sauce.

I had Peruvian Chupa de Camarones, an amazing shrimp chowder style soup.

It was so damn good.

We walked through Miraflores to some ancient ruins.

The Huaca Pucllana Pyramid is a complex of pre-Inca ruins dating back to 500AD. And it’s right in the middle of the city.

It’s basically a shrine to the ocean, which before the city sprung up could be seen from the pyramid.

New and old

The bricks are laid in what is now called ‘bookshelf style’, the gaps in between add flexibility for earthquakes. So clever.

The remains of 26 young women were found in the square in front of the pyramid (see pic below), the victims of human sacrifice.

We had an nice guide who showed us around the ruins. They have gardens and animals there as they would have in the old days.

Oh, hello

“Go. Away. Tourist.”

My obsession with cactuses continues

The amazing looking creation below is Suspiro de Limeña:

The name means ‘Lima woman’s sigh’. The bottom layer is dulche de leche (condensed milk and sugar boiled down into a thick cream) and the top is a gooey merengue. It was amazing, but sickly sweet, I’m glad we shared one!

Lomo saltado:

Dinner at the hostel

Kind of a stir fry.

A pretty church:

Which is destroyed at the back.

Looks can be deceiving

Don’t post bills?

Bougainvillaea

Lunch today was at Costa Sur in the Chorrillos district.

More crack corn! And some potatoes

A superior Pisco Sour

More ceviche for me:

And some kind of fish dish for Andrew:

There was no English on the menu

We just had to say “no mariscos! no mariscos por favor!”. No shellfish. Andrew is allergic.

The Instagram shot

We got told to go and see a famous bridge. We thought this couldn’t be it:

But it was! Apparently it’s from 1876.

Tomorrow we fly to Cusco ahead of the Inca Trail on Friday! Hopefully altitude is kind to us.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Food, Lima, Peru, South America, Travel | 13 Comments

Goodbye America and Canada

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Bec

Well that was fun!

In 20 weeks we saw 18 US states and 2 Canadian provinces. We covered 24,965 kilometres in the car (that’s 15,507 miles!), made countless new friends and saw countless towns, cities and national parks. And I blogged the entire thing!

It’s hard to name highlights, but New Orleans was definitely up there.

The blog post about how we budgeted and saved for the trip is still coming, I promise! I know there are some people keen to read the details. Thanks for following along. We have garaged our car in Florida, so we will be returning to the US to travel up the east coast in March next year. But before that we are heading to South and Central America!

Next stop: Lima, Peru.

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, Canada, Road Trip, Travel, USA | 3 Comments

Florida

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Bec

The end of the line! Can you believe it?! I’ve blogged all this time without getting lazy and giving up, 20 weeks it’s been! Ok enough with the self accolades, still need to get through this post…

Jacksonville

Our first stop in Florida was Jacksonville to visit the friends we made while hiking in Washington. Remember them? Sisters Meagan and LA had just clung to the side of a mountain and hiked over slippery snowpack, having a near death experience, and came out the other side slightly rattled but very friendly and keen to chat! They also encouraged us to turn back and not take the same route they had. So we swapped details and kept in touch. We arrived on their doorstep last Saturday.

Look what we were greeted with (well, we were greeted by the girls but when we went upstairs to our room look at was on the bed):

Have you ever seen anything so adorable?

We grabbed lunch, browsed some shops and then did a tour of the excellent local brewery scene. Check out all the photos I took:

That’s the only one

Yep. That’s it. We were having far too much fun and I completely forgot to get photos except for a few blurry food shots on my phone. Who have I become?!

The next day we had delicious bagels for lunch at Jacksonville Beach (Jax Beach) before grabbing some bikes to ride around to different breweries and bars. Unfortunately the sunny Floridian weather was nonexistent, but nothing could dampen our spirits.

I love riding a bike. It’s such an amazing, freeing feeling. Add some loud off key singing and a few beers to that and I’m pretty much the happiest gal around.

See that smile? Authentic

We went to a brewery called The Green Room. It had a giant Jenga and giant Connect Four, as well as ping pong. What a place. Andrew beat me at ping pong though. Ugh.

Andrew, me, Meagan, LA

When the bar closed we rode on to the Mellow Mushroom for some of the most amazing pizza I’ve had in my life. We also posed for a fierce bike gang shot:

Excuse the blurry photos, Instagram pics don’t do well blown up

We got home at 2am on a Monday morning. So great!

It was such an incredibly fun and relaxing weekend. We all admitted we were a bit nervous ahead of time given we were practically strangers, but it really could not have gone better. This is what travelling is all about. The people.

We had delicious biscuits (the American kind, like scones) for breakfast on our last morning ahead of a sad farewell with Meagan, who had to go to work.

Andrew’s biscuit, with fried chicken, bacon and maple syrup

We went with LA to check out Alpine Grove Park. It was a beautiful area along the river with giant trees covered in Spanish Moss, an 1800’s citrus plantation home and manatees lazing about in the water. Manatees! Like dugongs.

MANATEES!!

After we saw the manatees it started to pour with rain, just to make our goodbye with LA super dramatic and Hollywood-like. We promised we’d be back, next time for a week in March, and hit the road.

Fort Lauderdale

It rained heavily our first day and a half in Fort Lauderdale, which was fine because we had to do boring things like clean out our suitcases, cull and re-pack, buy toiletries, clear out the car and get haircuts (well, just me, my first hair cut since December last year).

On our second morning I woke early, saw the sun was out and immediately leapt out of bed to make breakfast. I woke Andrew with a steaming hot coffee, a grin and a loud declaration of “THE SUN IS FINALLY OUT!”, which I’m sure he appreciated.

We jumped in the car and made a beeline for Fort Lauderdale beach.