So long, San Miguel

After 6 weeks of eating, drinking, wandering, and eating and drinking some more, we finally left San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and packed back into Skyhorse today for the last stretch of our adventure. Our final Friday in town ended on a high note as we rocked karaoke at The Beer Company. Karaoke Annie was MC, Jason as head singer of Neli’s Big Adventure, James rocking the mike for Home on the Highway, Kelly jamming to some Rod, and of course, me, paving the way for team Skyhorse (though I did manage to drag Hani up to sing some Aladdin). We rapped, crooned, shook our boo-tays, and dreamed of California–the BEST way to celebrate the new year! SMA, we will miss you!!

RESERVED!

Karaoke Annie!

I don’t think James likes karaoke

walk like an egyptian…

Victor G’s sexy and he knows it!

this baby’s got back

the gang

Random thoughts/ month 20 San Miguel de Allende

This big 2-0!! This entire month was spent in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, one of our favorite cities. This month we:

+ arrived in San Miguel November 24. We were welcomed back into the Aurora neighborhood, parking on the street in the same spot as last year nestled between the elementary school and soccer field. The residents recognized us and were super helpful in sending us around to their cousin’s sister’s neighbor as we tried to find a place to rent for the holidays.

+ rented an apartment!! Since we love this city and didn’t want to spend the holidays hopping aimlessly from one city to another in search of friends, we decided to rent an apartment through the new year. That and Neli’s are here too and it’s great to have friends to play with. We found a sweet apartment right in the center of town, everything included (plus laundry) for $100 a week! A friend of a friend of a friend connected us with Susan who lives on the outskirts of town with a massive property for Skyhorse to chill out on. It’s nice (weird?) to have so much space again, a “real” home, wifi on demand, cable, and a rooftop deck with spectacular views of the city. It’s complete city living in this area with standstill traffic, nonstop church bells, cool cafés next door, an Argentinean restaurant underneath the apartments, the main Jardin a block away, and butcher shops and the local market close at hand.

+ spent Thanksgiving cooking with Victoria and Jason and their dogs, Neli and Maya. We had our hearts set on turkey, boxed stuffing (for Victoria), and canned cranberry sauce (for Jason). The turkeys were plentiful but frozen solid and no boxed stuffing was to be found so we settled for a feast of 2 chickens, mashed potatoes 2 ways (Sarah vs Jason), sautéed spinach and mushrooms, Jason’s gross canned cranberry gel, and the tastiest pumpkin pie compliments to the best bakery in town, Petit Four.

 

The rowdy night ended like this:

+ built a puppy pee area on the roof. We are in the heart of downtown which means very few green spaces. And the ones that exist are either fenced, elevated, or surrounding monuments and churches. We kept getting scolded by locals when the dogs walked on the above listed grass areas, even after showing them we have bags to pick up. Hello!? Where do they think the stray dogs go?!? So Hani ordered 10 pieces of sod and 4 bags of dirt to fill the 2 wooden boxes he had a carpenter build. Needless to say the 7 pieces of unused sod and bag of dirt are still up on the roof one month later. And the “lawn” is brown. But the dogs still use it and it’s far easier to walk up a flight of stairs at night than brave the 4 blocks in the cold and hope no one in front of the church sees you.

+ wandered around the colonial streets and market sampling some awesome eats. We get our daily liter of oj for $1.40, sometimes fresh churros along side. The market has been a fabulous find serving up brothy soups and stacked high sandwiches. Even the street carts here are plentiful–sliced fruits and veggies (a liter container is under a dollar), ice cream (even though it’s cold out!), tamales and alote in the mornings and tacos at night. The cafés have such delicious coffee and sweet treats. Happy hours are everywhere on rooftop terraces. And the restaurants serve amazing international cuisines. This town is dangerous!!

+ froze! Our first week in San Miguel was SO COLD we had to buy a heater and layered on every article of clothing. I don’t know how we are going to survive the winter when we get back to the states!

+ but still love this cool colonial city.

 

+ met some great new friends, fellow travelers Krista and Paul and their dog Rufus. Rufus became part of the family as we watched him one weekend when Krista and Paul went into Mexico City. Olivia was in heaven, finally having a big dog to play with.

+ celebrated out second wedding anniversary on December 1. No flat tire like last year but still an adventurous one as we explored more of the city and learned that most places are closed on Mondays. Also, I’ve decided that all future anniversaries need to be spent in Mexico to continue the tradition of the past 2 years.

+ went to La Gruta hot springs, right outside San Miguel, with Krista and Paul. At first we were disappointed, seeing only one semi warm pool and an empty one. Then we discovered the grotto, a long enclosed hallway half underwater that opened up into a dome shapes room where the hot springs flowed. We stayed until we got pruney and successfully avoided a super creepy man talking to himself.

 

+ saw two movies–one in the big multiplex and one in a quaint cafe. It’s been a year since we last saw a movie in a theater and these two did not disappoint! The fresh popped carmel corn didn’t hurt either.

+ karaoked!!

+participated in a Posada on Christmas Eve. We started in the Jardin watching the ex-pats sing carols while the locals passed strange looks, then walked from one church to another in procession singing Spanish carols. Well, we didn’t sing, but it was fun all the same.

+ Christmased with Victoria, Jason, their dogs and Victoria’s parents Lorna and David at our apartment. Lorna cooked a beautiful turkey, some delicious sides and ended the gorge-fest with another amazing cake from Petit Four. Happy holidays everyone!!!

 

Oaxaca

While parked at Overlander Oasis a week and a half ago, we took the bus into Oaxaca for a few hours. Oaxaca is one of our favorite Mexican cities because it’s very human rights oriented, progressive and revolutionary. It’s home of mezcal, art, protests, and the most luxurious string cheese. Graffiti is considered an art form. Galleries and bars are in equal number. Every summer, teachers camp out in the Zocolo, the main square of the city, protesting some injustice or another.

This visit was no exception. The main square exploded and the area that was quiet and green on our last visit 10 months ago was now bustling with people camped out in tents and food and clothing stalls to cater to all these new inhabitants.

Locals had taken over the city to protest the disappearance and presumed murder of 43 students by the government.  http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/07/world/americas/mexico-missing-students/ The Zocalo was plastered with signs in remembrance of the 43 students and calling for justice. It was like nothing we have seen before south of the border. Sure you’d expect Americans to protest and have sit ins but completely unexpected to witness this in Mexico.

  

On a completely different note, Oaxaca is also home to another fabulous local market. Enter: the meat hall. I posted a picture of this gem on our last visit but the culinary experience here is too amazing to not describe in detail. This was one of our favorite food experiences of the whole trip.

Picture it: a smoky long room with high ceilings

 

Meat lining the isle and vendors constantly calling out

Tables at one end of the room

The directions:

Everything is separate–you order meat from one person, veggies from another, drinks from a third person and side dishes lastly, all paying at different points during your meal.

The process begins… you get bombarded by ladies pushing wicker baskets of scallions and jalapeños in your face

      

Take your basket of scallions and pick the meat stall to your liking

Your cooked meat, scallions and a stack of tortillas will soon arrive along with a selection of side dishes

Gorge

Maybe you’ll even get serenaded

 

Random thoughts/ month 19

This month we:

+ celebrated the Day of the Dead in Antigua on November 1. Instead of mourning the dead, locals celebrate their lives, taking to the cemetery. Families visit their loved ones’ graves cleaning them, adding a fresh coat of white paint, decorating with flowers and sometimes planting. Mariachi bands and ice cream carts wander the rows of the departed. The entrance to the cemeteries are filled with food venders, some cities even have carnival rides.

 

 

+ went to the Sumpango kite festival on the same day. Tons of locals and foreigns flock up steep dirt paths to a grass field in this small village. Vendors selling small kites, food and crafts are set up around the perimeter and gigantic circle kites made of colored tissue paper are on display. We were disappointed to learn they don’t actually fly these massive kites, but it was pretty amazing waking around in the mud looking at the intricate work.

+ scrubbed the inside of Skyhorse from top to bottom, washing everything possible. Don’t ask.

+ dined, yes dined, at the fanciest McDonalds I’ve ever laid eyes on. As you have probably gathered, we only eat McDs after a trying day. Our Antigua meal was no exception. After a frustrating morning at the doctor with few concrete answers, we followed our noses to the discreet golden arches and into the most luxurious courtyard. We ate with a clear view of the volcano in front of us.

+ were funded! Thanks to you all, our kickstarter campaign was 200% funded. We cannot thank you–our friends, family and dedicated reader–enough for making this possible!

+ experienced our second and third earthquakes. The second one was much more mild than the first but still confused Hani. As Skyhorse began to rock, Hani yelled out, calling to someone he thought was pushing the truck. By the third, we were pros and just looked at each other and our unaffected dogs as the truck wobbled a bit.

+ spent time with our friends from home, Caroline and Mike. They were in Antigua for a wedding so we got to hang with them and their dental crew for a few days, even getting to crash a pre-wedding dinner.

+ ended our time in Antigua after staying a whopping 44 days. It is by far the longest we’ve stayed camped in the same spot in the same city. Seriously love that city and can’t wait to come back someday.

+ spent a total of $64 to stay at the Antigua tourist police for those 44 days. You are allowed to camp for free for 5 days but beyond that, the officers ask for things to spruce up the property. Over the course of our time there, we bought them a rake, tree paint, brushes, buckets, 2 soccer balls, lightbulbs and a few breads, chips and sodas. Well worth the money and we enjoyed chatting with the officers and helping them with their English.

+ had yet another frustrating border experience at Tecun Uman, Guatemala/ Cuidad Hidalgo, Mexico. Allegedly the entrance on the Mexican side is only for “light vehicles” (whatever that means). It took twenty minutes for them to decide to lift up a low hanging cable to let us enter, then too much yaking about how we couldn’t cross into Mexico here because we were too big. Mind you, we were parked right under the bus parking sign. So obviously large vehicles pass through there. Then they said we also couldn’t enter because we had two vehicles, that the motorcycle would have to be driven through separately. What?!? Eventually we were allowed to enter only if they could search us from top to bottom. Go right ahead. I drew the line when they asked us to help them remove our stuff from the truck for inspection. The head dick pulled everything out from the truck cab, even searching under the hood and in our air filter. I jokingly asked him if he was going to change our oil too. The other two lackies did a lame search of the cabin and all the closets. TWO HOURS LATER, as it’s getting dark, we realized we couldn’t even get the vehicle permit paperwork here. At every other border, you get your passport stamped and vehicle permit in the same area. But at this border, the permitting office was miles away in a different city. So the next day, unsure if the office would even open because it was a Sunday, we drove the 1.5 hours to get the permit. The bank guy was nice and efficient in giving us our permits but then the same agency morons from the day before didn’t think the paperwork we were JUST ISSUED from the bank were valid. So another hour and a half of waiting for them to be informed of their own laws. Thankfully this was our last border!! Yippppie!!!!!

+ were welcomed back to Mexico by two back to back stays at Pemexs, the gas station.

+ came back to Playa Zipolite with Felipa ready and waiting. The beach was much hotter, the breeze was nonexistent but the water was cool and the food delicious. After 3 days, we said a tearful goodbye to the ocean and Hani’s favorite beach. No more beach days in the foreseeable future as we drive further and further north.

+ arrived at Overlander Oasis in Santa Maria del Tule. We spent a few nights at the OO on our drive north so it felt like a small homecoming this time around. Calvin greeted us with open arms and we met some other travelers heading south. We are some tasty meals and it reminded me how much I love Mexican food and missed the culture.

+ didn’t eat enough tlyudas or drink any mezcal but we did witness a tent occupied Oaxaca. More on that later.

+ had some very long driving days. We drove the steep mountainous road between Zipolite and the OO (outside of Oaxaca) in one day, 9 hours in total. A few days later, we left the OO and spent 2 long days on the road arriving in San Miguel de Allende.

+ have rented a cool apartment in San Miguel de Allende until January 7. Anyone want to visit? We are in the heart of downtown, surrounded by the best street tacos, wonderful restaurants and cafés, towering churches, and best of all, our friends Victoria, Jason and their dogs Neli and Maya from Neli’s Big Adventure.

Happiest place on earth

As our final day in Antigua rolls around (we’ve been here six weeks!!), I thought I would share pictures of my happy place–the local market. The market is part indoor/part outdoor with narrow aisles and stalls as far as the eye can see. It’s easy to get lost here since everything looks the same but, by some miracle, I’ve been able to find direct routes to my favorite vendors.

Through the chaos and constant movement, I have discovered some sense of organization, as the market is divided into sections: the restaurants (2 sections), meat and poultry, electronics, shoes, clothing, ribbons/seamstresses and gift wrap, produce, flowers, wreaths (yes, there is an entire section devoted to the wreaths laid on burial sites with blue stained hands working steadfast on them), toys, and containers. In one section, say the produce, there are 10 vendors right next to each other selling the exact same things. Tables (and floors) are piled high with produce are all basically the same price from vendor to vendor and, of course, bartering is mandatory!

You’ll also find every shampoo, deodorant or bath product carried in Guatemala for a much cheaper price than what you’d pay in the stores but of questionable contents.

It was pretty hard to capture some of these pictures, as stopping is definitely frowned upon. The rows between shops really only allow for 1 and a half people to pass at a time and, regardless of the day or hour, the bustle is nonstop.

What I’ll Miss

When we crossed into Mexico one year ago, there was so much about daily life that took me by surprise. How I needed to visit 3 stores just to get everything on my grocery list. Why it was impossible for someone to give correct directions. Now, these once-annoyances are second nature. They are what give Central America it’s charm. The woman serving my meal licking her fingers–I’ll have a second helping please. Taking a long time to explain where to go sans street names and I still get lost–typical, but always my fault according to Hani.

We celebrated a year and a half on the road on October 25. As of today, we’ll have spent one year of that time in Mexico and Central America. Here are some things that I know I will miss dearly once we return to the States, things typical south of the border and of life on the road.

I will miss…

The obligatory lone flip flop and dirty diaper left on a beach

Waking up in an unfamiliar place with nothing and no one around

Meeting strangers…because you parked on their land

Making fast friends with people because they are traveling just. like. you.

$5 doctor visits and $2 round of antibiotics

Walking into a pharmacy and getting whatever medication you could possibly want dispensed to you, no questions asked

The culture

Hearing Spanish

Searching for THE BEST spot to park for the night

Wondering what that man with his back to me is doing then realizing he’s peeing in the street

Cars with a loud speaker announcing a sale of eggs or campaign

Bargaining for everything, including but not limited to keepsakes and handicrafts, clothes, meals, produce, doctor’s visits, medicine, laundry, beer, museum admission, parking, camping spots, water…

Dollar fresh squeezed juice and smoothies with no additives

Drinking said beverage out of a plastic bag with a straw

Beach venders approaching you selling knock off sunglasses, sarongs, drinks and food

Pick up trucks carrying 15 standing people in the bed

Bombas

Long days of nothing

The wildlife

Sleeping on a slight decline because you can’t get the truck angle just right

Festivals for everything at all hours of the day, even in the middle of the night

Clos boxed wine, not because it’s good but because it’s $3 and who the hell cares

Foreign currencies that look like fake money

Collecting shells, rocks, and sand

The smell of fire

Buying Jiff, regular milk, generic whole wheat bread and Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup and not feeling guilty because it’s not the all-natural organic versions

The excitement of finding kale, mushrooms, arugula and other “rare” produce

Jamming to dance music the DJ spins (turn tables, massive speakers and all) in the middle of a grocery

Cooking with limes because lemons don’t exist in Central America

Cattle in the middle of a highway stopping traffic

Old men with machetes the length of their leg

Using those machetes to “mow” grass

The highway suddenly becoming a narrow road through a teeny town…and it’s market day

Spitting on the floor (in and outdoors)

Women in traditional clothes

Those same women balancing heaping baskets of food or bags of firewood on their head

Teens (and adults) wearing Aeropostale

Trophy-headstone stores…winning and losing at its best

Town squares

 

Soccer fields in every village, no matter how small the village is

Guards armed with massive semi automatic weapons at the entrance to a pharmacy or ice cream shop

7 shacks in a row alongside the highway all selling the exact same one item

People juggling fire at an intersection in a major city

Asking for the wifi password and making sure it connects BEFORE ordering

A long deserted beach all to yourself…until that asshole parks right on top of you blasting crappy music

Topes

Streets with no name and directions drawn in the dirt with a stick

Vehicles pouring black exhaust into the air

The power of the stamp and border bureaucracy

Making photocopies for inflated rates when the person needing copies has a machine right next to them

Getting clothes handwashed, line dried and folded for $5

The local market, skinned animal carcasses on display and all, where open air stalls sell everything from underwear to bootlegged movies to live animals

40 cent chocolate covered frozen bananas

Conch fresh from the ocean

The familiarity of eating at McDonalds

Hearing random B-list 90s music on the radio

Relaxing anywhere, a beach, square, park, national monument, and being bombarded with people selling trinkets

Spying auto hotels off the highway and wondering what is really going on there

Amazing street food for pocket change

Said street food coming out of questionable half broken down trucks

Highway-side dining

Walking past a restaurant or food stall and having the entire menu recited aloud in fast succession

Chrome buses and tricked out tuktuks

The leash phenomenon: wandering dog–a kid will kick it. But put that dog on a leash, that same kid will fight his siblings to hold the leash and walk the dog in circles

I’m excited to…

Have SPACE and be able to do cartwheels INDOORS!!

Blast air conditioning

And then control the temperature of the house

Have a freezer

Drink good wine from a bottle out of a glass

Drink water from the tap

A real steak

Eat real sushi and drink real beer

Not have to scour for a free wifi connection

Be able to just pick up my cell and make a call

Receive mail and physical magazines

Cook what I want to eat for dinner and not what I should make because it’s too hot to use both burners and the oven

See distances in miles and measurements in gallons because I STILL haven’t figured out kilometers and liters

Drive a car. MY car. And drive it over 50 mph

Flush toilet paper down the toilet instead of opening the trap door of our composting toilet or in the waste bin at a restaurant

Have money coming into my bank account

See dogs that are well taken care of and part of a family instead of starving on the street

The familiarity of being home

FUNDED!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

Our kickstarter campaign ended this morning and, thanks to all of you, we were successfully funded! We reached double our goal, $6,000, thanks to a sneaky in-at-the-last-second contribution by someone who clearly has swift Ebay skills. We will now be able to add a lot of color photos to our already colorful stories.

A special thanks to our 86 backers: Allison Stattner, Will, Jason and Marti Paster, Paige and Jared Silverman, Matt Stern, Shari and Matt Shapiro www.backpacksandbigappetites.tumblr.com, Chris Francis, John King, Joe Francis, Matt and Lisa Gardi www.facebook.com/BoweryStation, Harvey and Leslie Stern, Emery Mikel, Karole and Jerry Rispoli, John and Melissa Mansour, Kim Sloan, Estee Maya, Yoni Shechter http://favorize.com, Dereck Wischmeyer, Lauren Prestileo, Jaclyn Krongold, Whitney and Steve Anderson, Dan Morris, Shaun Barnes, John and Mandi Fazio www.johnandmandi.com, Jason Tyrrell and Victoria Palmer (and team Neli) www.nelisbigadventure.com, Susanne and Rhett Gurian, Jim Morris, Nicole Dweck, David Walker, Paula and Randy Schwartz, Bruce and Eileen Paster, Jason Blank, Todd and Deb Barron, Erica and Sam Christiansen www.songoftheroad.com, Nancy and David Kimberly (teacher of the year!), Makram and Samia Kamel, Roberta Andrews, Lamar and Wesley Stanley, Chloe and Toby Conroy (and Tia!) www.facebook.com/carpeviam, Harmony Page, Libby and Noah Hoppe, Tawny Bridgeford, Bob Leonard, Danielle and Alex Sonsini www.facebook.com/pages/Travelling-Jalapeno-Bros/611261765616614, Traci and Zia Khan, Tim Roberts and Randall Fields http://infoflamingo.com, Huda Ajlani and Jason Macri, Amad Demetrious www.littlebuddhasdogwalking.com, Leanna and Zach Kobrin, Rhonda Flores, Josh and Julie McGrane, Jackie Sullivan, Nabil and Elizabeth Barsoum, Peter Neirouz, Marc Brown, Janet Wood, Jamie Reese, Adam and Alyson Seligman http://theaveragegirlsguide.com, Staci Greenfield, Lukas Widtfeldt www.blackravenbrewing.com, Jeff Mansfield, Neiloufar, Amy Fearn, Erean Bishara, Dori Marlin, Christie Asencio, Brendan O’Shaughnessy, Mollie and Richard Spirer, Mike and Carly Schwartz, Zachary Capps, Marcil Salem, Kevin and Loriellen Robertson, Elvira Stepinoff, Marilyn Solomon, Jana and Jon Goodstadt, Cathy and Chris Fetgatter, Kisha and Ben Rusek, Sue Peace, Teri Wear, Betsy and Chris Casebolt, Erin Corbin, Jake Metz, and Ralph and Barbara Maya.

Random thoughts/ 1.5

One year and six months. Really. Ruminations on that milestone later but on to this month. We’ve had our ups and downs, sweat and froze, beached and mountained and north we still go! This month we:

+ went back to Lake Apoyo, Nicaragua. As we headed down to the lake late and on the wrong road, I searched for Miguel, the caretaker of the property we stayed when we were there 5 months earlier. By some miracle, I spotted him on the road and arranged for us to park at the house tomorrow, as he had already left for the day. We spent 6 semi-glorious days at our old spot on the lake, which had substantially more mosquitoes now and was way hotter. But we swam, practiced the ukulele, and Olivia found her twin.

 

+ successfully avoided the Managua market by finding “new” used tires on our way out of the lake. Our tires are an odd size and it’s been difficult to find replacements south of the border. Thankfully though, as one was flat and bald (the last original tire we left Key West with), we found something! They may be retreads from 1996 but they’re rocking and rolling. We WILL made it home on these same tires!

+ flew through northern Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador to land in Antigua, Guatemala over the course of two days of nonstop driving. That’s SIX frustrating borders in two days. I was so beat.

+ have settled into life at the tourist police in Antigua. We will be parked here until the beginning of November, nestled between the remains of an old hospital. We spend our days exploring the cobblestone colonial town, it’s many coffee shops and my favorite local market.

+ tucked our swim gear away and broken out our jeans and jackets. I cannot even begin to tell describe how amazing it is not to be sweaty first thing in the morning.

+ celebrated Hani’s 36th birthday on October 12. Now we have all celebrated 2 birthdays on the road. We wandered around Antigua with the dogs, had a scrumptious dinner and then cake with all the other travelers in the tourist police lot.

 

+ experienced our first earthquake! It was 10:00 at night and Hani was outside walking the dogs. From inside the truck, I felt Skyhorse move from side to side. Not just a sway but full on rocking back and forth. I thought Hani was pushing the truck so I yelled at him to stop messing around. He laughed that he wasn’t doing anything so I assumed he actually was. After a few more back and forths, we realized the dogs were a little freaked out. The thought that we just had an earthquake didn’t really dawn on me despite the fact that we are parked between ruins from a previous quake. It took asking two other travelers and a google search to convince me that it really was an earthquake. 7.4 all the way from El Salvador felt here!

+ launched a kickstarter campaign. We are writing a book about our travels and raising money through kickstarter to self publish it. We’ve made amazing progress but there is still time for YOU to contribute! By contributing to our kickstarter campaign, you can get a copy of our book, choose a topic for us to write about or be included in our book, depending on your donation. Click on the link, watch our video, read our book excerpt, check out the rewards on the right side of the page and donate! The more money we raise, the better our book will be! Thank you all for your support.  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2094800206/adventures-in-skyhorse

+ explored an amazing farm overlooking Antigua. The owner is in the process of opening a farm-to-table restaurant and invites guests to check out the property. We spent a few hours one afternoon rambling about the farm and orchid garden and watching the storm roll in.

 

+ realized we cannot stay in one place for a month and live in the truck. Being the cheapskate that I am, I thought with the cooler weather, we would be fine to stay in the truck and not rent a place. I now know that for our sanity, if we aren’t actually moving, we need more space than Skyhorse offers. How many of you have been waiting for me to say that?!?

+ were visited by the Mayas! My parents last visited us on the road when we were in San Diego, almost a year ago, right before we crossed into Mexico. This time, my parents came to Antigua for a 5 day visit. They brought us a bunch of goodies we were missing from home including our favorite: my dad’s homemade pumpkin pie (and seeds!). We had such a lovely time showing them the city, eating, walking, laughing, shopping, eating and more and more walking. I think they now need a vacation from their vacation.

+ rode the chicken bus with my parents to Pastores. It was all of our first time on these tricked out, polluting, crazy-fast beasts. I was hesitant about taking my parents on the bus but Hani insisted that it was part of the Guatemalan experience. I think he was secretly hoping my mom would have a melt down but they loved it, even danced along with the blasting music.

+ ate our way through Antigua. The food here really is unbelievable. You can find any type of meal you could possibly want. We’ve eaten Guatemalan (duh), Mexican, Middle Eastern, French, Italian gelato and pastries, real deli sandwiches, BBQ, crepes, and the best coffee. Coffee in Antigua is far superior to any other country we have been. It’s practically an art here.

+ toured the Finca Filadelfia coffee plantation with my parents. Aside from seeing the coffee process, the highlights were the drunk man stumbling toward our tour group with a big piece of wood and my mom yelling a story at us at top volume not realizing the group was right there listening. The coffee was fabulous.

  

+ bid fairwell to my parents and are continuing to venture into new parts of Antigua as Mochimo’s day, Day of the Dead and Halloween roll through town.

Going north

I have to admit, when we left Panama City to begin driving north, I shed a tear. Or five. I thought since we had reached our furthest stop, our trip would be over. And it came so suddenly too. We just woke up one morning, said we had enough to Panama City so let’s go. But I wasn’t ready for our travels to be over and neither was Hani. The adventure didn’t FEEL finished.

Panama

Going north now, we have a bit more of a plan. We know what is waiting for us is each country so we are now doing a “best of” re-visiting our favorites. We are trying to stay in one place for longer periods of time since we get a better feel for the people and day to day life that way. There is no rush “to see what’s ahead” but instead the excitement of what a new day will bring. So we’ll continue our slow crawl north for a few more months at least. And we are definitely aiming for cooler-weather towns. After 4 months of sweating, we are over the heat.

Our Best of Tour North brought us back to San Juan del Sur and Lake Apoyo Nicaragua.

 

laundry day at Lake Apoyo

And now to Antigua, Guatemala where we are staying through the end of the month.

Kick start our book!

As you probably saw on our Facebook page, we are writing a book about our time on the road. We have started a Kickstarter campaign to self publish our book.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2094800206/adventures-in-skyhorse

 

Kickstarter is a crowd-funded platform, meaning YOU help us reach our goal through donations. In return for your contribution, you will receive a gift and our sincere gratitude. For $15, you will receive a soft covered copy of our book. For $25, you will received 2 books. For $50, you can pick a relevant topic and we will write about it in our book (sloths, for example) along with 2 copies of our book. For $75, if we know you or have met you, we will write you into our book, along with sending you 2 copies. For $120, if we know you or have met you, we will write you and some person you have a relation to (friend, relative, spouse…) into our book, along with 2 copies.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/2094800206/adventures-in-skyhorse

When you click on our Kickstarter link, at the top you will see a video explaining our book. Underneath that is an excerpt of our book. The righthand column lists all potential gifts.

We truly appreciate all your support thus far and hope you will help us reach our goal of raising $3,000. The positive feedback and over pouring love we have received already is amazing. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU ALL!