On Sunday we arose early with G & K and headed east, aiming for the South Australian Coast. Stops were frequent, with an emphasis on bakeries, op shops, and trying to find somewhere to swim. Our first attempt (not really) was a flat salt lake. There are loads of these in the area, glinting in the distance. We walked out onto one which was actually a little more liquid than I expected and I almost lost a thong to the mud.
I last left our intrepid adventures as they were disembarking the plane in Sydney on New Year’s Day. It was pretty great to get back to Australia. There’s a sense of familiarity and relief of getting back to somewhere familiar after such a long time spent travelling. There’s a definite sense of familiarity and relief to be had tucking into a Grill’d burger.
But before we got too familiar and finally made it back home we headed down in Adelaide to visit my brother Joe. I’ve only been there once, on a booze filled week as a medical student some years ago, and I didn’t have many memories other than of the inside of bars.
(Please note that this post has nothing to do with Al – so lower your expectations dramatically).
We touched down in Medellin and headed immediately for the souvenir store. Hot items on the day were these particular ceramic pots beloved by mum. There was some other pretty sick stuff too – some great craftsmanship.
It had been a long time since I’d seen my family, so it was pretty great to wake up in a luxurious villa in Cartegena and head out to breakfast with Mum and Dane (my older brother who moved to Colombia some time ago).
We flew into Panama on Saturday the 24th of November. The end of our trip was rapidly approaching, and I think we were starting to reflect back on all the great things we’d done. Still, there were a few things left to do, the first being three nights in a rambling hostel in Casco Viejo, the old part of Panama City.
By the time we flew into Cancun, found the correct bus, and made it all the way to Tulum, it was pretty late and we didn’t have much else to do than meet up with AC and Jordie and go check out our AirBnB. It was on the outskirts of town, which in the Tulum of these days is a fair way away – AC reckons it’s grown a heck of a lot since her idyllic days here ten years ago.
Libby, Red, and I arrived in Mexico City and headed to an Airbnb; we were staying in Roma Norte, a gentrified area of town with heaps of bars, restaurants, cafes, bookstores, &c. Also in Mexico city that day were AC and Jordie, friends of Rachel’s who I’d met in Canada. After checking in we headed out to a food court type of thing and caught up over tacos and spoons (Red wanted a horchata but accidentally ordered a cuchara). We all then headed back to our place for some bananagrams and then fell into bed.
The next day we headed out to explore Mexico city; we went to see the Zocalo (main square), the Templo Mayor and small associated museum (the remains of the old Aztec Temple that the main cathedral had been built over), the Cathedral, and, my favourite, the Palacio Bellas Artes, which has this great art deco / Mesoamerican fusion interior and has loads of interesting murals to look at.
We arrived in La Paz on a flight from Mexico City late on Saturday afternoon. We only had the one evening there; the next morning we were headed off on a mad kayaking trip (see trek report). By the time we had checked into the Airbnb it was getting pretty late, but we decided to head out, have a big fish dinner over cards and drinks, and see what happened from there.
Libby had booked us all onto a 4 day / 3 night kayaking trip along the coast of Isla Espirutu Santo, a desert island in the Sea of Cortez across from La Paz. Libby, Gerard, Red and I joined two guides (Marco and Chino) and five other paddlers on the trip. We spent our days paddling in and out of inlets along the coast, setting up camp on the beach, watching the sun set, and then watching the stars. It was pretty great.
Bill and Red's Excellent Adventure 