Work, World Cup, beach — repeat. That’s our routine here in Tulum. Theoretically we should just get up and go first thing in the morning since that’s when it’s coolest, but we’re at our most focused in the mornings and we like to sit back with our coffee. Not much to report, except that we’re about a month away from our home stretch. So...
After doing some work this morning, we headed out for a bike ride. Above is a photo of a mural along the main drag in Tulum. We also watched Mexico v. Croatia at an Italian place called Sale e Pepe which had great pizza. Just like being back in Italy. Fans eagerly watching… …then celebrating the first goal The plaza downtown ...
We just got back from watching the US v. Portugal game in el centro. It’s a nice, flat bike ride on the side of the highway into Tulum pueblo, and there’s also a paved path to the beach. We’re enjoying cruising around and checking out the sights, while darting across the highway on our beach cruisers like everyone else does. And eating tacos el...
Yesterday, we paid a visit to our old friend, los Estados Unidos. We had a connection in Miami, but we’re telling ourselves that Miami is practically still Latin America, so technically we didn’t cheat. Now, we’re in lovely Tulum. It was a rough travel day because we had to pass through U.S. immigration and customs in Miami even though our final destination was Mexico....
Hoy es el último día en Costa Rica. We have that mix of nervous energy and sadness whenever we’re leaving to head someplace new. Yesterday we drove from Monteverde around Lake Arenal and then to Alajuela, where we spent today doing some quehaceres, catching up with Christina, and watching a little World Cup. Here are some photos from the past couple days. See you in Tulum! ...
Welcome to the cloud forest! We rented a car and made the drive up Monteverde’s notoriously rocky and rutted dirt access roads. And we’ve been rewarded with beautiful sights, cool insects and even cooler climate. Monteverde is a well-trodden tourist destination, so we won’t be staying here long or we’ll blow our monthly budget. But so far, our most memorable experiences have been a...
Every traveler should have tokens from home. Each time we’re moving on to another location, I do some backpack housekeeping. Part of the reason is to get rid of any miscellaneous things we’ve accumulated not on our packing list, like old receipts or throwing away the box the ibuprofen came in. But the other reason is because it’s nice to see our tokens from...
We don’t want to leave! This may sound unsurprising, but typically Chris and I are ready to mosey along after 3-4 weeks someplace. But for the first time since October, we don’t want to go. Don’t get me wrong: I can’t wait for some cooler weather up in the mountains in Monteverde. And I’m looking forward to one day not smelling of sunscreen and...
Good morning, mosquitoes. You make us murderous. And scared. Do not underestimate these pesky bugs. We’ve tried lots of different tactics to keep mosquitoes at bay. One of the great things we have here are screens, which we didn’t have when we were in La Paz. I tried to take a photo of the cloud of ~20 mosquitoes hovering on the other side of our...
Just horsed around today. Both did some work this morning, then hung out downtown. The horses above were also horsing around, and so were these two on the beach — until somebody started bothering them: Lastly, this mono (monkey) was making interesting sounds, so we got some audio for you. It’s capped off with a bird call at the end. http://ourleapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Monos.m4a This...
We first met Lisa and Brookie a few days into our time here in Sámara, at the Friday afternoon farmer’s market. They were selling (delicious) popsicles under the name Pura Paleta, which literally translates as “pure ice pop” and is a fun play on the popular Tico phrase, pura vida. They have their umbrella, camping chairs and serious cooler set up across from Palí, the big grocery store...
This is Xinia — she teaches the cooking classes at our Spanish school. We saw her zoom past us the other day on the back of a moto while we were stopped on the side of the road gaping at a monkey balancing on telephone wire. We’re technically not students this week, but last week she told us we could come to cooking class anyway....