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  • Ancsa Székely

Americas

Colombia and a roadtrip through the US after graduating from university Read more
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  • Trip start
    September 11, 2024
    Ancsa SzékelyAmericasTraveler

    Venezia Mestre

    September 12, 2024 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    My first stop was in Venice Mestre where I had an hour, so I walked around a bit and had breakfast at a very nice square. While walking back to the station I also saw some more modern buildings with a crazy architecture.Read more

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    Torino

    September 12, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    While I was waiting for my bus to leave to Barcelona, I visited the Musei Reali and walked around the city. The museum has a huge collection of paintings and archeological findings and it also shows some rooms of the royal palace.
    The city was preparing for a car show on the weekend, so many streets were closed and I saw some fancy expensive cars, that were pushed around on red carpets.
    Although the king had ordered to build long arcades from his place to the Po river, so that he didn't get wet when it rained, I didn't manage to stay dry in the rain under the 18 km of arcades, so I treated myself with pasta for dinner before getting back to the bus station.    Read more

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    Barcelona

    September 13, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    I had a few hours in Barcelona so I decided to visit Palau del Baró de Quadras, a beautiful modernist building on Avenida Diagonal. On the way to the train station I went to Mercadona to buy some gazpacho, which I missed so much.
    Even though it was super chaotic at the train station because of a derailed train, I was very lucky to and my train was on time and I even made it to the news probably.    Read more

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    Madrid

    Sep 13–15, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Before taking the plane to Bogotá, I spent two days with Sara in Madrid. We discovered Madrid by foot, visited the Prado Museum and the Thyssen-Bornemissa Museum. I also got smuggled in to some Erasmus activities, we went to an escape room and watched the sunset from the Temple of Debez, which was gifted to Spain by Egypt.
    We couldn't leave out a compulsory tinto de verano from the must-do list in Spain.    Read more

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    Bogotá Day 1-2

    Sep 15–16, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    As I landed in Bogotá, Oliver was already waiting for me, and he got us a SIM card and some pesos. (The maximum amount at the ATM to withdraw were 300000 pesos, which are about 68€). We got to our hostel which was in the city center, but as we were advised not to really walk around at night, we stayed at the hostel and drank a beer in the garden.

    The next day we did a free walking tour where we learned about the history of Bogotá, saw the most important corners of the city. One of the most interesting scenes were a square, where many elderly man were standing around and talking the whole day, and though it seemed that they were doing nothing, they were actually trading with emerald from they pockets, making thus the square the biggest informal emerald market. Besides the emerald, people are selling a great variety of things such as fruits, sweets, jewelry, drinks, origami and paintings made from Venezuelan bolivar (as it worth so little), and they offer to repair bikes, clean shoes and many other stuff.

    During the tour we also got some recommendations on local food, of what we tried some for lunch. We ate tamal, which is made from corn, chickpeas, and chicken, cooked in banana leaves, and we also tried changua, which is a soup made of milk and eggs.
    We were also told to try the local hot chocolate, which is served with cheese and bread. Though it sounded very weird, the melted cheese was super tasty in the chocolate.

    We also visited the Botero Museum, which is a free museum, as Botero donated several paintings from his private collection to the government, with the condition to make it free and keep them in the museum forever. In the afternoon we went up to Monserrate hill by a cable car to check out the city from above. It got pretty late (and cold) and we were a bit concerned about walking back to the hostel in the dark, as we had an ATM with a higher limit, and got a huge bundle of money. It is crazy to walk around with millions of pesos, which still do not worth more than a few hundred Euros.    Read more

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    Bogotá Day 3-4

    Sep 17–18, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    On the third day we did another walking tour about all the different conflicts of Colombia. It was very interesting to learn about the different aspects of the history of the country and what events led to all these military, political and drug conflicts that determined the last decades of Colombia and that led to a former guerilla member to be the president today.

    After the tour we had a coca icecream, and tried the traditional indigenous drink chicha, which is made of fermented corn. Though the government made massive propaganda against it in the last century, it is now beginning to be normal again to drink it, and a lot of people are offering it on the streets to taste it. For lunch we had patacones (fried cooking banana) with vegetables. As dessert, we had obleas, filled with caramel (arequipe) and papaya jam. Several stands sell obleas, and advertise them with a huge pic of Mick Jagger, as he really liked it once he visited Bogotá. As basically everything here, it was also very sweet, but tasty.

    We visited the Museum of Gold, which holds thousands of pieces of gold which were find all over the country. It was amazing to see all the tiny details in the jewelry and small artifacts.

    On our last day we walked around and visited the military museum, and tried some weird fruit salad (or juice, we were not really sure) and then we headed to the airport to go to our next stop, Cartagena.

    Bogotá was a nice place to start our trip, to learn about the history of the country and to experience a bit less touristic city. Though the city is in a very nice area right in the middle of the Andes, and there are some nice buildings, it is full of controversy. A lot of beggars, and no-go zones, an on the other hand expensive cars, modern universities, all surrounded by private guards and police.    Read more

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    Cartagena

    Sep 18–20, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    When we arrived to Cartagena, stepping out of the plane was like entering a sauna, especially coming from Bogotá, also called the fridge of Colombia. It is super humid here, so all your clothes instantly stick to your body. After getting to our hostel, we went to look something for dinner. We found a little restaurant with a lot of locals, and had fried fish with cooking bananas. After dinner we walked around the old town, on the city walls and in the more artsy quarter, Getsemaní.

    The city is full of colonial buildings and churches, it looks cleaner than Bogotá, there are many more tourists and also some fancy shops. It definitely looks richer than Bogotá, and we had no concerns walking around at night. Next to the main square old buses transformed to party buses were waiting for tourists to take them for a sightseeing tour.
    On the next day we did a free walking tour to learn about the history of Cartagena and the Getsemaní quarter, where local residents put chairs and tables on the street or in the entrance of their home and offer drinks. A highlight of the tour was a park where we saw sloths, iguanas and monkeys.
    Then we visited the San Felipe de Barajas Fort, an impressive fortress from the middle ages with a crazy tunnel system and nice views on the city.

    After that, we wanted to go to the beach, but it started raining, so chilled at the hostel and went to the city walls to drink a beer once the rain stopped.    Read more

  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasTraveler
    River MagdalenaBeach of Santa MartaCathedral of Santa Marta1Getting your eyebrows done at the market

    Santa Marta

    September 20, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    From Cartagena we took a bus to Santa Marta. The road lead through a natural reserve at the coast and we also crossed River Magdalena at Barranquilla, which was amazingly huge. At the riverbank we also saw the statue of Rihanna. We drove past some very poor settlements, which was very heart breaking to see especially after seeing the contrast in the relatively rich Cartagena. After a five hour ride, we finally arrived in Santa Marta. We walked around the town, went to the ocean and to the market, which was still full in the afternoon. You could find hundreds of exotic fruits and vegetables, sweets, toys and everything you can imagine. You could even get your nails and eyebrows done on the streets.
    Afterwards, we had dinner in a small restaurant. Tipical restaurants normally serve a daily menu, which consists of chicken or fish, with cooking bananas and rice, sometimes with a soup as well, all for around 5 €, all very tasty. We also ordered a beer, but as the restaurant didn't have any, the waiter just went to the shop across the street and brought us some.
    After dinner we had another walk in the city. Though Santa Marta is the oldest city in Colombia, there are not many sights, besides the cathedral and the obligatory Bolivar square, but the nightlife is quite lively, with many pubs and restaurants. Also several people approached us on the street offering beer and cocaine.    Read more

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    Tayrona National Park

    September 21, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Before leaving to the national park, we had breakfast at the hostel and got some very tasty coffee, as we are pretty close to a coffee region. We also tried some fruits which we had bought at the market yesterday, but none of them met our expectations, and we were kind of suffering to finish them, but now we know, we are better off with bananas.
    The weather is still crazy, we were already soaked by sweat on the bus.
    We decided to take the longer route, which led over a mountain through the jungle. We both looked like we had taken a shower with clothes on, but we had beautiful views on the forest and mountains, saw some crazy trees and animals. Finally we arrived to the coast with a beautiful beach, where we cooled down a bit. We took the coastal trail back to the bus, which led us along some more beaches and beautiful views with the ocean, rocks and palm trees. We saw some monkeys and a sign warning about caymans. From the end of the trail we had to take a shuttle bus to the bus taking us back to Santa Marta, which was quite a wild ride, as 15 people were on the bus, which had a size of a van for 9. And people drive here crazily, loads of motorbikes, sometimes 3 or 4 people sitting on it, with babies, and luggage, trying to get through the traffic, everyone honking at each other.
    The city was really packed, as today is the day of friendship and love, Valentine's Day of Colombia, with everyone selling flowers, balloons and gifts, and everything is decorated with heart-shaped stuff. Shops are open longer, this day is considered the fourth most important commercial day in Colombia.
    After taking a shower we had dinner and went for a few drinks to discover the nightlife of Santa Marta. People were dancing on the streets, pubs and restaurants were full. We found a shady karaoke bar, where we were the youngest ones, and where almost everyone sang Spanish songs only.    Read more

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    Santa Marta Day 3

    September 22, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    On our third day in Santa Marta we planned to do a walking tour, but as the guide never showed up, we were just walking around alone in the city. On the long promenade at the beach, a big group of policemen were patrolling and talking to people, others were driving quads in the sand and getting people out of the water because a storm was coming. I asked them, if there was any particular reason for the strong presence of police on a seemingly calm Sunday, they said that there were a lot of crime in the city, and they are warning people about it, though we never felt unsafe walking around.

    As it started raining, we went to a juice bar next to our hostel and had a very tasty juice, with some tropical fruits that we had never heard of. The owner, a very cute lady also gave us some some snack that I would compare to a corndog.
    In the afternoon we went to the house where Simon Bolivar died, which has been turned into a museum with a botanical garden, a huge memorial for him, and contemporary paintings. We could feel, that it was a very important place for Colombia, as it was very well preserved and a lot of information was provided, even in English. The other museums we had visited before had very little and not so informative explanations, and mostly in Spanish only.

    The museum was right next to a huge shopping mall, so we decided to check it out. There were a lot of clothing stores, that looked quite expensive, a lot of stores offering unnecessary stuff, pure capitalism. A lot of people were hanging out in the food court, a family even celebrated a birthday there. Our highlight was the Uno Colombia edition and the Colombian version of Monopoly. We also tried McDonald's Postres, which is a McDonald's store, only selling sweets, and the city is full of them, KFC also has it's own postres shop.    Read more

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    Minca

    September 23, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    On our last day in Santa Marta we went to Minca, a small village in the Sierra Nevada. We hiked up to a viewpoint, but by the time we got there, it was quite cloudy, so we didn't have such a great view. Luckily on the way we already saw the coastline and the surrounding mountains. And also the nature was beautiful with colorful birds, palm trees, coffee plants and hundreds of butterflies. We had lunch in a hostel in the forest, with a beautiful view and then we hiked to a "hidden" waterfall where we could swim. It was really nice to cool down, as the weather was again quite humid and warm. As we continued our way, we understood, why the waterfall is called hidden. We had to cross a river at a ford, either with a rope in the water or above it. With the backpacks we went for the option where we hoped to stay dry. Before taking the bus back to Santa Marta (which was again crazy, with a guy sitting on the roof of the car, watching out for the luggage), we went to another waterfall. The waterfalls and the path led through private property, some of it was basically in the garden of a residential house, so we had to pay a small fee to cross a lady's garden for example, walking next to her horse and chickens.Read more

  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasTraveler
    Our hotel
    Botero everywhereUltimate breakfast placeFancy mallColombian barber shop

    Medellín

    Sep 24–25, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Today we left Santa Marta for Medellín quite early. From the airport we went to our hotel, which is supposed to be a famous old place in Medellín, with a lot of celebrities staying there back in the '70s. On the way there we read some bad reviews about the area and the hotel, but it didn't seem less safe than Bogotá or Santa Marta. We had breakfast at a local restaurant (as always scrambled eggs with the tipical Colombian bread, this time with rice as well and coffee). We walked around a bit until our walking tour started. There was a very nice square right next to our hotel, with many statues by Botero and some museums. The city was very vivid, a lot of sellers and shops on the street. We also discovered a huge mall, which looked very classy, half of the shops vere used as galleries, selling paintings, all the other shops were selling two things only: sneakers or branded clothing.
    We saw some brutalist administrative buildings with vertical gardens and huge memorials, that were quite impressive.

    During the walking tour we learned some more about the conflicts in Colombia and in Medellín, and we walked around an area full of theaters, murals and bars. At the end we went to the Memory House Museum, which aims to process the armed conflicts and violence of the country from the point of view of the different groups of victims.

    At night, we went for dinner, Oliver got a haircut at a barbershop, as we walked down a street where the shops were basically fighting for the customers. As we walked around after dinner, we kind of understood, what the reviews meant by the sketchy area. A lot of homeless people were around, some doing drugs on the street, and many sex workers on every corner. We had a beer and a shot of Aguardiente in a bar which was in the tunnels of the hotel.    Read more

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    Guatape - La piedra del Peñol

    September 25, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    From Medellín we took a bus for our day trip to Guatape, which is a small town next to a lake with a huge rock offering a beautiful view. We took the metro to the bus station in Medellín, which was super tidy and modern, and as it rides above the city, you also have a nice view on the buildings. At the bus station there were more than 40 different bus companies, taking you all over the country, but no information at all, from where and when and to where the buses leave. As we looked like lost tourists (which we actually were), two guys immediately showed us, which way to go to the ticket offices to Guatape. When we got there, the two bus companies were fighting for us and were shouting at us and showing with their hands to go to them.

    We first went to the rock, which was very touristic (this was the only place except Cartagena where we saw postcards), but as it is off-season now, it was not so crowded. We walked up like 600 stairs to enjoy the beautiful view from the top. It was quite impressive standing at the sole rock, surrounded by the lake and hills. After that, we took a tuk tuk to Guatape, which is a small village full of colourful houses and small streets. We walked around, had lunch and tried some very sweet pastry with coconut, and then we headed back to Medellín.

    We went to El Poblado, which is a quarter full of restaurants, pubs and hotels, which was recommended us by our guide at the walking tour for the nightlife. Some streets were closed for cars and were occupied by tables and chairs. Musicians were walking around waiting for someone to ask them to play something at their table. A lot of security and police were walking around, amd many signs about surveillance cameras. When we took the metro home, some policeman warned us that we should be careful at this time around our hotel, so it does seem to be a shady area, though nothing happened to us.    Read more

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    Medellín Day 3

    September 26, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Before leaving to Salento, we had a bit of time in Medellín. So we did the impossible: we found a post office after walking for an hour and going to three different places. For days we had been looking for stamps for the postcards (which were also quite hard to find), we asked the police, the souvenir shop where we bought them, random people in a copy shop, and they either didn't even understand what we were looking for, or they didn't know where to get them. The guide of the walking tour said, that they didn't really have a post, people didn't send letters to others. With our last money we bought the stamps, which the lady at the post office glued on the postcards one by one using her finger, so the poor lady behind us had to wait like 15 minutes until we were done.
    After that we went to a cultural centre, with some paintings and sculptures and then to a contemporary art museum in a beautiful building, full of Botero sculptures and paintings.
    Then we had a very long bus ride to Salento, which felt like ages, because it's super hilly and the traffic is terrible on the single lane roads.    Read more

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    Salento

    Sep 26–28, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    After the bus ride we were done, and we wanted to go to Valle de Cocora early in the morning, we just went to the hostel. Salento is supposed to be very touristic, and very safe, so we planned to go out on the next day.

    After the hike, in the evening we walked around Salento, which is a very cute town with a lot of hilly streets and colourful houses with many shops and pubs. We found a billiard pub, Cafe Danubio, where many elderly locals were drinking rum and playing billiard. It had a very nice atmosphere, with Colombian music playing, and football on TV. We discovered, that in the basement there were courts for tejo, a traditional Colombian game from prehispanic times. An old man from the bar explained us the rules and played the first round with us. You have to throw a metal disc to a box of clay, and in the middle there is a metal ring, with some paper filled with gunpowder, and the aim is to hit them, so they explode. It was harder than expected, we had a lot of fun, and we got clay all over us, as after throwing the disc, it always gets stuck in the clay, and it's very hard to get it out.
    On the way home we bought some snack, which looked like lángos (it was even 'served' with a white-red checked napkin), which turned out to be fried cooking bananas with cheese on it, super tasty.

    On the next day we went to a coffee farm where we got a tour of the coffee plantation, and an explanation of growing coffee. We tasted the raw coffee berries, tried some coffee and got soaked in the rain. The guide told us, how hard it was to be a worker there, as you have no insurance, you are paid based on the amount of coffee you harvest, and it's physically very demanding. He also explained us, that the good coffee all gets exported, and the locals only get the bad quality beans.

    After the tour we got our luggage and took a bus to our next stop, Neiva. For the ride we bought some pastry, we tried the donut with caramel and cheese inside, and chocolate on the top with sugar. Everything tastes better with cheese here 😋    Read more

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    Valle de Cocora

    September 27, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    From Salento we took a jeep (like in every place, it was full of pictures of Jesus and Maria) to the entrance of the valley, which is home to Colombia's national plant, ceran palm trees, which grow incredibly tall. We planned to do a hike in the rainforest, but it started raining quite heavily, so we looked for a shelter, where we drank coca tea to warm us, which we had been wanting to try since Bogotá. It was very cold, and we didn't have any jacket or raincoat, so we just waited and hoped for the weather to get better. We got quite lucky and we could continue our way after an hour as the rain almost stopped. The path was very muddy and steep, but it lead through a beautiful forest, with incredible trees, rocks and a valley with a river, which we crossed several times via suspension bridges. We also saw some hummingbirds and other colourful birds. At the end even the sun came out, and we were not freezing anymore.Read more

  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasTraveler

    Neiva

    Sep 28–29, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    We spent a night in Neiva, as it was the only possibility to get to our last destination, the Tatacoa desert.
    We asked the taxi driver, if Neiva was a nice city. He said yes, and when we asked for the sights he said there were none, but it was a nice and calm city, while he was speeding as hell and passing all the red lights.
    After having breakfast in the bakery beneath our hotel, where we could choose between eggs and rice, or fish soup or chicken breast, we went for a walk and we did find the sight of Neiva. A viewpoint next to the Magdalena river, with a Neiva sign.
    After noone could help us telling when the bus leaves to the desert, we just went to the bus station and asked some guys, who took us to a cashier, made us pay three times more than what the receipt said, and took us to a jeep. Even though it looked quite sketchy, it happened to be the official public transport to the desert, and after 2 hours of rain, hot wind and exhaust gas in our face we finally arrived to Tatacoa.    Read more

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    Tatacoa desert

    Sep 29–Oct 1, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    After chilling a bit in the hammocks ay our hostel and buying water, we rented bikes to go for a hike in the desert. Even the wind was hot, so we were quite dead once we arrived at the starting point if the trail. We first went for the Xilopalos trail, which led through a riverbed and a very narrow canyon. We than biked to the gray desert, where we walked around and saw some moon landscape amd crazy formations. At the end of the trail there was a swimming pool, where we cooled down and enjoyed the sunset.

    On the next day we went to the red desert, which had a 'labyrinth' of the formations, some crazy rocks, humming birds and cacti. After lunch we had a horse ride through the desert, and saw the sunset. Our 'guide' was a 13 years old boy (we didn't know about it, only when he showed up with three horses), who had learnt to ride a horse at the age of 3. He was born in the desert, and went to school in the nearest village. He showed his school on the map, and once he figured out that we had internet, he asked for YouTube and he put some Colombian music, and really enjoyed having internet.

    We were both quite done after the riding, and decided that it wasn't for us. Luckily the sky cleared by night and we went to an observatory, where we had an amazing starry sky. We saw the milky way, several constellations, and even Saturn and it's ring.

    On our last day we took a jeep to the nearest town, where we took a ferry over the Magdalena river. At the other side, a guy offered us to take us to the bus stop by motorcycle. As it was quite far away, we agreed. So the three of us (and 4 backpacks) sat on the motorbike and we drove over very shitty bridges and ramps, narrow paths, but eventually we arrived safely. It was one of the most adventurous rides we had in the whole country. The guy was super funny, he was trying to do some good marketing for his service, he showed us some pictures he made with other people, he even made videos with some funny effects, and asked us to send him our pictures from the ride.    Read more

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    Bogotá

    Oct 1–2, 2024 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    After 7 hours we arrived to Bogotá. The traffic was crazy, so we got to the city center after sunset, where we looked for a guy who was painting on Venezuelan money, to get a gift for two friends. We found the guy, who was a crazy artist, and probably high. We had a funny conversation trying to bargain. While he was painting our pictures, we had dinner (a last hot chocolate, corn, and basically everything were selling on the street, as we had to spend all of our Pesos. By the time he was done, the streets were already pretty empty, so we decided to go to a pub for a last beer. The whole painting thing didn't end up as we hoped for, as the guy messed up the pictures, and he was completely high, but it was also very funny trying to talk to him. In the pub there was a young couple celebrating a birthday, and they were dancing and singing at the table having the best time of their life, in the pub.

    On the next morning Oliver found himself a wife, a nice lady gave him a bottle of water in the small shop next to our hotel, as she didn't want to accept dollars. It was again a very funny conversation, she was one of the few people we met who spoke English.
    She was very surprised to see us, because the area we stayed at was not touristic at all. Then we had the longest drive possible to the airport, but at the end we were on time. The whole flying-to-the-US thing started off great, Oliver got checked for drugs.    Read more

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    Reunion
    Ocean's DriveOcean's DriveOcean's DriveAt the laundromatAfter the laundromatWhich car is the least damaged?New car ?Miami skyscrapersBirthday boyThe highlight for Marco and OliverWynwoodWynwoodOcean's DriveHolocaust MemorialWith mom's friendCalle OchoDiabetes ShopGated communityShow cooking at samuraiOf course the guys wanted to go to the German Bierhaus

    Miami

    Oct 2–6, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    After we had landed in Miami, we had to wait hours to get to the immigration. And of course, once we said we were unemployed and we were planning to stay for three months, the officer was not so happy about it, so we got a red paper in our passport and had to follow another officer to a police booth. Our names were called, the policemen asked if we were together, if I had kids, and how much money I had, I even had to show a statement, which showed an other address than my documents of course. It was not a nice experience, we were both quite sweating. After meeting Marco, we went for dinner at Calle Ocho, which is the main street of the Cuban quarter. Full of Central American restaurants, music everywhere, most of the people were speaking Spanish only. After dinner, we went to Ocean's Drive, where we went to a pub to celebrate Marco's birthday, and then ended up in a gay club.

    On the next day we went to a laundromat, where I was mistaken for an American, and the lady who was trying to help us was very surprised as I started to speak to her in Spanish. In the area everything was Central American, so we basically could buy all the things in the supermarket what we had seen in Columbia. The rest of the day was dedicated for looking for a car, we went to several dealerships, some of them more, some of them less sketchy. Before Marco's birthday dinner, we had a walk in Downtown Miami.

    On the third day we met a friend of my mother, who was super cute and invited us for lunch, and then showed us around at some interesting places Miami. She took us to a gated community, with huge mansions, luxurious cars and yachts. We drove around Wynwood, a quarter with many graffitis, Ocean's Drive and the Holocaust Memorial.

    Before heading to Key West, we went to the Everglades, and the friend of my mother invited us for dinner to a show cooking restaurant, where the food was amazing and made at our table, so Marco had another birthday dinner.    Read more

  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasTraveler
    Mangrove (without alligators)
    The old railway bridgePort of Key WestThe south end of Route 1Fortress with a viewJust a regular soda machine with 20 different soft drinksPlastic with plastic for breakfastCalm before the storm

    Key West

    Oct 6–7, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Our next stop was in Key West. We drove through the Keys, stopped at some state parks with nice view on the coast, drove past some impressive bridges in the water (which were converted to auto bridges from railway bridges as cars became more popular), and had a little walk on a trail, where we had to look out for crocodiles, alligators, mosquitoes and huge spiders. As it is hurricane season now, it was raining a lot the whole day, and we also have to consider the next hurricane approach Florida while making plans for the next days.

    In Key West we walked around the town, at the port, we visited a fortress, which was held by the unionists during the whole civil war.
    We also went to the southernmost point of the continental US. The weather was horrible, we got completely soaked. From the front the rain was hitting us, from the back the waves, my shoes were full with water.    Read more

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    Homestead

    Oct 7–8, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    After returning from the Keys, we were unsure about what to do, how far to drive, as we didn't know if the car would be ready, and the hotels were getting sold out or expensive, as the hurricane was getting closer.

    On the next day we had finally gotten the car and we were ready to go to escape the hurricane, but we realized that the car had a warning sign, and we had to wait hours to get the car fixed. We got pizza from the dealership, as we were waiting there the whole day. Finally we were set to go. We went to Walmart to get some food just in case. The store was quite empty, especially the aisle with water.    Read more

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    Saint Augustine

    October 9, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    As we had to get away from the hurricane, we had to skip the Kennedy space center (they also closed due to the weather), but we had a stop at Saint Augustine, with a nice fortress and a cute old town. The city was dead, no cars, everywhere sandbags at the door. We walked around the fortress in the rain, and then continued our way up to the north, as it was raining and everything was closed.Read more

  • Ancsa SzékelyAmericasTraveler

    Savannah

    October 9, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    We finally arrived to Savannah and left Florida and the hurricane behind us. We saw the sun for the first time in a long time, and we had a beautiful sunset. It was super nice walking around the town, especially without getting wet. Everything was calmer, we felt no tension like we did in the last few days.Read more

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