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Serena Abbott
Serena Abbott

Serena Abbott

traveled in 21 countries Read more
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  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Cuenca

    April 14, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Highlights:
    - We had a hotel for the first time in a while with a really comfy bed, and a hairdryer (!)
    - We managed to check in at 10am after our night bus which was so nice
    - We climbed a church tower for lovely views across the city
    - Having a drink and cake on a rooftop bar with views of the church roof and domes
    - Josh went to see a Mirador a little out of town and got a haircut after going without for a few weeks

    Lowlights:
    - We found a place online which had chicken pie on the menu so we both got massively excited, then arrived to find it had been taken off the menu - our biggest disappointment in a while!
    - Serena got really ill with altitude sickness again so had to book a cheap dorm bed for the afternoon whilst waiting for the night bus!

    Food and drinks:
    - Yummy American style brunch at a place full of expats!
    - Another great menu of the day, this one with soup, BBQ chicken, passion fruit mousse, and pineapple juice for £2.50    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
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    12

    Baños

    April 12, 2023 in Ecuador

    Highlights:
    - Really nice hostel that was incredibly cheap - we originally booked for 2 nights and extended another 2
    - A chill time with lots of cafe trips for hot chocolate and cakes
    - Visiting Casa de Arbol which was a little tacky but a lot of fun for an hour! It featured a few insta posing places, a small zip line, and best of all a massive swing. A worker offered to push us and we got more than we bargained for when he was leaping up with the swing to push it and spinning us around as we went!
    - White water rafting was terrifying (especially as 2 of our 7 fell out in the second rapid and it was chaos) but we had so much fun in the end and it was a very cheap place to try it out!
    - Relaxing in the thermal baths, including hot and very hot pools!
    - An easy bus ride and short hike to a stunning waterfall which made for a nice afternoon stop

    Lowlights:
    - We had a bit of a fiasco with bus tickets for the next place as it was supposed to take 7 hours but due to a landslide now took 10, so we changed our minds from a day bus to a night bus - all worked out in the end!

    Food and drinks:
    - The best chocolate cake we've had in a long time, paired with yummy hot chocolate!
    - More delicious and cheap 'menu of the days' - our favourite was soup with fried plantain ball to start, llangipocha (which is...) for main, an orange juice, and a square of something similar to pannacotta with pineapple for dessert (for the equivalent of £3 each)
    - We went for a proper Indian curry (twice...) - it was so nice and made us miss home!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
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    2211

    Galapagos animals

    April 9, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Animals we saw!

    - Mammals: Sea lions, whales, bottlenose dolphins
    - Birds: Galapagos penguin, blue footed booby, nasca booby, Darwin's finches, lava gull, flightless cormorant, vermilion flycatcher, mockingbirds, herons, pelicans, flamingoes, frigatebirds, oystercatcher, pintail ducks
    - Reptiles: Land iguanas, marine iguanas, lava lizards, giant tortoises, green sea turtles
    - Fish: Hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, white tipped reef shark, black tipped reef shark, pufferfish, seahorse, parrotfish, many other fish we don't know the names of!
    - Others: Sally Lightfoot crab, octopus, starfish

    PS photos are of all Galapagos    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
    111

    Galapagos cruise

    April 9, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 29 °C

    Get ready for the longest post yet...

    Highlights:
    - Really nice boat, crew, guide and other passengers - a real mix!
    - Watching the sun rise from the top deck almost every morning and feeling incredibly lucky
    - Walking along bachas beach with its white coral sand and seeing sea lions, crabs, iguanas, birds and turtle nests
    - Watching sharks from the back of the boat at night - big ones the first two nights and baby ones some other nights
    - Walking on mosquera island, a tiny island with more of the same animals, and also a scorpion and a whale skeleton
    - Swimming with sea lions again and seeing lots of colourful fish near mosquera snorkeling
    - Searching for land iguanas in the hopes of seeing one and ending up seeing about 13, including a baby!
    - Cruising through the sea and watching sunset whilst seeing birds dive for food
    - Getting up at 6am to catch the last hour of our sea crossing and seeing sea lions, turtles and birds, then being incredibly lucky and seeing 3 whales (1 orca very briefly, then 2 fin or sei whales) in the distance, then closer, then one swam right next to the boat feeding which was insane
    - Hiking at Tagus cove across different landscapes and seeing a lake, the ocean and lava fields
    - Snorkeling with penguins, flightless cormorants, turtles and fish
    - Cruising to Fernandina island and watching rays jumping out of the sea and turtles bobbing their heads up from the top deck
    - Walking at Espanoza point and seeing hundreds of marine iguanas (this was where the baby iguana vs snake scene was filmed!)
    - We also saw sea lions, lava lizards, and crabs, and many sea birds including an oyster catcher with eggs, and learnt about rope lava, lava cactus and mangroves
    - Walking on Isabela island and seeing giant tortoises plodding along, something we had hoped to see but weren't sure we would
    - Being interrupted at lunch by a huge pod of dolphins riding the waves at the front of the boat and jumping along for about 20 minutes
    - Going on two dinghy rides through the mangroves and seeing schools of golden rays, a spotted eagle ray, so many turtles, baby black tipped sharks, marine iguanas, as well as more penguins both swimming and on rocks
    - Snorkeling with more turtles and seeing our first ever seahorse and octopus!
    - Driving up into the hills of Isabela and seeing a different side to the Galapagos - farms of fruits, vegetables and animals
    - We hiked up Cierra Negra and saw a lava cauldron which was really cool and perfect weather, and also a Vermilion flycatcher!
    - Seeing the tortoises, from baby to adults, at the tortoise breeding centre
    - Walking into the town in Isabela island and seeing some pintail ducks and one lonely flamingo!
    - Walking across beautiful white coral beach on Floreana and seeing stingrays in the shallow water and turtle tracks from the nest to the sea
    - Seeing around 60 flamingoes in a lake, then watching blue footed booby pairs dance, fight, and give each other gifts of stones and sticks - like watching a documentary
    - The best snorkeling ever at Devil's Crown, where we saw so any different types of fish, some turtles, white tipped reef sharks, a stingray and spotted eagle ray, and 3 hammerhead sharks
    - Finishing the trip with a sunrise cruise around Daphne island where a study of Darwin's finches took place

    Lowlights:
    - Having to take a bus, boat, bus to the meeting point for the cruise at the airport then finding the people getting the flight would be an hour later than we were told to meet which was annoying
    - Leaving!

    Food and drinks:
    - Buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinner - all delicious and we ate as much as we could!
    - Snacks after morning excursion and afternoon excursion, and a different hot drink every day after snorkeling
    - We learnt how to make ceviche which was a fun experience

    PS photos are of all Galapagos    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Galapagos pre-cruise

    April 2, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Highlights:
    - Seeing so many sea lions, crabs and iguanas as soon as we got into the town on San Cristobal island by the seafront and feeling like we were in a nature documentary!
    - Seeing our first blue footed booby on the first day and not believing it was happening
    - Spending our second day walking along a trail and stopping at various points to snorkel - the visibility wasn't great to start but the last place was amazing and our first time swimming with sea lions, and our first turtle and shark spotted
    - A visit to the interpretation centre to learn about the history of the Galapagos islands
    - Diving at kicker rock was an incredible experience as we got to swim with hammerhead sharks, other sharks, sea lions, a school of rays, and massive schools of fish
    - Snorkeling with a marine iguana and watching it feed and swim using its tail like a fish, then snorkeling with a huge turtle, and blue footed boobies dive bombing right next to us
    - Swimming at Tortuga bay on Santa Cruz island and seeing baby reef sharks and stingrays in the shallows

    Lowlights:
    - Our first hotel had stray dogs in the next street marking their territory so we had to take the long way round to get places!

    Food and drinks:
    - Managed to find cheap lunches for when we were fending for ourselves in San Cristobal!

    PS photos are of all Galapagos!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
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    Cotopaxi

    March 28, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    Highlights:
    - Feeding the llamas! They loved banana skins and dandelions
    - We had a hot bath which was incredible
    - Sitting in the jacuzzi with views of Cotopaxi volcano
    - Very relaxing hostel stay with no WiFi, lot of reading and playing cards
    - We had a log burner in our room and we toasted marshmallows and kept cosy and warm
    - Hiking for a couple of hours to some nice waterfalls and some lovely scenery, although it was very muddy and we got wet feet walking in the river despite wearing wellies!

    Lowlights;
    - The altitude was a bit of a struggle again, but not too bad
    - We said goodbye for probably the last time to friends we met in November and met up with in lots of different countries

    Food and drinks:
    - We finally tried canelazo which is a hot drink made from a fruit similar to an orange, spices and rum - delicious!
    - Unlimited bananas and banana bread at the hostel (got to feed those llamas!), and hot chocolate too    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
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    Quito again

    March 26, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Another short stop in Quito, this time we managed to fit in some sightseeing! We went on a great free walking tour that ended with chocolate tasting, then went to the 'middle of the world' and stood on the equator lines and did some fun experiments like the water going down opposite ways. We booked a last minute Galapagos tour in the evening which is very exciting but also terrifying spending so much money! Hopefully it will be worth it, but first Cotopaxi.Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
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    The Ecuadorian Amazon - Animals!

    March 24, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Bonus post - animals we saw!
    - Insects: Tarantulas, scorpions, spiders, crickets, praying mantis, stick insect, butterflies including glass winged, leaf cutter ants, bullet ants, termites
    - Reptiles/amphibians: poison dart frog, smoky jungle frog, tree frog, toad, lizards, caiman, yellow spotted tortoise, whip tail snake, baby pit viper, other snakes we don't know the name of!
    - Birds: ospreys, hawks (including one attacking a monkey), ringed kingfisher, Amazon kingfisher, toucans, parrots, macaws, vultures, woodpeckers, stinky turkeys, and a few others
    - Mammals: river dolphins, red howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, saki monkeys, wooly monkeys, black tamarins, night monkeys, kinkajou, giant otters    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    The Ecuadorian Amazon

    March 24, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Highlights:
    - Seeing pink river dolphins multiple times (including on the journey to the lodge!)
    - The lodge was really nice (even if very rustic) and we both enjoyed being off grid and off our phones for 5 days
    - Going on 2 night walks and seeing so many insects and animals on each one - very scary though and Serena had to overcome her fear of moths!
    - Seeing the parrots at the clay lick - we waited 30 minutes for them to come down from the trees but it was worth it
    - We had 3 treks into the jungle, all different trails, and saw animals and learnt about loads of medicinal plants
    - We went in motor canoe a few times down different parts of the river, and paddle canoe once down a narrower part
    - We tried catching piranhas but with no luck, although Josh got a fish on his rod before it managed to escape once out of the water!
    - Paddle boarding on the lake was a great experience, although knowing there were caiman and electric eels in there made it a bit less relaxing!
    - Watching the sunset whilst seeing the dolphins, and went up on a sandbank with a beer with the group
    - We went in the motor canoe at night twice and used torches to scan for eyes in the water and in the trees which was really fun but again a bit spooky
    - We went on an extra trip out on paddle canoe at night and watched one of the local staff catch 3 fish using a spear which was an unforgettable experience
    - Hearing the 'marching' of soldier wasps once we shouted and made them think there was an attack
    - Watching sunrise from a tower built around a tree and seeing the canopy from above
    - Tracking wild pigs (peccories) and hearing them squeal and run away when we got close - unfortunately we only glimpsed the movement of the leaves and not the actual animals!
    - Having many pinch me moments including watching monkeys swing from trees as parrots flew overhead, and seeing the bright blue butterfly on the cover of journey to the river sea floating next to our canoe!

    Lowlights:
    - The overnight buses followed by 2 hours in a minivan and 3 hours on a boat were very tiring both ways!
    - We were scared to sleep the first night with all the bugs and sounds of the jungle, but luckily our sleep masks and ear plugs helped us

    Food and drinks:
    - All the food at the lodge was really nice and better than we expected
    - Breakfast was some kind of hot dish like eggs or empanadas with a side of fruit
    - Lunch and dinner were a soup followed by a main (different every day!), and at dinner we got dessert too
    - Every meal was served with some kind of local fruit juice, and there was unlimited hot chocolate too (although we could only have them really early or late due to the heat!)
    - We got a juice coming back from the late morning activity, and juice and snacks before the afternoon activity    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
    1

    Quito

    March 19, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    A quick stop here in Quito before our Amazon trip! We spent most of our time planning, doing laundry, packing, getting cash out, getting a local SIM etc. We did have a great view from our hostel though, some fantastic arepas and the best hot chocolate so far!Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Bogotá

    March 18, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Highlights:
    - Not a terrible night bus! We arrived a little sleepy, but we were able to have a shower straight away so could get on with our 1 full day in Bogotá
    - The gold museum was quite cool, lots of shiny things in cabinets!
    - Going to the Irish pub for St Patrick's day and meeting with Gabby (who is Irish) and Will for some green beers and a Bailey's for Serena!
    - The Botero museum was really good, and not too big so we didn't get bored!

    Lowlights:
    - It rained a lot which scuppered plans like a cycle tour and going up the mountain for views across the city
    - We spent a chunk of time shopping as we had to get some more clothes for the coming weeks

    Food and drinks:
    - Serena tried the famous Colombian combination of hot chocolate with cheese and an almojaban (maize dough ball) - it was nice but sticking to the pure hot chocolate from now!
    - Josh got a croissant with chicken and mushrooms from a french bakery which he loved, and we chatted to the french baker (in a mix of English, Spanish and French!) and he gave us a croissant for free
    - We ate a few buñuelos - these were sweet ones like donuts, filled with chocolate, caramel, and guava jam
    - Ajiaco - a chicken and potato soup which is a typical Colombian dish
    - Pan de bono - another Colombian food which is a bread roll made with yucca flour and cheese
    - Our final arepas - sad to be leaving them behind!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Medellin

    March 16, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    Highlights:
    - We experienced our first earthquake! Woke up at 4am to shaking, luckily no damage done
    - Really good tour of Comuna 13, which used to be a really dangerous place but now is safe and has graffiti, escalators and amazing views
    - Josh had a night out with a friend, which included a bar with a ballpit!
    - We went with a group of friends to watch the football, which had a great atmosphere but unfortunately ended 0-0!
    - We had a fun night out after the football with the group, and we were also joined by a couple people from our San Blas boat which was really nice. We went to a couple fun places and got back at 6am!
    - We did another good free walking tour around the city
    - Another night out with the some of the same group which was fun too, and thankfully not as late!
    - We went to the Memory Museum which was about the conflicts in Colombia which was really interesting but sombering at the same time
    - We visited the Minorista fruit market which was really busy and overwhelming but good to walk around!
    - We went to the botanical gardens which was really nice, and saw lots of iguanas and ducks, a strange combination
    - Met with a friend we met in Nicaragua for a drink just before we left to get our night bus

    Lowlights:
    - We had a bad time with the hostel which should have been really nice and the owner was lovely - the fridge broke, the water cut out on and off for 3 days, and our laundry was delayed due to the water outage. We cut our time short there and moved into a nice Airbnb instead - the first hot shower in 3 days was incredible!
    - We didn't suffer hangovers, but suffered severe lack of sleep so didn't get to do everything we wanted in the daytime
    - We spent too long at 2 different decathlon stores trying to prepare for the next part of our trip!

    Food and drinks:
    - Some great Mexican tacos
    - We cooked for a few times which made a nice change!
    - We tried buñuelos, which are fried maize balls with cheese inside - very unhealthy but delicious!
    - We got the last 2 empanadas from a place that was just closing - lucky us!
    - had really cool, long cyclindrical sushi rolls
    - We had our first fancy meal in a long time at the botanical gardens. Josh had bone marrow to start and steak for main, Serena had chicken bearnaise with passionfruit, and white choc mousse for dessert, also of course coconut lemonade    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Guatape

    March 14, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    Highlights:
    - Climbing the rock was fun - all 650+ steps of it!
    - Beautiful sunny views from the top (very lucky as it started raining as soon as we got down!)
    - A live band and dancing in the square
    - Wandering around the colourful streets - all buildings had paintings on them

    Food and drinks:
    - Finally trying bandeja paisa, a national dish of Colombia - it was absolutely massive and we should have shared one between us!
    - Serena tried mazamorra, which is a milky corn drink. It was not great but worth a try!
    - Josh had more luck with a Colombian craft beer - tres cordilleras    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Salento

    March 9, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Highlights:
    - Lovely family run hostel
    - Wandering around the colourful streets especially Calle Real (it's apparently the place that Disney's Encanto was based on)
    - Playing Tejo (a game where you throw a stone at some bits of paper with explosives inside stuck in clay)
    - Josh had a great time downhill mountain biking (despite falling off!) whilst Serena enjoyed a brunch and hot chocolate (and mostly peace and quiet from Josh!)
    - Hiking up to the Mirador and looking over the town and valley

    Lowlights:
    - It rained quite a bit, and Josh got very muddy on his bike tour, so our clothes and ourselves were quite soggy the whole time!

    Food and drinks:
    - We both had trout as it was the speciality there - Serena's was grilled with garlic, Josh's in a cheese sauce with garlic and mushrooms
    - Hot chocolate and chocolate fondue at Sueño de Fresas was delicious    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Cocora Valley

    March 8, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    Highlights:
    - Riding in a jeep called a Willy, and hanging off the back on the return journey!
    - Bumping into a friend who thankfully told us that we were going the wrong way right at the start of the walk
    - Beautiful views of the palm trees and a lovely 4 hour walk through forest and down a river
    - Sheltering from the rain at a farm and having hot chocolate

    Lowlights:
    - Rain again! And quite a muddy path so harder to walk    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Cali

    March 6, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    Highlights:
    - Free salsa classes at the hostel, and a private lesson too which was a lot of fun and we now have one move we can do!
    - Going out to La Topa and Malamaña and watching all the amazing dancers (even if it did make us feel overwhelmed!). Locals were really kind and helped teach us and dance with us!
    - Salsa show at the hostel (Serena missed most of it because she was in the shower, woops!)
    - Cabaret night at Teatro El Mulato was amazing, first a show with loads of Latin dancing and costumes (that started at midnight - Cali is a late night place!), and dancing after

    Lowlights:
    - The city wasnt that pretty so there wasn't much to look at or do during the day (although it was nice to just nap, play ping pong or swim in the pool!)

    Food and drinks:
    - Amazing meal at Criollan Lovers, including ribs and chips with homemade mayo
    - Three course lunch and glass of fresh juice at Nona's for £3 each (so good we went twice!)
    - Coconut lemonade ice cream - delicious!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Santa Marta again

    March 3, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Highlights:
    - Stayed at a hostel in a private room with 2 king beds and a TV with netflix. It even had 4 walls and no mosquito net which was a nice change from the previous week!
    - Serena had full reign of the snack shopping whilst Josh went for a haircut

    Lowlights:
    - Lots of jobs to do including laundry and repacking for our flight so didn't have much time to chill out and watch TV!

    Food and drinks:
    - Really nice lunch of Caesar salad and chicken stroganoff each, and we tried a mango lemonade which was nice (but still doesn't beat a coconut lemonade)    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Buritaca

    March 2, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Highlights:
    - Another nice hostel, this one by a river
    - Added another mode of transport to our list - Moto taxis! We got on one each for 5 minutes from the main road to the hostel, and the driver had our big bag rested on the front and we were on the back with our small bag - a scary but fun experience!
    - Fun party at Rio hostel with friends, followed the next by tubing down the river (sitting on rubber rings and drinking beer in a big group, very chilled! A dog joined in and stood on various people's rings for the journey which was pretty funny)

    Lowlights:
    - Serena kicked a rock whilst walking by the river for tubing, which resulted in a painful and purple toe!

    Food and drink:
    - Great food including free hot chocolate at breakfast!
    - A bakery which was open until 1am - highlights were banoffee pie, coffee chocolate cupcake, and chocolate mousse!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
    21

    Tayrona

    February 28, 2023 in Colombia

    Highlights:
    - The national park including the beach was beautiful, and the sea was so refreshing after the hike
    - Really nice hostel with another infinity pool and great food
    - Travelling with friends for a bit was really nice

    Lowlights:
    - The mosquito bites continued
    - A very hot and humid hike in the national park    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Minca

    February 26, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Highlights:
    - Early morning bird watching tour - we had a great time and saw so many different species of birds
    - We stayed at a beautiful hostel called Masaya Casa Viejas which took a 30 minute jeep up hill to get to
    - Relaxing in the slightly heated infinity pool
    - Hiking up to a sunset spot
    - Walking to the coffee farm down the hill (although we forgot to bring cash so couldn't buy a drink or snack!)

    Lowlights:
    - Dinner was an hour late each night, we were starving by the time it came!
    - We got bitten a lot by mosquitoes and other bugs

    Food and drinks:
    - Really nice Mexican restaurant in Minca centre
    - Hot chocolate and craft beer - you can guess who had what!
    - More Arepas - delicious and cheap as ever!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Santa Marta

    February 23, 2023 in Colombia

    Highlights:
    - Free breakfast at the hostel - always a highlight!
    - Meeting friends for lemonade and beer by the waterfront
    - Playing Uno and darts at the hostel

    Lowlights:
    - Santa Marta isn't that nice, just a place that is a stopover to rest and get to the next place!

    Food and drinks:
    - We had a really nice takeaway curry - tikka and massaman!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Barranquilla carnival

    February 21, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌬 29 °C

    Highlights:
    - Joining a 'dance circle' while live tambo music was being played
    - Joining a locals for a party in front of their house and being covered in flour!
    - Dancing at street parties and at an open air bar
    - Seeing the parades on the different days with all the different costumes and dancing
    - Wearing carnival clothes and fancy dress with our friends
    - Locals teaching us how to dance

    Lowlights:
    - Felt unsafe at points - we went to a dodgy area to buy second hand clothes for outfits and were told by locals to put our phones away (by the end of carnival we knew a lot of people who had their phones stolen)
    - Difficult to see the parade on the first day because there was so many people - luckily the other days we had good views
    - Lack of sleep!

    Food and drinks:
    - Salchipapas - more of the loaded fries, yum!
    - The hostel was also a pizzeria so lots of pizza was eaten!
    - Arepas with an egg inside and fried - so tasty but not healthy at all!
    - A really nice brunch with the whole group on the last day to finish the carnival    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Cartagena

    February 17, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌬 30 °C

    Highlights:
    - First stop in Colombia and we were very pleasantly surprised by how cheap food and drinks were!
    - Walking around the posh centre and looking at the historic buildings, plazas and walking along the sea walls during sunset
    - Bumping into our boat chef and him buying us beers and taking us up onto a rooftop of a building he using to live in - very cool!
    - Seeing a sloth and monkeys in the city center park - makes a change from pigeons!
    - Seeing graffiti in the Getsemani area
    - Drinks with friends at Cafe Trinidad, and at a cocktail bar where it was 50p a beer and two cocktails for £4, and watching the sunset
    - Bumping into people from the boat and from earlier in the trip - everyone was gathering in Cartagena before the carnival!
    - Chilling at the square in front of the church which was always lively and had great street food, our favourite being salchipapas (basically loaded fries!)

    Lowlights:
    - A not great walking tour which we bailed on halfway through

    Food and drinks:
    - Arepas stuffed with meat and cheese, delicious!
    - A not so traditional Colombian food snack of pizza cone for Josh, but a great treat and very cheap!
    - A 'fancy' meal by Colombian standards, but only £20 for a starter, two mains and a drink of the local fruit Corozo
    - Coconut lemonade - Serena's new favourite soft drink
    - Josh got a massive bread bun filled with garlic cheese sauce, mushrooms and shrimps
    - Getting menu of the day for really cheap which included a chicken soup and fish or meatball with rice, patacones and salad, and trying a new juice of tamarindo, for a grand total of £8    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
    111

    San Blas Sailboat

    February 13, 2023 in Panama ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    Highlights:
    - The whole trip!!
    - Swimming from the boat to the first tiny island and sitting in the sea chatting to everyone
    - Swimming back from the first tiny island and seeing dolphins in the water with us (Serena spotted the fin first and thought it was a shark for a second!)
    - Swimming to a second island and walking around, chilling out, floating back to the boat in the current, and Josh swimming back to play volleyball
    - Playing games in the evening with the other people on board
    - Sleeping really well despite being on a rocky boat
    - Seeing our friends who were on a different boat that set off a day after us and meeting up on an island
    - Playing volleyball with everyone
    - Birthday party on a boat - we did salsa lessons, had birthday cake, party blowers, and 'karaoke' and stayed up until 1am - a lot of fun!
    - Snorkeling through crystal blue water and seeing loads of different fish in the corals
    - Not being sick on the choppy ocean crossing days
    - Going around the group and saying highlights and lowlights - felt like an Abbott family holiday! Made me feel grateful for how everyone got along and it was a really nice group, especially when there was 14 of us
    - Sailing into Colombia was an incredible feeling - we made it through Central America in one piece and we were so excited to be starting our South America adventure

    Lowlights:
    - Getting soaked on the speedboat on the way to the sailboat and ruining my freshly washed hair
    - Serena being hungover after the birthday party!

    Food and drinks:
    - Lobster and risotto dinner - best lobster ever
    - Coconut rum and pineapple juice
    - Birthday cake!
    - Excellent cooking by chef Oscar    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Panama City

    February 8, 2023 in Panama ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Highlights:
    - Got our laundry done free at our hostel as they messed up our booking slightly, so saved at least £10!
    - We loved being in a big city again, our first since Mexico City
    - A successful shopping trip at the mall where we stocked up on clothes and essentials for our boat trip (including alcohol and lots of snacks!)
    - Seeing the Panama Canal - we didn't want to pay the ridiculous price for the viewing platform at Miraflores locks, so we went to the locks slightly further down and watched 3 huge boats go through the canal from a car park which was really cool
    - Walking around the old town, and then back to our hostel through a park by the ocean
    - Drinks on the rooftop bar 66 floors up the Marriott hotel with friends with views of the city - we splashed out and got a bottle of wine and some beers!

    Lowlights:
    - Being extremely tired from the overnight bus that got us into the city at 4am!
    - Wasting an hour and a half of our time at a terrible mall and supermarket, where we bought a grand total of 2 bananas!    Read more

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