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Serena and Josh's Travels
  • Serena Abbott
  • Josh Crew
Sep 2022 – Jun 2023

Serena and Josh's Travels

A 272-day adventure by Serena & Josh Read more
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  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Lake Atitlan

    December 11, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    Highlights:
    - Learning lots more Spanish!
    - Watching the sun rise from the Indian Nose hike
    - Seeing the main square, Christmas lights and basketball game with our host family
    - Playing cards with the girls in our family
    - Meeting friends from previous stops on the trip for drinks and catch ups
    - Seeing a Mayan ritual
    - Doing a cooking class making atole and tostadas at the Spanish school
    - Seeing a religious procession with our host family - more fireworks than I've seen or heard in my life combined!
    - Visiting other towns around the lake including San Juan and San Marcos

    Lowlights:
    - Spending a whole day travelling and being very tired meeting our host family!
    - Watching England lose in the world cup
    - Serena got slight altitude sickness on the Indian Nose hike    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Acatenango

    December 14, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Highlights:
    - Managing to make it to basecamp!
    - Seeing the explosions from the volcano
    - The views above the clouds at basecamp
    - Hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows on the fire
    - Pancakes for breakfast and the hike down to the end
    - Ordering McDonald's to the hotel after finishing and getting some much needed calories!

    Lowlights:
    - The whole hike up! We couldn't catch our breath the whole way up, it was so difficult and mentally draining!
    - Serena getting bad altitude sickness on the sunrise hike and having to go back to basecamp    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Antigua

    December 16, 2022 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Highlights:
    - Seeing Antigua FC football match at the stadium
    - Really nice hostel with a pool, and being able to have some chill time
    - Josh went for beers after the Acatenango hike with new friends (Serena stayed in bed recovering!!)
    - Wandering around Antigua streets and having a nice lunch
    - Sunset drinks with friends from Caye Caulker

    Lowlights:
    - Our shuttle leaving Antigua being 3 hours late, then taking 7 hours rather than 5!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Santa Ana

    December 19, 2022 in El Salvador ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Highlights:
    - Taking a chicken bus along the 'flower route' to see a small town that had a food market and meeting friends from earlier in our travels
    - Watching the world cup final at the hostel then watching the trophy celebrations in the centre on the big screen
    - Listening to bands playing Christmas music in the square

    Lowlights:
    - Not being able to hike the Santa Ana volcano - we couldn't do both the world cup and the hike, and Serena hadn't recovered yet from the Acatenango volcano!

    Food and drinks;
    - Savoury pies!! We had chicken and chicken and mushroom
    - Our first (of many) pupusas - stuffed tortillas, these were with cheese and beans
    - A plate of meat and a fresh pineapple juice at the food market
    - Horchata - this one was made with a type of ground seed called morro and tasted a bit like chestnuts - delicious!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    El Tunco

    December 23, 2022 in El Salvador ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Highlights:
    - The best sunsets of the trip so far on the beach
    - Having a surf lesson where we both managed to stand up a few times
    - Seeing whales breaching from the beach on the horizon
    - Randomly bumping into a friend from earlier in the trip and catching up over dinner

    Lowlights:
    - More expensive than where we've been so far, the budget is not looking good!

    Food and drinks:
    - We cheated and had some 'western' food - burgers and smoothie bowls, all yummy
    - More pupusas! All with cheese and a variety of flavours such as chicken, spinach, fish, shrimp, pork, beans. We also tried some sweet ones which were great - chocolate with banana or strawberries.
    - Lots of barbecued meat with rice and salad
    - Cheap beers!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Christmas Day in Utila

    December 25, 2022 in Honduras ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Feliz Navidad from Utila, Honduras!

    We arrived on Christmas Eve morning to Utila island and did a few jobs like checking into our diving school, then met with our friends for cocktails and a beach party.

    Christmas day started with a swim at the beach - the weather started cloudy but turned into beautiful blue skies and we spent the day having drinks, a cheeseboard, secret santa and games, then a meal overlooking the sea and more drinks! We had an amazing time but wish we could be in two places at once and miss our families and friends at home. Sending lots of love and Christmas wishes! 🎅♥️    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Utila

    January 2, 2023 in Honduras ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Highlights:
    - Completing our PADI open water diver qualification!
    - Hanging out with friends eating and playing games while the rain passed
    - Seeing cool things while diving including lots of tropical fish, an eel, a sea cucumber, a massive hermit crab
    - Winning the pub quiz and making some money instead of spending it for once!!
    - Going on floats at our dive centre to watch the sunset on New year's eve, then drinks with friends and watching fireworks from the beach
    - Chilling at the beach and hotel pool after completing our diving

    Lowlights:
    - It rained non-stop for 3 days!
    - Freezing doing diving sessions in the pool with the rain - Serena's lips went blue several times!

    Food and drink:
    - Baleadas, baleadas and more baleadas - cheap, filling and tasty (tortilla with beans, cheese and your choice of filling such as egg, meat, avocado)
    - A whole key lime pie from a bakery which we tucked into with a fork over a few days
    - Fresh fish and barbecued food
    - Cheap beers and cocktails!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
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    Leon

    January 6, 2023 in Nicaragua ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Highlights:
    - Volcano boarding at Cerro Negro - Josh went 29kph and Serena 35kph. Josh also forgot to put his protective goggles on so it's lucky he didn't go any faster!
    - Party bus on the way back from volcano boarding
    - Wandering around the streets of Leon
    - Playing beer pong at the hostel
    - Going up on the roof of the cathedral to watch the sunset

    Lowlights:
    - Spending ages trying to find an ATM that worked!
    - Too hot at over 30 degrees

    Food and drink:
    - Tasty chicken coconut curry
    - Free hostel breakfast (although we're getting a bit tired of scrambled egg with rice and beans!)
    - Some good smoothies and fresh juices
    - A 'fancy' dinner at Sua Mediterranean restaurant - lasagne for Josh and grilled chicken for Serena
    - Flor de Caña seltzers - very popular in Nicaragua!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Granada

    January 9, 2023 in Nicaragua ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Highlights:
    - Party in the jungle at Treehouse hostel
    - Seeing views of Granada and the park from the Cathedral bell tower
    - Walking down the pretty, colourful streets and down to the lake front
    - A chill day at Apoyo lake - a huge lake that has formed in the crater of a volcano. We chilled, played table tennis, went out on kayaks and played cards with friends we've travelled with from Leon

    Lowlights:
    - The journey to the jungle party was in a cattle truck standing in the back crammed with everyone going to the party from Granada - our most uncomfortable journey so far!
    - There's only so much rice and beans you can eat, and Nicaragua loves rice and beans!

    Food and drink:
    - Fresh lemonade at the Garden Café
    - Burgers from a food market which had fried plantain as the bread bun and pumpkin sauce - delicious!
    - Three free rum drinks at the hostel every night
    - Pancakes with banana and syrup for one breakfast at the hostel
    - Cooked a curry with friends from the hostel which made a nice change from eating out    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
    11

    Ometepe

    January 13, 2023 in Nicaragua ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Highlights:
    - Visiting El Pital - a place where they make chocolate and serve it in the cafe overlooking the lake
    - Chilling and playing monopoly deal at the hostel
    - Renting scooters for two days to see the island with Gabby and Will
    - Visiting Ojo de Agua, a place with pools to swim in in the jungle
    - Sunset kayak trip - kayaking through mangroves and seeing turtles and birds
    - Spending a few hours relaxing at Playa Mangos and swimming in the lake

    Lowlights:
    - Walking 30 minutes in the dark past barking guard and street dogs - never again!
    - Having to throw away snacks due to ants getting into them

    Food and drink:
    - Cacao smoothie bowls and iced chocolate at El Pital
    - Going to a curry restaurant 3 times - amazing food and a nice change!    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    San Juan del Sur

    January 21, 2023 in Nicaragua ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Highlights:
    - Staying at dreamsea surf camp and hanging out with the same people all week
    - Learning to surf (or at least stand up in the whitewash!)
    - Having yoga sessions with views of the top of the trees and the sounds of howler monkeys
    - Sunday Funday - a hostel 'pool' crawl which was fun and nice to bump into people we met before again
    - The perfect hangover cure of a 6:30am surf lesson
    - Watching the sunset from an infinity pool at another hostel
    - Sunset picnic on the beach with dreamsea
    - Seeing our first howler monkeys after many failed attempts!
    - Pool party at dreamsea
    - Getting some well needed haircuts!
    - Getting Josh's shoes fixed by a man in the park

    Lowlights:
    - The bumpy shuttles to the beach - could be painful!

    Food and drink:
    - Fish and chips similar to the UK
    - Breakfast and a three course dinner being included in our stay - luxury!
    - The best nachos we've ever had (pulled pork, Pico de Gallo, sour cream, avocado, cheese)
    - Incredible coconut mojitos    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
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    112

    Monteverde

    January 24, 2023 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Highlights:
    - An easier than expected crossing (4 buses rather than 5, and not too long at immigration!)
    - Monteverde cloud forest hike was beautiful - saw birds, a tarantula, insects, and a capuchin monkey (although sadly no sloth!)
    - Ziplining through the forest - expensive but worth it, especially with the superman zipline where you feel like you're flying, and the Tarzan swing at the end which was incredibly scary but so fun
    - Watching the sunset from a spot on the hill

    Lowlights:
    - Having to wait an hour to get into the cloud forest as it was at capacity - although we killed the time watching hummingbirds at the feeders and grabbing a snack so not all bad!

    Food and drink:
    - Having to cook dinners to save some money, but we enjoyed the pasta and veggies!
    - Eating lunch at Sodas, which are family run restaurants which offer cheaper meals - really nice food and very filling
    - Serena was craving horchata from Mexico and found a packet mix at the supermarket - not as good as the real thing but still great
    - Traditional cake called tamal which was made from corn flour and coconut    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    La Fortuna

    January 26, 2023 in Costa Rica

    Highlights:
    - A nice, easy travel morning which involved a mini van, a boat across the lake with views of Arenal volcano, and another mini van
    - Swimming in the river and watching the locals do flips and tricks from the rope swing
    - Chilling in the hot springs with candles and drinks - a perfect way to spend the evening (although a raccoon stole someone in our group's bananas at the end - spooky to see eyes appear in the dark!)
    - Serena enjoyed a rest/travel admin day while Josh went to a waterfall with friends

    Lowlights:
    - Serena still has hurt ribs from surfing (which were made worse by ziplining, oops!)

    Food and drink:
    - Delicious soda meal at Soda Viquez - both had casados which are the typical meal of meat or fish with rice, beans, plantain and a couple more random sides
    - Made a yummy stir fry in the best hostel kitchen so far
    - Tried guanabana and cas shakes which were both really nice    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels

    Puerto Viejo

    January 31, 2023 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Highlights:
    - Playa Negra - beautiful black sand beach
    - Having our own space in an Airbnb - our first one!
    - Cahuita national park was beautiful to walk through, free (which makes a change for Costa Rica), and we saw our first sloth! We also saw monkeys, spiders, and a raccoon.
    - Cycling to Playa Cocles and chilling out and swimming in the sea
    - Meeting friends for drinks a few times
    - Visiting the Jaguar Rescue Center and seeing rescued animals and and hearing about their work
    - Seeing 12 (!) sloths in one day, including one that walked across a path, and a mother and baby pair, as well as seeing
    howler monkeys, an iguana and a woodpecker

    Lowlights:
    - Renting bikes and Serena getting a puncture and Josh going over the handlebars (thankfully only cutting his leg!)

    Food and drink:
    - Carribbean chicken
    - Fancy brunch including chocolate cake to finish
    - Family dinner of moussaka at the hostel, cooked by a Greek man and it was delicious!
    - Pattys, which were a bit like Cornish pasties    Read more

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
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    Bocas del Toro

    February 5, 2023 in Panama ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Highlights:
    - Chilling at the hostel Aqua Lounge playing games, sunbathing and jumping into the sea
    - Watching the sunset with aperol spritzes and a live band playing
    - Staying in a nice hotel room with a balcony and sea view - luxury! We watched Netflix and had snacks in bed which made a nice change
    - Getting a boat to a floating bar in the ocean, having drinks with friends and swimming in the sea
    - Getting a private day boat trip with friends to dolphin bay, some islands (where we saw a sloth from the boat - Bocas del Toro is where the scene of the sloth swimming in Planet Earth 2 was filmed!), a snorkeling spot where we saw some cool fish, and finally Zapatilla island which was beautiful and where we had drinks and swam in the sea
    - Playing cards with new and old friends at a hostel for a few hours before going to a bar
    - Visiting starfish beach, where we saw lots of... Starfish! Really cool to snorkel and see lots of them, and a beautiful beach too

    Lowlights:
    - Seeing dolphins and dolphin bay didn't feel very nice as there were loads of boats around and half chasing them - wouldn't have gone had we known and we asked to leave there early!

    Food and drinks:
    - Coconut daiquiris at Aqua Lounge
    - Burgers from a shack - delicious and cheap!
    - We went to a street taco van 3 times - fish tacos were so good!
    - Breakfast of Arepas (stuffed corn dough tortillas) from a Colombian restaurant to give us a taste of what's to come!    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

  • Serena and Josh's Travels
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    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

    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

    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

    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

    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
    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

    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

    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

    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

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