A Month In La Paz, Mexico

by Faye Fitzgibbon
•
27 Oct, 2018
•

25th Sep - 22nd Oct 2018

Let me just start by saying – we LOVE La Paz.

And we almost didn’t come. We were so close to cancelling – like, really close. We weren’t sure what to expect and were hearing mixed things about Mexico in general…. and we didn’t want to go anywhere that may put the kids in any danger. Now, of course, we can’t believe we were so worried!

La Paz (meaning ‘Peace’) is a small seaside town on the eastern coast of the Baja California Sur peninsula. It’s not a place in Mexico that many westerners seem to have heard of. The Cabos, Cancun, Tulum, Puerto Vallarta, San Miguel de Allende…. All familiar, but not so La Paz.

We homed in on this town after doing some research on places in Mexico that should be visited more. We knew we didn’t want to stay somewhere that is primarily used as a holiday resort. We wanted somewhere more authentic, but still safe. La Paz seemed to offer both of these. However the closer we got to the date and the more we read, the more anxious we got!

For one thing, there is story after story of tourist drivers getting pulled over by police and ‘fined’ for made-up driving offenses. Then of course there is the War On Drugs which has battered the country for more than a decade. But there are ‘dodgy’ places everywhere in the world. And there are many beautiful places in Mexico. I read an article that said the Baja Caliornia Peninsual is as long as the west coast of the United States: not going to La Paz because of trouble in Tijuana in like not going to Portland, Oregon because of gang violence in LA. It would be a non-issue.

Ultimately, we knew we weren’t going to pull the pin without at least trying first.

Our first decision, then was how to get there. You cannot fly into La Paz from anywhere near Austin. It would have to be San Jose Cabo. We decided to get a transfer from there to La Paz with Eco Baja Tours, rather than hire a car as we have everywhere else. For a few reasons: 1) We weren’t yet sure if we would need a car in La Paz; 2) we hadn’t booked our onward itinerary and didn’t know how long we would need a car or where we would be dropping it off; and 3) afore-mentioned police stories and general road conditions between Cabo and La Paz.

The journey to our La Paz Airbnb could not have gone smoother. It was always going to be a long day: starting with an 8am flight from Austin to Dallas, then Dallas to San Jose Cabo and then the 3 hour bus journey. However, thanks to scoring a One World lounge pass from Cuz Dane our airport waits were cruisey. Our flights were on time and our progress through San Jose Cabo so smooth we were able to get on the bus leaving an hour earlier than planned, the driver of which then kindly dropping us off at the door of the house rather than the bus station. Everyone was lovely, no one harassed us and we felt completely safe.

Next it was time to see what our home for the next month looked like. We were not disappointed! The lady that met us, Ana, was lovely and showed us round. A huge living area, well equipped kitchen, two big bedrooms, a giant hammock, terrace with outdoor seating and the pool! Plenty of space to spread out, build cubby houses and get work done. She then laid out a map of the town and circled the best places for tacos, fresh bread, breakfast, supermarket, nice dinners, cheap dinners, ice cream…. You name it. Most importantly at that moment, it was 6pm, we were tired and hungry and there was a good restaurant 50m away on the corner. And that was our first experience of Mexico!

The next morning, as is the case when we arrive somewhere new late at night, we had nothing for breakfast. So given the children usually need feeding IMMDEIATELY our first priority became getting some breakfast, combined with a first look at the Malecon – the walkway running along side the seafront. Ana had recommended a place for breakfast, so we headed there.

It was closed. Something to do with electricity in the kitchen. With no back-up plan we continued our walk along the Malecon. It was soooooo quiet. We tried the Whale Museum – also closed permanently. It seemed like everywhere we looked confirmed our fears. A derelict hotel, old men staring at us, a gentle waft of sewers….. Isn’t it funny how the things you notice on the first day – when you are very much judging a book by its cover – fade away to insignificance within no time at all? Once we had got to know La Paz, we never noticed these things again! But on that first morning, feeling completely overwhelmed (and with incorrectly pre-conceived ideas), the bad stood out to us more than the good.

Slowly, as the days passed, we started to discover all that is lovely about La Paz. The first important step was realising we DID need car – at least for a week so we could get a bit more of a feel for the area. It was also so hot, walking more than 100m was almost impossible!

Our first Day Of Car was a great success. We headed to Playa Balandra for the afternoon, a beach about 40 minutes’ drive from La Paz. It is absolutely stunning! The area where Playa Balandra is situated is now a protected National Park – the local government realising its natural beauty and wanting to prevent development. There is literally a beach, a carpark and a temporary drink vendor, and that’s it. The sand is white and the sea is clear and warm. The entire horse-shoe bay gets no deeper than your waist and goes out for miles.

After a few hours here we headed back to the Malecon and picked out Tailhunter restaurant for dinner. Cevice and Poke washed down with a frozen mango margarita. Hotdogs for the kids. Everyone was in their happy place!

Another very useful piece of information that Ana provided us with was the number of her 18 year old daughter, Andrea. Andrea is a language student and was happy to babysit for us if we liked. We did like. For the first time in a loooong time, Mike and I had a Date Night. Not just one, but three! We went to Nim, Olivas and Agua Marino – all restaurants we were never going to attempt with our children. Nim was definitely the fave. A fusion of Mexican, Italian and Japanese food and so many delicious choices.

These evenings also allowed us to experience La Paz after dark – and what a different place it is! Every night the Malecon is heaving with people – locals and tourists (mainly Mexican tourists) – the playground Alex and Jimmy had to themselves in the heat of that first morning in La Paz is jam-packed with kids in the cool of the evening. Clearly, we were doing things all wrong! But dinners at home suits us and our budget, so we would save these later evenings for special occasions!

I also found a sort-of-kids-club in La Paz that we were able to enrol Jimmy and Alex in once a week for 2 hours at a time. The club had one English-speaking teacher, so the kids had to get comfortable with a lot of Spanish. As always, they embraced the idea with gusto and seemed to really enjoy the time there. They wouldn’t have realised or appreciated the kind of learning experience this was giving them, but we did. Plus it allowed Mike and I a couple of hours to work without interruption.

The rest of our time in La Paz was spent chilling out or visiting sites.

Rancho El Cajon was definitely a highlight- for good and bad reasons! The working ranch, about an hours’ drive north of La Paz, offers horse riding expeditions for 500 pesos per person. I contacted them on Facebook, liaising with someone called Kim who booked me in. When we arrived, however, there was no sign of Kim (who was in the US, I found out later) or anyone else that spoke English or knew of our booking. Just no phone reception, and two old Mexican amigos who were utterly perplexed by our arrival and our explanation in broken Spanish that we wanted to go horse riding but didn’t know how to ride a horse. Nevertheless, off they went to round up 4 horses, saddled them up, gave us a 2 minute lesson on what to do, and we were off. No helmets, no ropes to keep us together, just one old amigo leading us and our blind trust that he hadn’t given us a quad of Brumbies.

Thankfully, the couple of hours we spent walking through the Mexican bush with the mountains in the background and cacti all around went without much of a hitch, and it became one of those experiences we loved once it was over and we knew we hadn’t died. At one point Jimmy lost his reigns and they got caught up in the legs of his horse, that already happened to be the spriteliest of the four in the first place. Alex also lost her hat but that was (fairly) quickly recovered by our amigo. Mike and I would occasionally look at each other and just nervously laugh at the situations we get ourselves into. Definitely an experience we will never forget, and absolutely glad we did it.

On another day we visited El Serpentario, a small reptile rehabilitation centre. It was a small entrance fee and the kids loved being able to feed the turtles and budgies (the latter in a walk-in aviary, 3 or4 landing in our hands at any one time. So cute). They also had various snakes and lizards, the highlight being the rattle snake that didn’t stop rattling its tail at us. Very cool to see.

We took a day trip across the peninsula to Todos Santos to see how this compared. The Hotel California is in Todos Santos, though contrary to local legend, it is NOT the hotel described in the famous song. We quite liked Todos Santos, but after an incredibly expensive lunch we realised it was just a bit too touristy for us, and we preferred our La Paz. However, we did head south of Todos Santos to Cerritos Beach where we decided to book a hotel room for the night rather than head back that day.

Cerritos Beach is a popular surf beach, which was a fun change from the calm, shallow waters of the Sea of Cortez. It was also our first touch of the Pacific in nearly a year! It’s still a beach accessible only by dirt roads and it has very little in the way of buildings. A few small hotels and a couple of bars and that’s about it. And it’s wonderful for it!

We found a surfboard vendor (well, he found us) and got set up with a boogie board, surfboard, shade and two chairs for not very much at all. And then we enjoyed the waves! That evening we headed to Shakkas for dinner (recommended by a lady I met at the beach) and managed to somehow gate-crash a 50th birthday party that had taken over the whole restaurant! We shared a table with some lovely folk from California who also shared the platters of food that were going round for the guests. Jimmy entertained everyone with his card tricks and we had a very lovely evening! In fact my evening was a bit too lovely after a shot of tequila and two margaritas, and I woke up the next day feeling utterly dire. I dragged my hungover arse out of bed and discovered a good pummelling from the surf is an excellent hangover cure.

And last but not least, was our whale shark day trip! The whale shark season in La Paz runs from about October to May, and it’s actually possible to swim with them once they are in the right part of the bay. They actually come incredibly close to the shore, much closer than I expected. Unfortunately for us, this year they were taking their own sweet time about getting to said area. So we waited and waited for confirmation they were in the right spot, and by our third-last day we had to accept the swimming experience wasn’t going to happen. We would still hopefully see them from the boat though. So on our second-last day in La Paz we booked in a private day-trip through a contact of Mike’s tennis coach (did I mention Mike took tennis lessons while we were in La Paz?!).

Our guide, Leo, was awesome! A freelance guide and marine biologist (and Mexican Bradley Cooper lookalike, it must be tough for Leo), he had so much passion for the animals and conservation. He was amazing with the kids, speaking at their level and really getting them involved. We managed to spot two whale sharks, one in the vertical feeding position which is quite rare, according to Leo. After a magical hour of searching and viewing, it was time to head out to open sea to the sealion colony off the northern tip of Isla Espirito Santo.

It was a rough ride! The wind was up and the waves were big, Too big for Jims who was anxious the whole way, bless him. I was slightly anxious myself but looked to Leo and Mike who both seemed totally calm so I tried to chill out and not give away my emotions to the kids!

When we finally made it to the sea lions an hour later, it was well worth the ride! These sea lions are extremely placid and used to humans, so it’s possible to jump in and swim around them! We watched them diving down for fish, playing and basking in the sun. We saw huge schools of sardines and parrot fish and many others I can’t remember the name of. It was an amazing experience!

We then stopped for lunch at a secluded beach on the island (delicious tuna ceviche) before heading in the direction of La Paz via another cool snorkelling spot that Leo guided us around. On the way back across the bay, we spotted our final wish-list animal – a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins! Our captain Freddie expertly drove around the pod and they jumped on the stern and swam around with us playfully for a good 15 minutes. Magical. All in all, and excellent day out, thanks in most part to the lovely Leo.

By the time we came to our last day in La Paz, I had a real feeling of sadness in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t put my finger on why – I still can’t. I think perhaps in part it was guilt at ever judging this place so harshly before we got here. La Paz brought us nothing but incredible experiences and wonderful people. I am so pleased we chose this spot, as opposed to other more well-known Mexican sea-side resorts. I feel our family experienced a unique, Mexican lifestyle, and will hold our La Paz memories dearly in our hearts.

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Show me the way to Tamarindo!

by Faye Fitzgibbon • 3 December 2018

We arrived in Tanarindo on Halloween, a day Jimmy and Alex had been counting down to since, well, last Halloween. I had an Airbnb booked for our 12 days there, and she was really helpful leading up tour arrival, advising of the Halloween festivities happening in the area. We had the superhero outfits recycled from the Austin Casa Superhero race, plus I had a little palette of face paint, so we were all set.

Driving into Tamarindo was exhilarating – we hadn’t seen so many tourists in a long time! Probably since Bali in fact. The sleepy surfer town has changed a lot in the twenty years since I was last here as a backpacker with a couple of girlfriends. The main street is jam-packed with shops and restaurants – many selling the same stuff on repeat. Behind the beach-side buildings is a buffer of palm trees before the dark sandy beach stretches out and around the bay for 1.5 km from the southern point to the estuary.

Our apartment was set back from the main drag, in a complex on a dusty dirt road. It felt a little in-the-middle-of-nowhere when we arrived, but we soon appreciated the distance from the craziness, and thanks to a cut-through it was actually only a 10 minute walk to the beach and the 'Circle' (the main square).

After unloading all our gear, we got the kids into their Halloween face-paint and fancy dress and wandered down to the Circle at sunset for the Tamarindo ‘Trunk or Treat’. It was so busy! And so much fun. Loads of locals had parked their cars around the edge of the Circle, and decorated their open ‘trunks’ with spooky paraphernalia. There were lollies galore. There was even one van parked in the centre with a ‘dead body’ in it – as kids walked through the van from the back to the side door, the ‘dead body’ would jump up at them! It properly scared J & A – brilliant idea! (and probably something that would be banned in Aus!).

After about half an hour of navigating the chaos, we retreated to the serenity of a nearby restaurant, Nogui’s, where we had a really good meal and a bottle of wine. All in all, a great first day in Tamarindo!

The rest of our 11 days was spent doing various combinations of school work and Poss-e work and visiting the beach. Day Two was grocery shopping and getting-our-bearings day.

On day three, we went down to the north end of the beach near Witches Rock and hired a surf board from Kelly’s. I initially had no intention of surfing again, having really not enjoyed the experience in Portugal (freezing water, dumpy waves, and no hope of standing up), but the conditions in Tamarindo were so different, I forced myself to have a go. I’m so glad I did! Mike went out first and confirmed the conditions were excellent: wave after wave with just enough power, some green and some white – something for everyone basically. I had the bug again and we hired boards several more times during the course of our stay. I never got as far out as Mike, who was taking on the bigger green waves by the end, but I was consistently standing up and riding some baby waves which was a million percent better than I was when I arrived!

We had bought two inflatable boogie-boards for Jimmy and Alex when we were in Mexico, and they justified their value (and all the lugging about) ten-fold during our Tamarindo stint! The kids were like little turtles diving in and out the waves near the shore, they absolutely LOVED playing in the waves. Either catching waves on their blow-up boards (and requiring a score out of 10 for each ‘ride’) or diving under and somersaulting in the shallows. It again reiterated just how much we all love the beach. Even on the days we announced we were off to the beach and there came a response of “oh no, I don’t want to go to the beach”, they always loved it once they were down there. And I mean loved it.

In our second week, we got in touch with an Aussie family living half an hour away from Tamarindo in Porto Protrero. Our mutual friend in Sydney, Jody, put us in touch. Rachel and Gary and their two girls Ruby and Amalia, sold up their lived in Sydney and went travelling around Central America three years ago, settling in Costa Rica two years ago. The girls are practically bilingual and go to a local school and Rachel and Gary own a CrossFit box and are about to start building their dream home by the ocean. What a life! It was fascinating listening to them talk about their lives before and their lives now, what works and what doesn’t. Ultimately, it’s the lack of stress and pressure in their lives now that has made them happy, and the time they get to spend with each other. This is exactly what we hope to achieve when we get back to Sydney. And if we can’t, then we will find somewhere we can.

Basically, we all fell in love with Tamarindo. Yes, it’s touristy (if ever we mentioned we were heading to Tamarindo to other travellers, we could sense the internal eye-roll) and many hard-core travellers avoid it like the plague, suggesting instead the smaller resorts along the same coast, or Manuel Antonio. But there’s a reason Tamarindo is so popular – the beach is wonderful. And ‘busy’ and ‘touristy’ are relative concepts: compared to Seminyak or Kuta in Bali, or Phuket or Cancun, Tamarindo is practically sleepy. Not only that, but the Costa Ricans have successfully maintained a connection to nature by not allowing development directly on the beach. Instead, a layer of palm trees and bush separates the main drag from the long stretch of sand, and the highest building is only 6 levels and it’s the only one – everything else is no more than 3 levels. Amongst the palms along the beach are nestled many different bars and restaurants, but they are so subtly placed that they are barely noticeable from the beach. And the beach is CLEAN! Unlike (unfortunately) the surf beaches of Bali.

I imagine in December (high season) it’s possibly hideous. One guy I chatted to in the water -an American who moved to Tamarindo a year ago – said you can hardly move in the surf in December. Apparently it can take up to an hour just to drive down the main street. So perhaps I might have a different view if we had experienced it like that. Luckily for us, we took a risk going in shoulder season between the wet and dry seasons. It could easily have rained every single day. But it didn’t and we enjoyed blue skies for ten out of the 12 days we were there, and only a medium level of busy-ness.

Tamarindo is also incredibly expensive when it comes to groceries. I guess the longer you live there, the more you seek out the local markets – and the stuff that’s expensive is the stuff that’s imported, or processed. It forced us to only buy fresh and cook from scratch so it’s probably not a bad thing! I also gave up trying to find wrapping paper and a way to post something to Mexico! But these are minor inconveniences in the long run, and I genuinely allowed myself to imagine what it would be like to live there. Especially while sitting in a beach-side bar, watching another magnificent sunset while the kids splashed in the sea, sipping my second happy-hour GnT!

La Fortuna, Costa Rica

by Faye Fitzgibbon • 25 November 2018

When we were planning this trip, we always had Mexico and Buenos Aires on the itinerary. But the closer we got to that part of the trip, the more we realised we would be crazy to not take in a little more of Central America. We considered Belize, Panama, Nicaragua, but in the end we settled on Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is by far the most tourist-friendly of the Central American countries, which has its pros and cons -it’s easier to get around, more English speaking, safer, but it’s more expensive. To be honest, we were happy with this trade-off. Costa Rica was our last opportunity for some beach/surf time for a while.

We wanted to visit the cloud forests and a beach resort. Monte Verde is the most popular cloud forest destination but, having visited it in my early twenties, I was keen to try somewhere else. The road to Monte Verde isn’t the best and it’s a very busy place now. La Fortuna, and the Arenal volcano, were recommended as just as good but with less crowds.

For our beach time, we chose Tamarindo. Various other beaches were recommended to us – Manuel Antonio being the favourite- because Tamarindo IS very touristy. But, again, we decided we actually quite liked the idea of being in the thick of it for a while. Manual Antonio also had far less accommodation options in our budget.

One other piece of advice we were given about Costa Rica involved driving: never leave anything in your car and never drive at night. We stuck to the first piece of advice religiously throughout our 2 weeks, but failed miserably at the first hurdle on the second. Our flight from Mexico City landed a little delayed, at about 4pm. Then we had luggage carousel issues (culminating in me climbing onto the carousel to retrieve our final, stuck bag), then we had to get to the car hire office, a short drive from the airport. By the time we had signed all the waivers and got ourselves organised, it was 5pm and getting dark fast. In Costa Rica, it’s dark at 6pm (having done no research we were not aware of this), meaning 2 of the 2.5 hour drive were in dusk or darkness.

The drive to La Fortuna was dire. Most of the journey was through cloud forests, which at night are shrouded in mist. The roads are also incredibly bendy and have no street lighting at all – just the little cat’s eyes to mark the edge of the road so as not to go hurtling down a precipice. Wherever possible, we followed the tail lights of the car in front. And if that care turned off, we hoped for the next one. It was the tensest few hours we have experienced in a while! As usual, the kids were oblivious, and we tried our best not to take our stress out on them.

Owing to the fact I am writing this blog, it’s clear we made it in one piece. We cleared out the car into our apartment, just south of the river in La Fortuna town, walked into town for a quick dinner, and then collapsed into bed after another long day of travel.

We had two full days in La Fortuna, planned out as follows: day 1, morning chill out/school work, after noon Hot Springs; Day 2 morning tour of the Mistico Hanging Bridges, afternoon walk to the Fortuna Waterfall. This, we felt, was a good balance of general admin, seeing stuff and not biting off more than we could chew.

We selected the Los Lagos hot springs on recommendation from our Airbnb host as they have various water slides and therefore attract the family crowd – always good knowing the noise our two make. It was very cool (pardon the pun)! Numerous pools of varying temperatures, the coolest and largest having the fastest waterslide with a 1.5m drop into the water at the end. So. Much. Fun. There was also a 40 degree pool that had a swim-up bar, and it was here that we got chatting to a lovely couple from Arizona, Angela and Kevin, who were there with their two boys Lucas and Tyler (8 and 9 years old). And that was the last we saw of the kids for the next 2 hours! After heading to the pools with an expectation of being there for an hour, maybe one and a half, we were still sitting at the pool bar sipping mai-tais as the sun was setting. The kids had some solid play time with like-minded humans, and us adults did too. We arranged to meet for dinner that evening to continue the socialising

The following morning we headed out to Mistico Hanging Bridges, a privately owned estate where it’s possible to walk through, and experience, the Costa Rican cloud forest through a series of suspension bridges and paths. I booked this through our Airbnb host who is also a tour operator and, unbeknown-st to me, I had arranged for us to have a guide rather than just walking around on our own.

An error definitely worth making! I don’t know why but Mike and I are always a bit cynical of hiring guides. This minor oversight by me forced our hand and there is no way we would have had anything like the same experience without the knowledgeable Anderson! Equipped with his monocular, he spotted all sorts of animals we hadn’t a hope of finding on our own: huge Blue Morpho Butterflies, humming birds, tarantulas, treefrogs, howler monkeys and leaf cutter ants. But by far the best spot was an eyelash pit viper in the process of gobbling up a still-moving blue-tail lizard, just its hind legs and tail visible hanging out its mouth. This thing was so camouflaged that, even with the five of us standing watching it, other groups without a guide looked in its general direction, saw nothing and walked on!

It was a fantastic few hours, with minimal whinging from the children! There were enough cool bridges and animals to keep both of them amused for 90% of the walk round. And at the end, the view of the Arenal Volcano was the best we had seen in 48 hours. I think the top third is covered with cloud for most of the time, but two-thirds was still a lot more than we had been able to see from the alternative angle at La Fortuna.

It was however, probably enough walking for one day so we decided the hike down to the waterfall and back up again was probably going to be pushing our luck with Jimmy and Alex. The other big attraction in the cloud forests is zip-lining, but I had been told Alex, at five, was too young so we had written the idea off. We knew she would love it, and be devastated if Jimmy had gone off to do it without her. Fortunately for us, at the end of the Hanging Bridges tour we got chatting to a young family that had just done a zip-lining tour with their 5 year old! After that, any chance the waterfall had of enticing the kids was shot – it was zip-lining or nothing!

Having done something similar in Monte Verde, I opted to stay home for this activity and let Mike take the kids and the GoPro. Needless to say, they had an absolute ball. Alex screamed “Adios Amigos!” every time she began her ascent, with some classic videography as a result. And on top of that, they saw more native animals – a sloth and toucan. Icing on the cake! Two thumbs up and definitely a must-do.

That evening, we again met up with our Arizona buddies and had another great meal where Mike and I got to have Uninterrupted Adult Conversation for a solid two hours before wiping the kids off the ceiling and heading home.

Overall, our Costa Rican Cloud Forest experience was exactly as we had hoped. We got to see a volcano, heaps of animals, magnificent scenery and some awesome hot springs. La Fortuna itself is nothing amazing – it’s not particularly pretty or historical – but it’s a practical spot for exploring the area, and some people love it so I guess it just comes down to personal preference. We were very happy we decided to do take the days to explore this area of CR – the hideous night drive was worth it in the end!

24 hours in Mexico City

by Faye Fitzgibbon • 29 October 2018

I’m not sure our experience of Mexico City really did the place justice.

The timing of our flight out of Mexico to Costa Rica meant that we were going to have to leave SMdA the day before and spend a night in Mexico City. I had a search online and quickly realised airport hotels in Mexico City are extremely expensive! We were either going to have to pay over $400 for one of the known chain hotels, or $150 for a hostel about 1km from the airport. Of course, I chose the hostel- it’s one night, for goodness sake. And anyway, it got really good reviews.

When we arrived back in to Mexico Norte, the first thing we had to do was grab a taxi to the hostel. Again, we pre-paid at a booth but this time headed out to the generic taxi queue. We got the grumpiest, most useless taxi driver in all of Mexico City. He had absolutely no idea where the hostel was, but also seemed determined not to allow us to guide him using our GPS. With barely a word to us, he stopped at a petrol station where he engaged in some friendly banter with the attendant before asking if he knew where the hostel was. His friendliness then vanished abruptly when it cam to dealing with us again. We drove in the general direction of the airport and then, within 5 minutes of the hostel, he pulled over again to ask another taxi driver. Mike, in the front, offered him his Google Maps directions but still he was not interested. So we drove around again until finally he realised Mike’s frustration and let him point him the rest of the way.

I’m assuming, like many big cities in the world, the airport probably isn’t adjacent to the most affluent area. So all we saw for the journey was graffiti, run down buildings, rubbish and flyovers. As we got closer to the hostel, this also included locals glaring in the windows of our taxi with a look on their face that read “What the hell are you doing in this part of town?”.

Finally, we arrived at a tumbledown building with a big garage door and the number 33 written on it. Was this really it? A quick duck of my head inside confirmed it was so we all unfolded ourselves from the taxi and said good riddance to our miserable old amigo!

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what we found was not it! A patched-together network of rooms set around and above a sort of central two-level courtyard. I’m pretty sure Alex has built more practical and structurally sound houses with her Duplo. Our family room was actually a 6-bed dorm room that we had booked for our private use, which was itself next to a jungle of pot plants, a rubbish bin and a half-finished shower area. We also seemed to be the only ‘guests’. We had to laugh. I kind of approached it like it was an adventure, and an experience – properly back to our backpacking days, and how many travelling families live all the time. The kids were oblivious to everything and just wanted to play on the mezzanine-level bed in the room. Mike was convinced we were going to die.

It was 3:30pm. We couldn’t stay in the room all day, so we decided to go for a walk while it was still light. The lovely lady in the ‘reception’ (who I assume is the owner, though we had barely a conversation due to my inadequate Spanish) gave us a little hand-drawn map indicating a recommended place to eat, and off we went. I’m pretty sure we were in the ghettos. On the way to the eatery we came across a children’s playground, next to a basketball court, patrolled by two police officers. You know you’re not in the best part of town when there are police officers permanently dispatched to a kid’s playground. Somewhere close by, somebody was letting off firecrackers intermittently. At least we think they were firecrackers. The policemen didn’t move so we assumed it was ok. Again, Jimmy and Alex were oblivious.

Three local kids were hanging out at the playground too, and proceeded to follow Jimmy and Alex around with fascination. Jims and Alex found this a little weird so in the end I jumped in and asked their names and ages (Naomi,10, Joshua, 9, and Hillary, 6). Once we tried to speak to them in Spanish they were delighted, and played a giggly game of tip for a while before it was time to grab something to eat.

We popped across the road for a quesadilla and then wandered back to the ’hostel’ where we did a little bit of school work, ordered a pizza and set the kids up watching the old-school ‘Herbie’ on Mike’s laptop. In the end, our room was pretty cosy – our single beds were comfy and we were all warm enough. There was a bit of noise but not enough to keep us all awake, and to be honest after a month listening to the nightly call of the Mexico Barking Dog Choir, we were kind of immune away.

The next morning we headed down for an early breakfast – the owner made us eggs and there was cereal, coffee toast. As we sat at the small communal dining table, more and more guests emerged from rooms we hadn’t even realised were there. This place was like a tardis!

I ordered us an Uber and we got our second Clueless Grumpy Old Mexican man for our trip to the airport. He drove us straight past Terminal 1, where we told him we were going (and where I stated on the Uber request) and added another 10 minutes to our drive before dropping us off at the opposite end of the terminal to where we needed to be. After schlepping the length of the check in area, we were finally rid of our bags and through security.

In some ways, it was kind of appropriate to end our Mexico trip this way – I think I would have felt a bit ripped off if we had only had pleasant, stress-free experiences! I think, though, I won’t regret not spending more time in Mexico City…

San Miguel de Allende

by Faye Fitzgibbon • 29 October 2018

When we arrived in La Paz, Mexico, we had no onward flight booked and no fixed itinerary until Lima 7 weeks later. Our accommodation in La Paz was booked for a month, but we knew that if we liked Mexico, we should see more on the country than the one spot, before flying on to Costa Rica, then Peru.

We looked at Tulum, Oaxaca, Puerto Vallarta, but in the end decided on San Miguel de Allende. We cut our La Paz month short by a few days and booked ourselves 5 days there followed by our fight out of Mexico City to Rica.

It was a long day getting to SMdA. An earlyish flight to Mexico City, followed by a taxi to Mexico Norte bus station, followed by a 4 and a half hour bus journey and then a short taxi to the house. We were up at 6 and walked through the door in SMdA at 8:15pm. I researched this process, so knew to pre-pay for a taxi at the airport, and I had booked our return bus tickets online with Primera Plus. The flight was delayed by over an hour, but fortunately we still had a big enough gap to get to the bus on time. The Primera Plus buses have big, wide, reclining seats with loads of leg room, TV (in Spanish, though this didn’t stop the kids!), complementary snacks and toilets! It was a long journey, but it was straight-forward enough.

Our house is SMdA was up the cobbled streets on the hill to the east of the central district- and with three levels, it gave us a fabulous view across the rooftops to the steeples of the Parroquia and the Convent and the twinkly lights of the town. Yet again, we had chosen a great property – homely and authentic, but as a house belonging to an American lady and her two children, it had an excellent supply of Englishness in the music, books and toys we had at our disposal. Jimmy and Alex were in heaven and barely touched their devices for the five days we were there.

We planned our four full days out as follows: Day One, out for breakfast and explore, afternoon at home; Day Two, morning at home, afternoon walking through the markets, the Toy Museum and further exploring; Day Three, La Gruta hot springs in the morning and an art lesson for Jimmy and Alex at Hiru in Fabrica Aurora in the afternoon; Day Four, morning at home, another art lesson and a final explore to experience the town on a Friday night.

For us, simply wandering the streets and experiencing the life in SMdA was what we wanted to do most. It is such a beautiful old colonial town! By the end of our stay, Mike declared it a place he could definitely live for a year – there are a lot of expats here (our host for one, and her friend Paul who met us at the house, who along with his wife and kids made the move to SMdA after doing their own ‘year out’ and realising they couldn’t settle back in the US) so it would be easy to find a network, a school, etc. It also has a great gastronomy scene – too many rooftop bars and restaurants for us to try in our short time – so there would be no shortage of options for a night out!

We still had work and home-schooling commitments while we were in SMdA, so we did have to spend three half-days focusing on this – I home-schooled while Mike worked. This wasn’t too bad though, as a full day out every day for a five and seven year old is a bit much anyway. By having this home-time, we got more out of our away time.

My favourite day, however, was probably the day we didn’t stay home! A visit to at least one hot springs was a consistent recommendation, so we chose La Gruta, about 20 minutes out of town. Going on a random week day morning was a great accidental idea as we almost had the place to ourselves, meaning not so much paranoia about how much our children were disturbing the peace and tranquillity. The pools were lovely and warm on a sunny autumn day and afterwards we had lunch at the café. In the afternoon we headed to Fabrica Aurora, a converted mill just on the northern edge of the centre of town. It is packed full of lovely galleries and studios, as well as a couple of cafes. Hiru Art Studio is run by a lovely couple Carmen and Miguel, who run classes for adults and children. Our host, Tracey, suggested it to us as a great experience for the kids as well as an opportunity for us to get 2 hours to ourselves.

As always, Jimmy and Alex completely embraced the opportunity, happily settling in to the studio and waving goodbye to us. I read an article just yesterday about travelling with young children and that how, more than anything, it teaches children resilience and flexibility. This is so true of Jimmy and Alex. They utterly loved the chance to flex their art skills and couldn’t wait to do it again the next day – which was fine with us as I had a Personal Admin backlog and Mike has a lot going on with Poss-e.

After Fabrica Aurora we headed back into town to Quince, touted as one of the nicest restaurants in SMdA. This was clearly going to be our “Budget, what budget?” day! The rooftop terrace has an amazing view of the Parroquia and after sharing our second bottle of wine of the day, Mike and I were feeling very content with our SMdA experience, and life in general.

An important learning experience for the kids that evening was witnessing people begging on the streets. Alex noticed a lady cradling her baby on the kerbside, and asked me to lend her some money as she wanted to give the lady some of her own money to help feed the baby. I was so touched by this. It surprises me that neither kids have noticed people begging before- they are everywhere in the world, unfortunately. It seemed like now was the time for them to start to appreciate how lucky we are, but also that we can make a difference, however big or small, to another person’s life. They both got quite upset, Jimmy in particular, but I think that’s important as it means they won’t forget. That kid has a huge amount of empathy for a seven year old boy.

The Toy Museum in SMdA is a little odd, but the admission is only small so it’s still worth a visit. It’s mostly hand-made Mexican folk toys, which is interesting for adults, but when you can’t touch or play with anything on display, it’s not the most exciting place for kids! It is another place with a rooftop terrace though!

The same day we visited the Toy Museum, we also took a stroll down the hill behind the Parroquia to the Rosewood hotel. Now this is a beautiful place! And in a city full of amazing rooftop bars, the one at the Rosewood, for me, tops them all. We just had time for one drink here to refuel our energy levels before we wandered down to Benito Juarez Park where there’s a small playground because – no matter where we go in the world – we always have to find the local playground! The streets around this area of town seemed a little prettier and more well-kept than on our side, which is a note to self for if we ever came again or recommended it to others. It seems in most residential areas everywhere in Mexico, the idea of starting a building job and never finishing it is completely normal: much of the rooftop skyline of SMdA is interrupted by the steel framework skeletons of abandoned building projects. Is this purely lack of funds, or culturally is the care-factor about these tatty-looking lumps of concrete just lower? Dinner that night was back up the hill at Chiquitas which was……ok.

On our last evening in SMdA we wandered along Relox from Fabrica Aurora to the Jardin Allende and discovered Friday night in full swing! A Mariachi band was playing joyful Mexican music to the squeals of delight of the young locals, jumping and dancing around how you would never see in Sydney! I love that the younger generations still enjoy the traditional Mexican music. There was also a wedding on, so we witnessed a fabulously fun wedding procession through the streets, along with balloon sellers and skipping children and the older generations settled on every available sitting space just people-watching. It was wonderful to watch, and as much as SMdA is considered an expat haven, I still feel as though we got an authentic Mexican experience. I am so disappointed we couldn’t stay for the Dias de Muertos celebrations! What were we thinking?!

Things I will miss about Mexico – colour: on buildings, bunting, Dias de Muertos decorations, textiles, ornaments and jewellery; tacos de camaron and frozen margaritas; friendly people; music.

Things I will not miss – barking dogs and crowing cockerels. All. Night. Long.

2 Austin Museums With Kids

by Faye Fitzgibbon • 27 October 2018

There are so many museum and gallery options in and around Austin. We knew we wouldn’t have the time, money, or child-attention-span to do all of them so we had to make a selection. Luckily for us, our visit to Austin coincided with the annual Austin Museum Day, where participating museums open their doors for free to the public. For this day, we chose the Bullock Texas State Museum. This was because we have found the most interesting museums we have visited have been those on the human history of the area we are in. This is personal preference, of course – others would find Natural History or Art more up their alley. Luckily for us Bullock Texas State Museum was on the ‘free’ list on Austin Museum Day, so we were sold.

Our other choice for a day out was the Johnson City Science Mill. This is a place that appeared on many ‘top something-or-other’ lists I read about Austin. It was competing with the NASA Centre in Houston and the JFK Museum in Dallas, both of which are reportedly excellent. In the end it came down to those two little factors: Time and Money. 3 hours each-way in a car and over $100 US to go to either Houston or Dallas; 1 hour each way and $40 US for Johnson City. The fact we could also stop at a vodka and gin distillery on the way home from Johnson City had absolutely nothing to do with our decision.

And so, to Johnson City we went: the home of Lyndon B Johnson, 36th President of the United States. Not named after him, but after his uncle James Polk Johnson. Population approximately 1700. It’s a small place, with a small high street and a funny little shop called Hill Country Cupboard proclaiming proudly “(NEARLY # DOZEN SOLD)”. So cute.

On the way to Johnson City we stopped off at Pieous Pizza. This was a tip we got from an Austin local a few days earlier. Best Pizza In Texas. We had to eat, so we figured we had to try. It was indeed good pizza. It was also quite expensive pizza. I’m not sure my pizza-palate is refined enough to pay that much on a regular basis, but it was fun and convenient and delicious and better than a ham sandwich in the car.

We got lucky on the day we visited the Science Mill - aside from a school excursion that was about to leave, we were the only people in the whole place! And it is a wonderful little place. Founded by two scientists passionate about sharing learning and knowledge, it is clearly a labour of love.

We started with the 3D movie, at the time we were there this was a BBC documentary on sea life. Jimmy and Alex loved the turtles, star fish and dolphins jumping out the screen. We then spent a fair chunk of time at the cog wall and ball wall. It was great to see the kids so intent on creating their own little working process.

In the main hall, Mike got right into a basic programming function allowing users to control the movements of various stuffed animals! There was an old-school spirograph which fascinated the kids, a ‘banana piano’ passing a current through 5 bananas which then acted like a keyboard. Moisture? Potassium? Not sure, but cool nonetheless!

In the next room we were able to observe actual lung at work and observe living organisms under a microscope.

And then there was the outside area! What a treat! A huge, Michaelangelo-inspired maze of balls and pullies which played cymbals and all sorts of marvellous things. This kept Alex enthralled for ages while Jimmy moved on to the archaeology pit, where he was able to ‘discover’ various dinosaur skeletons hidden in the dirt. There was also a giant hand statue, the movement of the individual digits controlled by a smaller hand at ground level, a giant pendulum wave structure that can be started and stopped by the user – and a couple of giant tortoises, because tortoises.

Basically, it was awesome. Not least because we were the only ones there and had multiple turns on everything without waiting our turn. But anyway it is just a wonderful place! The curators have really thought about how to teach various science lessons in away that makes them interesting, tangible and – most importantly – memorable! We loved it.

And on the way home, as the latest big storm crept across to Austin, we stopped in at Dripping Springs for a taste test and left with two bottle of vodka.

So on to the Bullock Texas State Museum! The FREE Bullock Texas State Museum! It is worth noting that the museum also offers free entry on the first Sunday of every month. But the first Sunday of the month was the first Sunday we were in Austin. And I ain’t that organised.

As we walked into the museum we were greeted with a plethora of kids’ activities – making your own horseshoe, building Lego ranches and colouring-in tables. We let Jims and Alex do their thing for half an hour, then it was time to head up to level one and learn about the history of Texas.

We had a basic understanding of the founding of Texas thanks to our visit to San Antonio and The Alamo. This time, it was great to understand a little bit more about this, plus the lives of Texans from that moment onwards. From Cowboys, the Oil Rush and through to Space Stations and Assassinations.

For example, I found it fascinating to learn more about the ‘Wild West’ era and what it was actually like, outside of the movies. Kind of like that era in the eighties/nineties when all bad guys were Russian, so all Native Indians in the Wild West were hunting down white folk to slice off the top of their heads - according to the movies. But did you know that during that 50 year period, there were only about 300 civilian deaths at the hands of Native Americans? The whole idea of “rounding the wagons” as a defensive strategy is also rubbish – those convoys were kilometres long – they had no chance of coordinating that quickly in the instance of a (rare) attack. These wagon formations were in fact used as a way to stop the livestock escaping when they stopped for the night. In reality, most Native Americans valued a peaceful relationship with immigrants because it allowed them to trade for things like weapons and fabrics. There were rogue groups of young males that terrorised anyone they could find – but they were most definitely the minority. I shall be watching my next Spaghetti Western with a whole new appreciation now!

We managed to make our way through the whole museum with only minimal whinging from the kids, and with bribes that if they were patient they could play with the Lego again at the end. There is a reason the ‘Children’s Museum’ was invented: 5 and 7 is just too young. They are still in their little childhood bubble, no matter how much of the world we show them. They need things they can touch, and things that move – which is why the Science Mill was such a winner.

Bullock Texas State Museum - definitely a winner for Mike and me. And do take your kids – only do it on Free Sunday 😉

Cheeky Miami Side Trip

by Faye Fitzgibbon • 27 October 2018

Our little Miami jaunt was a surprise, even for us! We had booked our month in Austin and we were all set. But as the month stretched out in front of us, we felt an overwhelming need to do something else, even if just for a few days. We knew we couldn’t enrol the kids in the Austin Children’s Garden until week 3, so why not do a side-trip before that? None of us had been to Miami before, and so the decision was made.

We booked The Marriot Stanton on South Bank for 3 nights, packed our hand luggage (the kids carried their own) and headed off.

It was so wonderful to see blue sky! Especially given leading into the trip the forecast had been thunder storms the whole time. Luckily for us, Hurricane Florence headed farther north and the forecast changed overnight to sun, sun and more sun!

We caught the express airport shuttle bus all the way along Washington Avenue to 1st Street and walked the rest of the way to The Stanton. With bags dumped and swimmers on, we headed out for a quick lunch and then some beach time. The sand was hot, the sea was warm, and we all had fun. After enough sand and salt we headed back across the promenade to the hotel pool where we splashed and chilled for a while longer. The hotel was perfect for us: a big enough room (two queen beds), a nice pool area with a games terrace (giant jenga, connect 4 and table football (regular sized)). The hotel also had its own taco restaurant which, on the night we arrived, was two-for-one night. So we literally didn’t have to venture further than 100m from our hotel for the entire day.

We spent the next day – our only full day – having a ginormous breakfast at Big Pink and swimming at the beach and the pool. In the afternoon we decided to hire bikes so we could explore a bit more of the boardwalk. This was Alex’s first time on a bike on her own since the Singapore East Coast back in April, and it took a lot of convincing for her to get back on and give it another try. After half an hour of tanties and tears we slowly got bigger chunks of time where she was happy (and balanced), and with Jimmy riding off into the distance at every opportunity we decided it was a good idea to get some adult bikes for us so we could keep up. We road down to South Pointe Pier and back around to 5th St, and back again. Along the palm-lined walkways with the glistening sea to one side and art deco hotels on the other. A very Miami experience!

Our flight the following day wasn’t until 6 in the evening so we decided it was a good opportunity to get out to the Everglades. We hired a car for a day and headed to Gator Park – one of several Alligator/Airboat tour operators on highway 41. It was so much fun! Just riding on an airboat was amazing – I had to pinch myself several times, as its such an iconic Florida thing that I’ve only before seen on TV! And then to spot some alligators in the water as well!

After the airboat tour (we chose the 30 min group tour rather than the longer private tour) we sat down for a Gator talk, which we all loved – especially the baby croc and alligator and when the presenter borrowed my phone and filmed himself practically sticking it into the mouth of a 6ft alligator! Two obligatory $5 ‘hold an alligator’ photos later, and we were back in the car with time to spare to head down to another iconic Florida area – The Keys.

We realised that to have time to get the car back to the rental depot and then catch the shuttle bus back to the airport we were only going to be able to get as far as Key Largo. So I homed in on a funny little bar tipped as a non-tourist hang out, and we headed there for lunch.

We had a moment when we walked into Shipwrecks Bar & Grill like in western movies, where the piano stops and everyone stops talking and all stare at you at once. A few seconds of tumbleweed later and we had found a table out on their little ramshackle deck overlooking the canal. The waitress was lovely and the food was just what we needed. And awkwardness aside, it was much better experience that some of the flashy tourist places we had experienced in Miami!

We made it back to the car drop off and onto the airport shuttle without a hitch and with plenty of time to spare. We even got to use the AA lounge courtesy of Cuz Dane and his gift of a One World card. Thanks Dane!

It was a great few days!

Austin Part 2

by Faye Fitzgibbon • 2 October 2018

And so our Austin stint has come to an end. As preparation for this chapter, I just read back through my last Austin blog. Wow, we have done a lot! These second two weeks have been just as busy.

Unfortunately, the rain I mentioned that had been going for 6 days…..went for 3 weeks straight (give or take a two-day break in our last week). It seems this is unprecedented in September – usually the Spring is the time for rain in Austin. Though Hurricane Florence is not to blame (it made landfall in North Carolina, and we had glorious sunshine in Miami so it couldn’t have been that!), there have been numerous tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico which have bled northwards to southern Texas. Whatever the cause, it rained. A lot.

I hate to be that standard Pom who whinges about the weather, but it was pretty shit. Austin is highly geared for an outdoors life style – whether its paddle boarding on the river, swimming at one of the natural springs or bike riding along the boardwalk. And if none of these are your thing, there are museums and art galleries – but we had learnt our lesson there from the Blanton in week one.

Thankfully, we had our side trip to Miami so we got some good beach and pool time in there – I’ll be writing about Miami in a separate post though.

Nevertheless, we did some good stuff. Our last two weeks in Austin consisted of the Drive-In, the Austin Children’s Garden, Peter Pan Minigolf, the Superhero Race (for the kids), the Austin Splash n Dash (for me), Hoppin House, The Bats, Johnson City and the Bob Bullock Texas State Museum.

For our Saturday Movie Night at the end of week two, we took the kids on a surprise drive to Blue Starlite Drive-In. So American, it had to be done! I have only experienced a drive-in once, when Mike surprised me at the one is western Sydney, years ago (it was more about the date than the movie – the only thing showing was Spongebob Squarepants – The Movie. Awesome.). This time, it was The Goonies. Much better – who doesn’t love The Goonies?? When we pulled in at the drive-in – basically a small paddock – Jimmy and Alex were ecstatic. We had piled duvets and pillows into our Jeep Compass and I had brought along lollies and popcorn – we had everything except the mozzie repellent, which we needed a lot of! It was great fun, and one of those random ideas which will probably be a lasting memory for the kids from this trip.

Austin Children’s Garden turned out to be an excellent option for us. Run by a lovely guy called Ben from his purpose-built backyard, it has a mini-classroom, play areas, a veggie patch…everything required to help kids learn through play. We signed Jims and Alex up for Math Monday and Science Friday, but the Montessori-type approach meant they had no idea at any point that they were learning maths (sorry, math) or science. There were just enough other children there to allow them to go crazy, make some friends, be silly, and not have their parents’ eagle-eye on them for 3.5 hours twice a week. And Mike and I got some much-needed ‘time off’ to get some work done.

Given we were in such an outdoorsy, healthy city, Mike and I figured there had to be some events on while we were there. Mike discovered the Casa Superhero Run was on during our stay – a 1km ‘fancy dress’ run for kids raising money for Casa, a children’s charity. We took ourselves off shopping the week before and purchased a Captain America outfit for Jims and Wonder Woman for Alex and me – Mike got himself a t-shirt with a Superman logo on it. We were pumped, we were dressed for the occasion…Jimmy even went on a couple of training runs with Mike beforehand.

When we arrived at the event that morning, it was so much busier than we had anticipated! There was a 5km run beforehand, and it seems many people – even without children – sign up for this, Mike included. So while we waited for Mike to complete his 5km, we soaked up the atmosphere and marvelled at the efforts people go to when it comes to dressing up! When the time finally arrived for the kids race, they were so pumped. Jimmy pushed his way to the front, Mike trailing behind while Alex and I hung back in the ‘5-6 yo’ section. Jimmy wasn’t letting the fact that he was one of the smallest in the ‘7 yo +’ pen stop him from being first off the start line. And then we were off! Jimmy, according to Mike, practically sprinted the entire thing and pumped out a 5.5 minute kilometre. Alex did really well too – she didn’t stop at any point, just slowed down occasionally and then had a random bust of energy leaving me for dust momentarily. I managed to convince her that, in order to get a medal, she had to cross the finish line before the ‘baddies’ (a group of volunteers dressed up like Poison Ivy, The Riddler, etc), and once she had that in her head there was no stopping her. It was a great event, and such a feeling of achievement for our kids!

3 days later, it was time for my turn – the September edition of the Austin Splash n Dash series: a swim/run race organised by a local fitness club. 750m swim and a 3km run, nothing too hardcore which was good because it’s about as much as I can manage at the moment! The venue was Quarry Lake in North Austin: one lap of the lake swimming and three laps round the lake running. The organisers seemed genuinely chuffed to have some random Aussie family turn up for their event – so much so that they gave us a goodie bag, even though I was a long way off a podium finish!

The swim was awesome, topped by the experience of swimming through hundreds of tiny ‘lake jelly fish’ – the size of a quarter and unable to sting, they just looked magical in the water instead. I think I ended up in the top 25%, so I didn’t make a fool of myself either – plus, it pushed me to do some swim and run training leading into it, which I also loved.

In our last week, having been waiting for the rain to ease up before doing some of the outdoor things on our to-do list, we decided we would just have to bite the bullet if we wanted to see the bats. So one evening after an early dinner, we headed down to the south side of Congress Bridge and waited with a couple of hundred other people. They took their time, those little bats – I had read somewhere that they appear about 20 minutes before sunset, which was scheduled for 7:25 that evening. It wasn’t until gone 7:30 that they finally started to emerge – but it was worth the wait! 1.5 million bats call Congress Bridge their home, and every single one of them emerges at dusk to start their nightly hunt for food. The exodus went on, and on, and on. And when we looked up into the distance, while bats were still emerging from under the bridge we could also see huge black clouds of them on the horizon making formations against the clouds.

It was great to learn a little bit more about the bats too. When they first arrived in Austin, there was a huge movement to get rid of them, because people associated bats with disease and blood-sucking In reality, only a tiny percentage of all bats eat blood, and those that do don’t bite animals – they lap open wounds, much like a kitten with a bowl of cream. The bats of Austin are not even these types of bats, and slowly the attitude towards them changed to what it is today – where they are celebrated as a symbol of Austin and a must-see for anyone visiting the city.

Things we didn’t get to do in Austin that were on our list: any form of water sport on the river (too much rain), a Longhorns game (too expensive), a grown-ups night out (we had a babysitter, we just didn’t feel like it!), more food vans, Houston, Dallas, the Capitol building….

My resounding memories of Austin: Early morning runs along the river for a swim at Barton Springs, funky, eclectic shops on SoCo, food vans everywhere, the electric scooter system (so much fun, we should have these in Sydney!), extremely friendly people, ‘BETO FOR SENATE’ signs, the heat, the Longhorns, and our family tee-ball game in Zilker Park. Good times, indeed.

And so, in the end, it’s a tick from all of us for Austin. A very liveable city with a great vibe thanks to its mix of unpretentious, outdoorsy, liberally-minded, and sometimes just plain weird people. In Austin its possible to live in a leafy, spacious, quiet neighbourhood and yet be just a 10 minute electric scooter ride from everything. As with everywhere we have seen in America, there is a lack of cosy little high streets – even the famous SoCo is a massive four-lane road. But is that simply the way they do things in the states? I’d have to see a lot more of it before I could decide.

We do, however, feel we’ve had a taste of what it’s like to ‘live’ in the States over the last few months. And do you know what? Surprise surprise, it’s just like living anywhere else in the world. Behind Donald Trump, La La Land and Jerry Springer, there’s just a huge mass of cool people. Of course there is! As with everywhere we go, we wonder whether we would prefer to live here than in Sydney. I think I could definitely live in Austin for a stint, but Sydney would ultimately be my choice. Which is good, I guess! How lucky we are…

Our first fortnight in Austin, Texas, y'all!

by Faye Fitzgibbon • 7 September 2018

So we are now half way through our month-long stay in Austin. We chose Austin as we heard good things about it – mainly from Tim Ferris, whose blog Mike listens to religiously (and whose book, The Four Hour Work Week, inspired much of our year), but also in general about it being a cool, funky city with a lot going on. Somewhere we would probably not stop-off in at any other time.

The other reason we booked a month was because the rental laws in Texas apply much higher taxes to rentals less than a month, and so we were going to pay less for a month than we would for 3 weeks. No-brainer. We have, however, booked a little side-trip to Miami to break up the month.

We are staying in the Bouldin area, between 1st and Bouldin Ave, only about a mile from the Palmer Centre and river running tracks. Barton Springs is about 2.5km away. Congress Avenue is just over a block away. I am slowly getting used to the American way of labelling streets and explaining directions.

So far, we have visited Zilker Park and Barton Springs, the Austin Public Library, The Blanton Museum of Art, two indoor play centres, two splash pads, Wimberley Markets, TopGolf, San Antonion and a handful of food/drink trailers.

Our host, Carole, has inundated us with lists of stuff to do in Austin! So much so that we have to draw up a calendar to keep track of all the stuff happening on the first/second/third Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday of the month in order to not completely lose track of wat we’re doing!

There’s certainly a lot to see and do. The Austin Public Library was a hit, and we will go again. The indoor play centres were too – but that’s a no-brainer and we only go there in order to get work done. The Splash pads are a much-needed reprieve from the heat and an easy half an hour for Mike and I.

Blanton Art Museum was, unfortunately, an utter fail. My fault: I had misunderstood their website and thought they had kids art activities. However, these were only running during summer holidays, which are now over. So my one and only bribe asset disappeared when we enquired at the visitor desk. After that, we had no hope of convincing the kids. To their credit they found the odd piece quite interesting and there were a few “ooo look at this one, Mummy!”’s, but there was plenty more whinging. Thank goodness we chose to go on Thursdays, which is Free Entry Day. The whole process yet again reminded us of why we haven’t tried to visit art galleries in every other city we’ve visited. They can be relaxing, interesting and inspiring when on your own – and not at all when with small children.

Wimberley Markets was great! A proper flea market with all sorts of treasures. If I had a home to fill, I could find some gems there. In order to keep Jims and Alex engaged, we gave them each $5 to spend on whatever they liked. They spent 60% on a snow cone!! In fairness there wasn’t a great deal available for five bucks – perhaps we need to be more generous? I bought a tortilla warmer for the microwave and some reading books for Alex, but nothing else that would fit in our luggage!

Last Sunday was Aussie Father’s Day! And not American Father’s Day, meaning we didn’t have to worry about everything being booked! I booked Top Golf, which is basically like Golf with Gamification: lots of targets and chipped golf balls so you can play against each other or everyone else at the range. There are also booths just like ten pin bowling, and someone to bring your food and drinks. We all got really into it, and I was so pleased to see the kids really wanting to have a go – more so than they had in Portugal. The gamification element worked a treat!

Our day trip to San Antonio was well worth it – the highlight being The Alamo complex. I will admit, I knew nothing about The Alamo until about a week ago. But, knowing we were going to be in San Antonio sent me off on a research mission, and what an interesting history it has!

What made The Alamo visit that little bit nicer was that it was FREE. Such a rarity, and it meant we could wander round without that nagging feeling of ‘having to make the most of it’ and ‘must see everything’. It also had some great displays that really allowed the Jimmy and Alex to grasp what happened in the area, and what it might have been like during the Battle in 1836. Truly a worthwhile visit.

We also took in the Riverwalk, which is a must in San Antonio. Peppered with bars and restaurants, ducklings bobbing on the water, and the occasional information board with photos of how the area looked 100 years ago all contributed the walk seeming like nothing at all with no complaints from those with little legs.

Unfortunately, the off-shoots of Hurricane Florence are following us where we go – it has been raining is Austin for the last 6 days almost solidly, every afternoon. And an hour south in San Antonio, things are no different. It absolutely chucked it down and in the end, we had to abort our trip and head home as too many of our plans relied on the outdoors (the botanic gardens, the zoo, the river cruise, etc). A shame, but we all still felt like we got the San Antonio vibe – and we were very happy we had made The Alamo our first stop while the weather was still good!

We have made a couple of trips to Barton Springs (me several more, as I have got into a great routine of running to the pool in the morning, swimming some laps and running home). It’s a fantastic space to hang out, the only issue for us being Alex is just a wee bit young. There is no ‘beach’, or wading-out area, so it’s either throw yourself off the diving board (Jimmy has done this what seems like an infinite number of times), jump off the side or try and walk in off the extremely slippery shallow rocks around some of the edges. Either way, the water is on the cool side (a consistent 68 F apparently, due to the underground natural springs that feed it) so unless you’re moving around it can get a little chilly. And Alex can tread water for a short while, but not enough for any of us to feel confident leaving her. Jimmy could stay at Barton Springs all day, Alex for about 10 minutes. Which leaves us kind of stuck!

And then there has been our afternoons at ‘Hoppin House’, an indoor play centre down the road from us where we have been able to logon to wifi and get a good few hours of work in while the kids throw themselves off various inflatables and wear themselves out. This is no ordinary play centre though – you can bring in your own food (result!) AND your own alcohol (double result!).

So far, so good in Austin. We are thinking perhaps a month is too long though (hence our side trip to Miami). Our months in Bali and Portugal worked really well, so I have been trying to work out why I feel its too long here. I think it’s partly down to the childcare situation – we had some great kids club options in Bali and Portugal which we haven’t found here yet. We are trying out the Austin Children’s Garden next week which may change things, but unfortunately, they have been closed for training these last two weeks. Also, the lack of beach and/or pool has made a difference – a free activity that keeps us all happy for hours on end!

We still have plenty of stuff on the to-do list though: Johnson City Science Mill, the Drive-In, the NASA centre in Houston, the Superhero Run next weekend, the nightly Bat Exodus at Congress Bridge……. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed old Florence decided to head northwards soon and give this rain a rest!

I wonder what the next update will look like…..

Bluffton, South Carolina

by Faye Fitzgibbon • 30 August 2018

And so we have just finished our two weeks in South Carolina, in the lovely town of Bluffton down near the Georgia/South Carolina border. We’ve had the most amazing time! We feel relaxed, refreshed and lucky to have experienced such a lovely part of the world.

I’m not sure, now, what I expected SC to be like – but I know it surpassed my expectations! The south-eastern coast was originally Mike’s idea, and then I did the research to find the lovely guest house in this pretty town. It wasn’t somewhere I’ve ever had on my ‘to-do’ travel list and I am so glad we did it.

Two overwhelming images of the area: the huge, beautiful Live Oak trees, draped in Spanish Moss, framing every vista and making everything feel so old and graceful; and the coast line – long, wide, expanses of soft, white sandy beaches lined with rugged sand dunes. It’s a picture of America I have seen so many times in movies, but being in it is a whole different experience.

Another thing I have loved about being in this area – the history. American history (other than that that crosses with British history such as the World Wars) isn’t something I was taught at school and subsequently has never piqued my interest as an adult. I have a whole new level of appreciation for it now! South Carolina has a very keen identity and aligns itself proudly with its Confederate history (some see this as simply pride in their ancestry, others a sign of racism…I can kind of see it from both sides. Many historians now say the Civil War had very little to do with the slavery argument, though I’m not sure I agree with this). But beyond this, the history of native Americans and then settlement – not just here but everywhere – is fascinating.

British history is interesting in its own way because its so, well, old. Europe in general has been a populated, developing continent for thousands of years. America – as Australia – has a relatively new history from the perspective of settlers (some might say invaders). Of course, the history of native Americans and Aboriginals is extremely important and I’m not disregarding this at all. But the idea that Europeans left everything they knew to make a life in a place totally alien to them, and build towns and infrastructure and adapt to so many different (and in their own ways harsh) environments is fascinating, not least because it has happened so recently. It’s kind of funny hearing places proudly declare being the ‘oldest something’ in America, and then quoting it’s been around since the middle of the 19th century (like, that’s as old as my parent’s house) – us Europeans can probably come across a tad condescending when we hear this – but it IS impressive, because before that there was not very much at all, and it was bloody dangerous.

Add to all that the abhorrent treatment of native Americans, and then slaves, at the hands of white settlers and its one hell of a story.

Anyway I am going off on a tangent! Basically, we loved Bluffton. Having spent the previous month moving on every few days (London-Iceland-Montreal-Ottawa-Howes Lake-Rice Lake-Hamilton-Toronto-Denver-Atlanta), we were all utterly exhausted. This manifested itself in a lot of niggling and cheekiness from the kids and a lot of not-handling-this-very-well from Mike and me. Not a great combination! We walked through the door of the Bluffton Historic Guest House at Pritchard House and exhaled. It was like a warm hug! Originally a three-room wooden cottage situated on the river (back when there were no roads and everyone travelled by boat), it was rediscovered and moved to its current spot, where a lean-to was added to provide a bathroom and kitchen. It’s small, but perfectly formed. The wifi was super-fast, the kitchen well-equipped, the beds comfy and the host, Darlene, an absolute delight!

Darlene took us for a walk down to the dock when we arrived, and this just took our breath away. A beautifully tranquil spot on the May River, looking out towards Palmetto Bluff, and a place to gorge on wildlife: blue herron, dolphins, eagles, foxes and maybe even an alligator or two.

There had been no alligator spottings in these parts for a long time, so our kids spent a big chunk of the first few days throwing themselves off the pontoon, diving down, hanging off the inflatable chair, climbing out and starting again. We attempted some more fishing but with no luck. At one point, the hook, line and float were ripped off so something took a liking to the little crabs we were using as bait, but by the time we got to the line it was gone and there was just the detached float bobbing in the reads in the shallows, which Mike and Jimmy waded in to retrieve.

Literally the next day, we heard from Darlene’s neighbours who also use the dock, that they had spotted an alligator under the walkway, so that was the end of the swimming adventures for all of us! Incredible to think of the number of times our two (little snacks for a 6ft alligator) were dangling in the water – and that Jimmy and Mike were standing shin-deep in the reeds, a prime alligator-pouncing opportunity. Lucky for us, it just wasn’t hungry those days. Or perhaps it had gone off somewhere else. Either way, we are all here to tell the tale, thank goodness!

The rest of our time in Bluffton was spent focusing on getting back into some semblance of a fitness regime, knocking off Jimmy’s school work every morning and then spending the afternoons exploring.

We visited Hilton Head many times – the beach there is just incredible. We visited Coligny Beach once but preferred Burke’s Beach slightly further north. Powder-white sand and the warmest water I have ever experienced (warmer than Bali) with just enough surf to challenge the kids without putting them in danger.

We also discovered a small indoor play area which somehow kept Jimmy and Alex amused for 3-4 hours at a time while Mike and I got on with some work. They loved it and begged to go pretty much every day, so although we weren’t able to find a kid’s club for them, this was a fantastic alternative (and much cheaper!). We limited the trips to two per week though!

And we visited Savannah for the day. We had looked down on Savannah from the bridge which takes you from Georgia to South Carolina across the Savannah River, and to be honest we were underwhelmed with what we saw! But the reviews were good and we had to choose between Savannah and Charleston (two city tours probably pushing our luck with Jims and Alex). Savannah was 35 minutes away, versus 2 hours for Charleston, so it won.

And it was great! We parked at the Savannah Visitor Centre, where all the tour trolleys depart, chose our company (we went with www.oldsavannahtours.com because they had ‘characters’ get on the bus at some stops to tell stories, and Alex would be free – and when we purchased our tix, the lovely ticket man gave us a nudge and a wink and told Jimmy he was 5 and Alex she was 4!!), and off we went.

The tour took in 16 stops. We hopped off at Forsythe Park to photograph the fountain and let the kids run around, and then hopped back on all the way to the river to grab some lunch at Spanky’s (a family-friendly restaurant recommended to us by the lovely lady at the Visitor Centre), after which we walked up to Leopold’s for the famous ice-cream (butter-pecan, Oh Em Gee) and then wandered around the City Market area – stopping in at the Paula Dean shop for a souvenir. (We had no idea who Paula Dean was, however I learnt the next day she is a bit of a SC institution – Single Mom Made Squillions. I now have a Paula Dean spatula that says “Hey Y’all!”.)

We also saw Chichewa Square (famous for the Bench Scenes in Forrest Gump), numerous beautiful house-museums, hundreds of live-oaks, practically every square in Savannah (the city was originally designed around 24 squares), lots of spots made famous by Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil (must read that book asap) and learnt a lot about the Civil War history of the area (contributing significantly to my appreciation of the era now). It was a good day.

And that was our time in South Carolina! We didn’t make it to Charleston, or Charlotte, or Augusta, or Myrtle Beach or any of the other places SC/NC is famous for. And that was just fine with us. We let Bluffton envelope us and basked in its warmth and friendliness, it’s laid-back vibe and simple beauty. And we feel like we really know what its like to just ‘be’ in the South. And a very nice feeling it is too!

A quick Colorado reunion

by Faye Fitzgibbon • 30 August 2018

So there’s a town in Colorado called Hygiene! Just outside Longmont, close to Boulder. Apparently, its name stems from a time when it had a sanitarium to work with tuberculosis patients. It’s also where a UK friend of Mike’s, Andy, now lives with his New Yorker wife Elena and their two boys, Tristan and Liam (the same ages as Jimmy and Alex!). Andy and Mike met many moons ago when working laying cables for telecommunications companies. Back in their young, single days when every night was a 2am finish and everyone operated on 5 hours’ sleep quite easily. (Oh, how times have changed!). Andy and Elena moved here from New York for the space, fresh air and better pace of life. If we were heading to the US, we HAD to call in and see Andy. The fact that we only had 3 nights with him was something he liked to make us feel bad about at every opportunity, but unfortunately its all we had once we had worked backwards from our Mexico and Buenos Aires bookings, and forwards from Iceland and Canada.

It was a lovely few days! Also staying with Andy were his parents Our Mam and Our Dad (Andy is from Newcastle) so we even got a grown-ups night out while they babysat for us – what a treat! Thank you, Alan and Margaret.

Of course, for Jimmy and Alex it was great because they had a pool to swim in and an entire toy room to gorge on. These two kids have been seriously toy-deprived for months now, and never got bored (though they also haven’t missed any toys at any other point, to be fair), and Tristan and Liam were very gracious toy-sharers, I know how hard it can be for kids to see their stuff being played with by others!

Jimmy and Alex would have been happy holed up at the house for 72 hours, but we did want to squeeze in some sight-seeing while we were there. The Rockies are on the doorstep, for goodness sake!

On arrival day, admittedly, we didn’t do too much! We had a very early start from Toronto so by the time we’d picked up the car and stopped at Walmart for supplies and AT&T for SIM cards we were ready to flop down and do no further thinking for the day. Andy cooked us up a fabulous meal, everyone had a swim and we collapsed into bed.

The next day Andy took us to the local museum – The City Of Longmont Museum -which had a great interactive installation for kids as well as a fascinating display detailing the history of the area, from the earliest Native American settlers through to the present day and all the gory stuff that happened in between. I could have spent hours in there! It really is a tragedy how white settlers treated indigenous Americans. Alas, white people through history have a bit of a track record of that.

The afternoon was again spent in the pool, before giving the kids an early dinner so we could get going on our grown up’s night out. Oooh it was lovely! A simple wine bar with lovely food and very good wine, and we were joined by another couple whose house we ended up at drinking even nicer wine until gone midnight. “Oh, I will suffer in the morning” I thought. “Ah sod it how many opportunities like this do we get?” I also thought.

5 hours’ sleep and a pretty good wine headache later, and we were into our final full day in Colorado. We planned to visit a playground in Lyons for a picnic, followed by a drive into the Rockies to Estes Park. Unfortunately, this did not go quite according to plan when we managed to lock the car keys inside the car with the engine running. Shouldn’t be possible, you would think. I can confirm it is possible. An hour and a half later, our picnic had been eaten pool-side and we were on our way straight to Estes Park.

Wow. Driving along route 36, mountains all around us….it was truly fantastic. I don’t know how many times I must have seen this scenery in books, movies, etc…but being in it was something else altogether. Andy was right -we should have allocated more than 3 days to Colorado! Yet another spot for our Plan B tour. We stopped at the playground at Estes Park and took in the view, trying to imagine in the humidity what this place must look like in the thick of winter. One day, we shall see.

That evening we had yet another fantastic meal, chez Andy and Elena, and met two more great friends of theirs. They really do have good people in Colorado. As has been the aim of this trip, it was just so great to meet and get to know the people , not as tourists. We got a glimpse into the outdoorsy, healthy, grounded lifestyle that people lead here – a far cry from some of the stereotypes of America we are bombarded with overseas. We loved it, we were sad to be leaving,

But the next day, leave we must. We were up and out early to catch our flight to Atlanta. It was sad to say goodbye, but comforting to know we have good people not so far away, if ever we need a familiar face.