The Final Leg: Venice, Los Angeles

Venice, California = our final stop on #thelongwayhome (Michael also referred to this as the death of freedom - always the optimist). We arrived mid-afternoon and immediately set about exploring. It was SO NICE to be able to speak English! Although my Spanish got pretty good (as far as basic communication goes), while we were in Central America, it was a relief to be able to speak without thinking!

Our first afternoon we spent exploring the local area. We walked to Abbot Kinney Boulevard, this is a well known shopping strip in Venice and is filled with boutique stores, cafes and bars. We stopped at Blue Star and grabbed some amazing donuts - because when you are in America your diet tends to go out the window!

Once again, we had access to bikes for the duration of our stay - I do love being able to get around on a bike! Hence, our first full day was spent on bikes!

First stop was the Venice Canals. I have actually been here before - in 2009, on my first overseas trip. Last time I had been here it was January - Christmas lights were still up and it was pretty chilly. This time it was warm and sunny!

The Venice Canals are man made and lined with beautiful (insanely expensive) houses.

From here we rode our bikes down to the Venice Beach Boardwalk - there is a walking area and a bike riding area, I could probably spend the whole day riding up and down the board walk - beach, bikes and sun, I couldn't ask for much more!

Michael cycling along the Venice Beach Boardwalk.

We cycled from Venice and through Santa Monica - stopping along the way to admire the beautiful beach views. 

Bike selfies!

This was actually one of my favourite days of the whole trip - I love the simplicity of riding along the coast line and soaking in the sunshine!

After stopping for lunch we rode to the Santa Monica Pier - I have been here plenty of times (my family used to live in this area) but never in the summer so I was excited.

Beach views from the Santa Monica Pier. 

Above: the Santa Monica Pier has a small amusement park on it (it reminded me of the Brighton Pier in the UK but, obviously, warmer). 

While we were in Venice there was a mini heatwave (30 degrees +), which meant plenty of beach time for us! Having said that, the water along this coast line was absolutely freezing - like, toes going numb cold, so most of our time was spent reading on the beach rather than actually swimming in the water (a pretty brutal change after the lovely temperate Central American beaches). 

A long summers day - the sun starting to set over the Californian coastline. 

Although I have visited California several times, one thing I have never got to do was to hike in the Hollywood Mountains - so this was high on my to do list. We, cleverly, choose the hottest day of the month to do this!

In this photo I am at the Griffith Observatory, the actual observatory was closed but from where it is located we had amazing views of the Hollywood Mountains (above photo) and downtown Los Angeles and the beach cities (Santa Monica, Venice) - which Michael is looking out towards in the below photo. 

The Hollywood Sign - it seemed a lot closer in real life!

Hiking up Mount Hollywood - it was HOT.

You can (just) see the Hollywood sign to the left of Michael.

The peak of Mount Hollywood! Again, you can see the Hollywood sign to our right. We had actually planned to hike all the way around to the back of the Hollywood sign but it was absolutely scorching so we decided to be sensible and head back down.

Hiking fun!

On our final night in LA, our final night of our whole trip actually, we went to an NBA game - Michael's boyhood dreams were finally coming true!

Michael outside the Staples Center in downtown LA prior to the game - LA Clippers vs Utah Jazz.

We had to have some hotdogs while at the game - most expensive hot dogs I've ever had in my life but as they say... YOLO.

Pre-game entertainment! The NBA has such an amazing atmosphere, so many songs / chants and free stuff being given away!

Well, this was my third trip to LA and I still loved it - the beach cities have such a relaxed vibe and there are some amazing restaurants and coffee places (especially in Venice as it's filled with hipsters). 

Well - that's it! The trip has finally ended (I realise that it actually ended a while ago but it's taken me a while to get around to writing this) - we were so fortunate to spend an amazing three months in some really unique and very off-the-beaten-track locations. I would highly recommend Central America to anyone that wants to travel somewhere predominantly authentic and unexplored (while you still can).

This isn't the end of our travels, there is plenty more world for us to explore, but for now we are going to focus on making Melbourne our home. 

xxx

Caribbean Costa Rica: Cahuita and Puerto Viejo

One thing we learnt when traveling around Costa Rica is that traveling by bus is an absolute nightmare! Whatever estimate we were given by Google maps, we basically doubled in order to get an ETA.

As a result of this we caught a bus from La Fortuna to San Jose, stayed one night, then caught another (LONG) bus from San Jose to the small coastal town of Cahuita - located on the Caribbean cost of Costa Rica. This coast is less well known and also less frequently visited by tourists (perhaps because of the travel time?), as a result it's very relaxed and the locals are super easy going. 

Our Hotel (that's right, upgrading) in Cahuita was only a short walk to Playa Negra - the black beach, which was definitely the best beach in town. Seeing as our main goal was to end up trip by doing a lot of relaxing, we spent A LOT of time on the beach.

Our first night in Cahuita, we stopped at a small 'soda' (local Costa Rican restaurant) that our hotel owner recommended and the food was AMAZING! Best fish of our trip (on the left). 

Playa Negra was such a beautiful beach - we were so lucky to have it on our doorstep!

One thing we soon realised while traveling in CR is that the weather patterns are really strange and hard to predict, while October is the rainy season in most of the country - well know for monsoonal rain and hurricanes - on the Caribbean coast October is actually the driest month of the year, bizarre! Luckily, for us, this meant beautiful, sunny weather for the duration of the trip.

After several lazy beach days, we decided to head to Cahuita National Park - predominantly in search of sloths! The National Park runs alongside the beach and is well known for it's abundance of Costa Rican wildlife. 

The main path through the NP - you can see snippets of the beach as you walk, very unique and absolutely stunning!

Michael's abstract photography - Cahuita, NP. 

Sloth hunting - my neck got sore from looking up and our sloth spotting was very unsuccessful. 

Howler monkeys! 

There was definetly no shortage of monkey sightings as we walked through the NP. 

View of the beach-side NP - visiting, hiking and/or wandering through National Parks has certainly become one of our favourite things to do while traveling. 

A few days well spent in chilled, seaside Cahuita. 

From the small town of Cahuita, we traveled (roughly 40 minutes) to the slightly larger coastal town of Puerto Viejo. This was another town in which Pura Vida is a way of life!

This photo was taken from a lovely seaside cafe, at which we had a delicious lunch - couldn't ask for a better view!

Bike time! In Puerto Viejo, both the locals and the tourists get around on bikes. From the main town of Puerto Viejo you can ride you bike to a multitude of different (and all beautiful) beaches. Michael was hoping to spend a week surfing but unfortunately there were little to no waves - so our time was spent swimming and sun baking instead - tough life!

Beaches + bikes = my kinda life!

One of the more famous beaches near Puerto Viejo - Punta Cocles.  

Imagine: long, white, sandy beaches and a shore lined with palm trees and you have Punta Cocles.

Michael chilling on the beach with our bikes. 

The Caribbean water (like in Belize and Mexico) is a beautiful cool temperature! I cannot get enough of these beautiful Caribbean beaches - or just beaches in general! Michael is actually in the water behind me in this photo but looks more like a small dot. 

Riding our bikes along the Puerto Viejo coastline - bike riding from A to B is one of my favourite forms of transport. 

On one of our mornings in Puerto Viejo, we decided to visit the Jaguar Rescue Centre. This is an animal rescue centre that is dedicated to rehabilitating and re-releasing orphaned or injured animals. 

The rescue centre was originally started by two academics (I can't remember their exact specialties) - when they first moved to the area people started bringing sick and injured wildlife to them for advice / help and from there they decided to open this centre and dedicate their life to this cause. Most of the people who work here are actually volunteers and the centre is mainly funded by donations and by visitors coming for tours of the centre. 

How cute is this baby howler monkey!? He has to be constantly supervised so a volunteer is required to sit with / play with him all day - sounds like a good gig!

Finally we spotted a sloth! These guys are the most common animal to arrive at the rescue centre. They are not particularly smart or quick and often fall from trees or abandon their young. There were three or four different groups being rehabilitated at the centre while we visited. The only eat leaves and their metabolism / energy production is extremely slow so they quite literally spend most of the day sleeping as they can't produce enough energy to do much else. Fun fact - they only poo once a week because any more than that would take up too much energy!

Baby sloths!

Apparently these guys are a bit slow and don't really form much of a connection to their human helpers (unlike the monkeys), they don't really like being cuddled or handed to much and prefer to just sleep in their baskets. 

Spectacled owls - how cool are these guys!

Toucan! I love these birds! This guy was rehabilitated and released into the wild but he just didn't want to go so he just hangs around the rescue centre all the time. Since he has been around people a lot he is not afraid to get really close (and will even steal people's food if they aren't looking). For anyone that loves animals, particularly exotic ones, this is an amazing place to visit, the volunteers and workers do an amazing job with the animals.

We found hummus - something I hadn't really seen since leaving the UK. Puerto Viejo actually had a middle eastern restaurant, after eating a lot of Caribbean food it was good for a change.

Another beach day, another beautiful beach - Punta Uva. 

Another afternoon was spent on a cacao tour at an amazing chocolate shop and factory called Caribeans. I really liked this place as the hire all local workers and pay them higher then average works - thus they get the best workers and maintain their loyalty. 

Above - this is cacao! Right!?

It is grown on trees and picked when ripe (more yellow), the cacao beans are found inside. In Costa Rica, they are able to grow both cacao and produce chocolate on the same site, which they refer to as 'tree to bar chocolate' - apparently there are few places in the world you can do this as cacao will only grow close to the equator. Therefore, chocolate produced in Costa Rica is less processed and better for you = winning!

Raw cacao beans - straight from the plant.

After learning about the history and production of cacao and visiting their chocolate workshop - we got to have a chocolate tasting, with a pretty amazing view!

Chilli chocolate shots - spicy and delish!

At the end of the tour, our guides set up a variety of spices and herbs and we were able to mix and match to create our favourite taste (my favourite combo was coconut, vanilla and cinnamon). There was so much chocolate that we weren't able to finish it all!

This is another tour I would highly recommend!

Unfortunately the rest of our time in paradise was corrupted when we both came down with horrible food poisoning - note: ever eat ice in a country where the drinking water is bad, it will make you very, very ill. 

After spending a pretty long time recovering from food poisoning, we were ready for safe drinking water - onto California!

xxx