just some wandering – Just Some Wandering

Memories of Banff

Being back in my hometown for this length of time, has meant that for the first time in my adult life, I have the time to really enjoy it.

In 2017 we packed up our life, and quit the 9-5 to head out into the world. We came with no expectations, we only wanted to experience life. Since we have left, we have packed more fun and adventure into our lives than we ever could have imagined. Being on the road now for over two years, has brought with it the freedom to explore what it is that we want to do to create an income for ourselves, the time to pay attention to the things that are truly important to us, and the adventure to truly make life fun and interesting once again. We left seeking an exciting life, and we have not been disappointed! Join us as we explore as much of this big old world that we can!

Being back in my hometown for this length of time, has meant that for the first time in my adult life, I have the time to really enjoy it. Chris and I have spent much time exploring around Canmore and checking things out. I have taken him on walks to my old bush party sights and places that I played as a child, and we have spent lots of time down by the Bow River, even on the cold days. We have meandered through many of the towns trails, old and new, and I have been really impressed with how well they are kept up. There is obviously a focus here on public recreation, and the town has done a great job of providing that for its citizens.

This was a warmer day down by the Bow River in Canmore, back when we arrived at the end of August.

We have also been to Banff a handful of times, and I have taken great joy in regaling my tales of youth to Chris, as we navigate the new, to him, landscape. Last weekend we headed out on a bit of an adventure to Banff. Banff Gondola was offering a free ride for locals on its trip up to the top of Sulphur Mountain, in exchange for a donation to a charity. So we figured that we would head in, and also planned a soak in the nearby Banff Hot Springs as well.

One thing lead to the next and before we knew it, we were checking out Bow Falls, running around lost in the Banff Springs Hotel (now officially known as Fairmont Banff Springs, but I don’t call it that), and hitting up even the Candy Shop downtown. I also firmly insisted that while there, we absolutely MUST visit the Christmas Store, despite Chris’ obvious disapproval. (Spoiler, he actually liked it……a little bit at least:))

It truly feels like a castle inside as well!

A Candy wonderland and a MUST stop on Banff Avenue!

It was a great day of playing tour guide (one of my favourite things to do as a local), while also telling him the stories that each place inspired. I have many incredible stories and memories of Banff and despite the fact that Canmore kids were adamant that Canmore was BETTER than Banff (“Banff Sucks!” we would say), the town played a huge part in my childhood.

I was born in Banff, Alberta, Canada in 1976. I know that I am from a select few that have had this good fortune, and in fact, I have recently learned that people born in Banff or Canmore are dubbed “Unicorns” by those who aren’t from here. Without confirming the reason for this, I can only imagine that people think that nobody could possibly be so lucky as to have been born in such a spectacular place. It’s as if we are all mythical creatures or something.

I lived there until I was three, then my family moved 20km down the road to the much quieter town of Canmore. I spent the rest of my childhood living in Canmore, but of course, Banff was also such a huge part of this time in my life.

As a small kid my mom would drive me into the Sally Borden Pool for swimming lessons, because, at the time, Canmore only had one public pool that was at a motel on the highway, and it was outdoors. I remember feeling so cool swimming in that big pool, and that big building and I loved swimming lessons there.

My Dad worked at the Banff Centre, which also housed the Sally Borden Building so I inevitably spent much time up there. I took for granted the adorable little trails that surround the property, and the quaint little stairways that go from building to building. My Dad is one of the founders of the Banff Mountain Film Festival that is housed at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and I spent many years with my parents at the festival watching films and mingling with climbing greats. I had no idea, at that time, just how lucky I was to not only be living where I was, but to just be part of such a monumental film event that has now spanned the globe numerous times. We were very grateful when my Dad offered us his tickets for this years festival. We felt so fortunate to attend the event, and it brought back many great memories of my childhood.

Of course, I also learned to ski at Mount Norquay, Banff’s local ski hill. My Dad took me up there from the age of 3 on, and it didn’t take many years before I was beating him to the bottom. Many times, a day of skiing would conclude with a stop at McDonalds, then the closest McDonalds we had to Canmore. It was the cutest little McDonalds ever, built with all wood and stone, complete with a rustic little fireplace. (Unfortunately it has now been modernized, and looks, at least through the windows, to be as stark and uninteresting as any other McDonalds!) My favourite dish? 6 McNuggets and fries of course! (My adult self is disgusted!)

Every New Years Eve for quite a few years, many Banff and Canmore locals would flock to Lake Minnewanka to have a raucous party in one of the picnic shelters on the lake. Somebody would bring heavy duty tarps to block the windows so that the harshness of the winter temperatures would stay outside, while they got the fires roaring on the inside. The parents would shovel off a section of the lake so that we kids could skate on it, and I remember more than one painful time that I would have to come back in to get my dad to rub life back into my feet, as they had become frozen ice blocks. The adults would become increasingly drunk, New Years would come and go, and everyone would simply drive home. Clearly, NOT something that could or would happen now-a-days!

For a time, no childhood birthday party would be complete without a trip to the water slides in Banff. The Douglas Fir Resort, one of the hotels on the outskirts of the town, was our go to place for this. I recall numerous visits to these waterslides as kids, and though small in stature, they thrilled us to bits. It didn’t take much to excite us small town kids!

I also remember trips to Banff to shop at The Hudson Bay Company (HBC), the only major department store that existed in the Bow Valley at the time. Of course, these trips would be combined with a visit to the Candy Store and often an ice cream at Grizzly House, depending on the time of year. When we had visitors come to town, we would take them down Banff Avenue and we always had to also make stops in the Christmas Store and The Body Shop.

Inside the famed “The Spirit of Christmas” store.

My later memories start after I gained the freedom to drive a vehicle. From the age of 16 on, trips to Banff were just part of my perspective. If it wasn’t me driving there, it was one of my friends, and we would usually head in at least a couple times a week. In one of my many acts of rebellion, however, I drove into Banff, driving my friends car, with only my learners license! All I know is that there was a bunch of us girls, and we were bored, and we REALLY wanted to go to Banff. The next thing I knew, much to the humiliation and scared shitless-ness of my passengers, I was stalling the standard shift car repeatedly down the length of Banff Avenue. I’m pretty sure Banff Avenue was the only thing we saw that day. We were much too scared to actually get out of the car lest somebody actually figured out that we weren’t old enough to be driving by ourselves. We somehow made it out in one piece, and not arrested, and arrived back in Canmore, vowing that we would never repeat that event again. After all, the owner of the car was only a month or two from turning 16 and getting her own proper license!

Banff Bow River View — One of the views along the Bow River in Banff

One of the many stunning views on Banff Avenue.

The freedom that comes with having a drivers license is palpable. I remember driving with the window down on the highway, feeling the wind blow on my face and just feeling like I could do anything in the world now that I had my license. Quite often an afternoon of a few of us hanging out at Craigs drinking coffee, would end when one suggested that we should go to Banff, and off we went. Many times we would head up to the Banff Springs Hotel and get lost in the expanse of corridors inside, and of course, we went bowling a time or two as well. Canmore, of course, didn’t have a bowling alley.

They call this “Christmas at the Castle” when the Banff Springs Hotel decorates for the holidays.

You might guess, by now, that Canmore also didn’t have a movie theatre (and still doesn’t!) . Tuesday was locals night at the Lux Cinema in Banff, so we would all pile into Banff to watch the latest and greatest release for only $5. Usually there were 2 or 3 vehicles full of us, and of course we would run into other friends from school that had gone as well. We would then roam the streets at night, just revelling in the glitz and glamour of Banff Avenue, sometimes stoping in at Eddies Pool Hall where we would play pool and hang out, enjoying the care free life of a teenager. On this current return trip home, Chris and I have made a few trips to the Lux, and it amazes me that it is exactly the same as I left it.

Summer time meant that we would drive in and check out Bow Falls, drive down to the Banff Springs Golf Course, explore around Tunnel Mountain, or drive up Mount Norquay to check out the view. Of course many kids experienced floating, in some device or another, from Banff to Canmore along the surface of the Bow River.

Looking down on Banff from Mount Norquay

fullsizeoutput_19fb — Bow Falls in the winter. Located below the Banff Springs Hotel

The Banff Hot Springs was our big backyard hot tub that we frequented often. We would go all times of the year to revel in the heat of the waters. Winter was the most fun when it was minus 40C. After braving the cold to get into the pool, we would set about creating whacky hairdos that would freeze solid in the frigid temperatures. When Chris and I went there last weekend, I was thrilled that the price is still very reasonable at $8.30. I assumed that like all other things in Banff, this price would have gone sky high, but it has remained an affordable treat for every sort of visitor to Banff.

Banff Hot Springs is perched on the side of Sulphur Mountain offering splendid views of the mountains and valley below.

Our legal years (18+) (and maybe one or two before that;) ) would bring us into Banff to party in the clubs. Canmore didn’t have venues that played wild and raucous club style music, so again, we would all pile into Banff to take part in this strange right of passage affair. The Back Alley and Silver City (also dubbed Syphilis City for obvious reasons) were our favourites. Many nights we would go to one or the other, or bounce around between the two trying to find the most fun possible. We also sometimes found ourselves caught up in the wildness of Wild Bill’s Saloon! As the name implies, it was always a good time!

Back in those days we were allowed to be carefree kids. We didn’t have to worry about date rape drugs or any number of other things that teens have to deal with now-a-days. I feel like we were part of the last generation that could go out and have a good time, completely worry free, and for that I am so thankful. Most times we had a designated driver to take us home, but there was the odd night that a few of us would sleep in the car until early the next morning when one would drive, with one eye open, and we would slink back home smelling of booze and stale cigarette smoke. (Yes, they still smoked inside back then!) Our parents were thrilled with us I’m sure!

In later years I had a job working at the Banff Springs Golf Course Pro Shop for one summer. This again gave me a different perspective of Banff, and was my first introduction to truly working with tourists. Only in recent years have I acknowledged that I actually grew up in one of the worlds TOP tourist destinations. I mean I knew that lots of travellers came to Banff, when I was a kid the streets were lined with busloads of Japanese, all standing at attention, cameras poised and ready, but I definitely didn’t put it all together then.

I definitely didn’t understand the majestic beauty that existed all around me day and night. I, for sure, didn’t understand what privilege I had as a child living in a place where I was free to ride my bike all over town, go hiking in the woods whenever I choose, and to just be wild and free. And I don’t think I understood how nice it was to be part of a genuine small town community, to be surrounded by people who truly care for one another.

A recent photo taken by the Bow River in Canmore.

It wasn’t until I moved away from Canmore and the Banff area permanently in 2002, that I started to realize just how beautiful it all is, and age has brought an appreciation for the community and the group of people who collectively raised me. Of course, we appreciated the outdoors when we were kids, back then we spent our lives outside. We would go on hikes and marvel at the views, and we would climb the mountains just for something to do. But it was all just normal to us, it was our everyday reality. In retrospect, I can see that I took it for granted, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

But now, I truly do realize just how lucky I was to grow up in this majestic place. It’s not the tropical paradise that one conjures up when the word paradise is mentioned, but it is certainly a paradise of its own accord. The clean water and clean air is marvelled at by people from far reaches of the world, who also come to enjoy the plethora of spectacular mountains, lakes, trees and rivers. The names Banff and Canmore have become synonymous with mountains and outdoor recreation, fit people and world class athletes.

People flock to this valley to get but a taste of what it would be like to live here. Many struggle greatly to keep afloat financially, with the ridiculous rates of inflation and costs of housing and living. But Banff and Canmore are also both places that know unimaginable amounts of wealth and overabundance. Above it all, and despite what class of person you are, my hope is that people who live here truly appreciate the stunning beauty that surrounds them.

I am thankful that I have chosen a life that has allowed me to spend this amount of time back in my hometown. This visit has, again, solidified my foundation, it has reminded me that I am one of the fortunate ones, and it has helped me to recall parts of me that were long lost. I guess you could say that I am one lucky little unicorn indeed!

And, you know, maybe, at the age of 43, it’s finally time to admit that Banff doesn’t suck so bad after all!

Click here if you would like to read my article entitled Notes on my Hometown – Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

Thanks for reading! Please know that above all else, I aim to inspire others to just get out and see the world. Traveling is such an enriching experience, and I can’t even comprehend how much it has shaped me as an individual. If you have ANY questions, or need travel advice of ANY kind, PLEASE don’t hesitate to email me at the address below! I will do my very best to help you in any way I can!

Xoxoxo Happy Travels!

Current Location: Canmore, Alberta Canada

Travelling Plans: Our plan is to stay in this area until Christmas or New Years. Details of our next destination are yet to be confirmed.

To head back to the beginning of our journey, and the moment we decided to sell all of our possessions to travel the world, click here.

To see many travelling photos and to learn about where we are travelling, please follow our Facebook and Instagram accounts by clicking on the appropriate icon in the right hand column.

To learn about where I have previously traveled, visit my Countries Page.

To see all of my blog post headings on one page, (including all of the ones about letting our stuff go) head over to my Blog Post Menu.

To contribute to our Patreon account, please click here.

To learn about housesitting, please click here.

To email me directly, please do so anytime at jillamatt@me.com.

If you like my writing, and want to follow along on our journey, please put your email address in the right hand column to subscribe. That way all of my posts will go straight to your email inbox:)

21 Months Later and Still Letting Go

I do think our pasts are important in shaping who we become, but we must sever the ties that do not serve us anymore. We must cut the chords of our former selves, to allow ourselves to grow and move forward in this life.

In 2017 we packed up our life, and quit the 9-5 to head out into the world. We came with no expectations, we only wanted to experience life. Since we have left, we have packed more fun and adventure into our lives than we ever could have imagined. Being on the road now for over a year, has brought with it the freedom to explore what it is that we want to do to create an income for ourselves, the time to pay attention to the things that are truly important to us, and the adventure to truly make life fun and interesting once again. We left seeking an exciting life, and we have not been disappointed! Join us as we explore as much of this big old world that we can!

It’s been almost 21 months since we flew away from Canada, bound on a one way journey to Costa Rica. We spent 9 months before that ridding ourselves of all of our possessions, pairing down our lives, shedding years of collecting things, letting go of our pets, our beloved garden and the house that we called home.

In that time, I wrote in what I called “Jill’s Letting Go Diary”, which documented the process, physically and emotionally, of literally letting go of everything. I last wrote under this heading in November 2017 , but since then we have definitely continued to let go of many aspects of our former selves. It’s impossible to dive down and list all the things, as we have now been given so much time in this life to do some deep soul searching, contemplating and realizing of things that just don’t serve us anymore. I’m talking about ways of feeling, old habits that needed to be broken, lies we told ourselves, stories that we made up in our heads. The list literally could go on and on!

But today, I realized that there is still one major thing that I STILL haven’t let go of, and that is the last town that we were living in in Canada. I lived in Powell River for 12 years, Chris for 4, and I had decided while there that it was the ultimate paradise. By then, of course, I had travelled to many places around the world, 46 countries in total. I felt that because I had seen so much, I knew how special Powell River was. And, I digress, I still do think it is a pretty special place. But I have to say, it is a small place, but a dot on the world map. Although it is spectacular, and many of its residents truly do value what it is to be part of a community, it is not the be all, end all that I had decided it was.

Powell River has many different issues that are tackled by the residents on a daily basis, their lives are entwined with what is right in front of their faces. Of course, this is the way it is with most people that live in their communities. We all react to those things that are right in front of us. We choose to be in those places, and to deal with those issues. There are always bigger problems in the world, but it is that which is right in front of us, that always gets the most attention.

Today, as I was mind numbingly scrolling facebook, I noticed just how much of my news feed still has posts about Powell River on it. Now, for a while I have been saying that I need to stop getting so wound up and involved in the politics of a place that I have no intention of returning to. But, you know, I didn’t really put two and two together that by actually seeing all the things on a day to day basis, that I WAS involved. It’s like a soap opera on TV that I can’t seem to switch off. It’s that addiction to drama, the need to keep tabs on others’ lives, the want to just see what happens with some particular project or another, that has kept me stuck. These issues literally have NO bearing on my life anymore, yet I am drawn to their outcomes, keen to find out every little detail.

OF COURSE, there are those people with whom I made special connections while living there. Connections that go farther than just the place that we both lived. These people are on the same page as me, and I feel like we are kindred spirits that will likely see each other down the road somewhere. I will keep in touch with these people always, and will always want to stay up to date with who they are and what they are up to.

OF COURSE, I do love it when people update me about the plants that we sold or gave them. They send pictures of their gardens, or mention us in comments about these sorts of things. I know that the people who bought our house are taking care of our beautiful garden well, and that makes me feel good.

OF COURSE, I will always have fond memories of Powell River and the people that helped me to grow as an individual. I grew immensely while living there, and I left a much different person than I was before I moved there. But the time has come to cut the ties. I will no longer follow business pages, the local news paper, the blueberry picking farm (oooohhh I miss those blueberries!!), or any other group that I was a part of in Powell River. My ties to these things are holding me back from moving forward. It’s like some long tether that keeps me looking back, always interested, always wondering.

It’s time to re-prioritize my time, to allow more space to focus on the issues that affect me in my current space and time. It is time to get involved in the places where I am living, and figuring out what I can do on the ground HERE, not somewhere else where I have no input anymore. We all only have so much space and time to put towards certain issues in this life, and it is up to us to decide what is important, what is not, and where we should be directing our energies.

You will always hold a special place in my heart Powell River, but it is now time to say goodbye.

An update on our current travels…….

For those that are following along, and are interested in what we are up to and where we are, here is a bit of a synopsis.

We have been working at the Botanical Garden on the island of Nevis since mid February. We have gone full circle from leaving our 9-5 jobs in Canada, to seek out more freedom, to arriving right back to a 9-5 job (well 8-4 actually) here in paradise. We absolutely love the garden, and have taken great pleasure in getting back to working with plants, as it is definitely something that we have missed since leaving our home and garden, but I won’t lie, the schedule has been HARD. The time that we would spend on our art and our online shops before this ‘job’ almost vanished and we found ourselves scrambling morning and night to fit time in in order to keep some progress happening.

One day, after some sort of emotional breakdown from both of us, we suddenly realized that we were both overworked and extremely exhausted with trying to do too much. We also had been raising 3 kittens and taking care of 2 dogs that kept escaping the yard to run around the neighbourhood to kill goats (plus they killed one of the kittens!), so our emotions were frazzled to say the least.

It has been a strange and interesting few months, and I won’t get into details, but many times we have felt like running as far away from this island as we possibly could. However, we had committed to helping out the owner here until August, and that is just what we are going to do.

The beautiful Oasis Restaurant at the Botanical Gardens of Nevis.

Call us crazy, many who have been here before us, probably would, but we have also had a huge realization that with this nomadic lifestyle comes the ultimate freedom of when you don’t like something, you just move on. However, the always running away from things, also doesn’t help us to grow. It is in the tackling of these issues and annoyances in life, when we can dig deep and learn the most about ourselves. This stop on our journey has tried us beyond belief, and it’s impossible for me to explain the details, but through it all, we have both come out feeling wiser and stronger than we did when we arrived. The serendipitous way that this place came onto our radar, meant that we had important things to learn here, and we have tried our hardest to open ourselves up to the learning, and to not be drug down emotionally by things that we have no control over.

Thankfully in June, the owner of the garden sent us off for a bit of a break to another property that she owns on another Caribbean Island called Anguilla. I have to say that it was JUST what the doctor ordered. White sand beaches and spectacular turquoise waters surround the island, and with it being the low season, we had most places almost all to ourselves. The house where we were staying was located a stones throw from the beach, so after our allotted 4 hours of work (yes we still worked a bit!), we were free to do whatever we pleased.

anguilla photo 4 — We were so happy to have made friends with BJ while in Anguilla. He is the caretaker of the house that we stayed at, and he took the time to show us around a little bit. This is the lookout down to Sandy Ground.

anguilla photo 7 — The fact that turquoise is my favourite colour, and lime green a close second, I couldn’t help but snap this beautiful quintessential Caribbean pic.

anguilla photo 3 — This is the beach that is close to our house where we were staying. It’s called Shoal Bay, and you can see just how close the corals come to the shore, making it an awesome snorkeling spot for all levels!

The beach we were on had some spectacular snorkelling right along the shore, and most afternoons we would don our bathing suits and snorkel gear, walk to the furthest point away, then drift on the natural current that ran along the shoreline, back to the house. This was the highlight of our day, and it seemed like each day we saw more and more incredible sea life than the one before it. On the last day we saw 3 Barracudas, 5 rays, 1 spotted eagle ray, a few puffer fish, some sort of spotted eel or sea snake, and numerous, NUMEROUS large schools of fish, and other sea life. The coral is not in the best shape unfortunately, likely trashed by years of people anchoring their boats on it, plus getting thrashed by hurricanes can’t help, but we did see much of it growing back, which gives me great hope that the reefs are mending.

We spent 2 weeks there healing from our kind of over-worked and hectic lives here on Nevis, but returned here on July 3rd to finish off our stint for one more month. We have arrived back with a refreshed view, and know that in a very short time, we will be off on a whole new adventure.

anguilla photo 2 — First day on ‘our’ beach and feeling pretty good about ourselves!

anguilla photo 8 — High above the natural arch! Photo courtesy of BJ Kirong

On August 5th we fly to the island of St. Martin, also in the Caribbean. There we will spend 2 nights before we make our way back to Guatemala for a short visit. In Guatemala, we will not only be checking in with the friends we have made in the last year, but will also be collecting our art supplies and Chris’ tattoo gear (plus some clothing), then we will start our journey back up to Canada to visit family and friends for a couple months. It’s a loose plan, other than our flights, there aren’t any set dates and times, but we like it what way of course! We expect to be back in Canada mid-August.

Thanks to everyone who follows us along on our journey. I know I haven’t done the best job of keeping you up to date, but I try to allow the writing to come when it is meant to, and not force myself to write just for the sake of it. It is in these moments that I feel like I actually have substance and thoughts that are worth sharing, and hopefully it comes through that way to my readers.

xoxoxo Jill

Xoxoxo Happy Travels!

Current Location: Nevis Island, St. Kitts & Nevis

Travelling Plans: On August 5th we will start our long journey back to Canada to visit family and friends for a couple months.

To head back to the beginning of our journey, and the moment we decided to sell all of our possessions to travel the world, click here.

To see many travelling photos and to learn about where we are travelling, please follow our Facebook and Instagram accounts by clicking on the appropriate icon in the right hand column.

To learn about where I have previously traveled, visit my Countries Page.

To see all of my blog post headings on one page, (including all of the ones about letting our stuff go) head over to my Blog Post Menu.

To contribute to our Patreon account, please click here.

To learn about housesitting, please click here.

To email me directly, please do so anytime at jillamatt@me.com.

If you like my writing, and want to follow along on our journey, please put your email address in the right hand column to subscribe. That way all of my posts will go straight to your email inbox:)

Cool San Cristobal de las Casas – Part One

As we sat in stunned amazement, watching the spectacle unfold all around us, we couldn’t help but realize just how lucky we were to have witnessed this.

Over the course of 9 months in 2017, my partner and I sold all of our possessions, including 2 vehicles, and a house full of stuff. In order to sell the house for its maximum value, we also completed 3 months of renovations that had been lingering for over 3 years. We wrapped up 2 businesses and left a town and tight knit community that we both cherished. We did all of this in order to seek out a life of freedom, away from the hustle and bustle of the 9-5 life, but most importantly, we did it so that we could travel. This is our story…….

As our collectivo (small shuttle bus running locals from town to town) wound its way from Palenque to San Cristobal, we noticed that the flora and fauna all around us began to change. And then, just like that, we were up in the mountain tops, not a palm tree in sight! It was if we crossed an invisible line, dividing the jungle from the mountains, I guess, in essence, that is just what we did. We were now amongst the pine trees and the higher altitude scrub brush. The lush tropical jungles that we had grown so accustomed to over the last year, disappeared behind and below us.

We arrived in San Cristobal de las Casas, the first time, at around 6:00pm. Immediately out of the bus, we could feel the cool crisp air, and I have to say, it was a bit of a relief. We were excited to not only breathe the fresh mountain air, but we looked forward to spending some days without the familiar sticky humid feeling on our skin that we had grown so accustomed to.

We had heard many a good thing spoken about San Cristobal, namely the amount of art and creativity that the city exuded, so we were eager to check it out. We had been warned that it was cooler, so we prepared ourselves for that, and were excited to finally use our wool sweaters and other warm weather gear that we had been lugging around with us through the tropics for the last 12 months.

We had left Guatemala only 2 days earlier, leaving behind our beloved Flores, the place we called home for 3.5 months. We were on a mission to get to Oaxaca, the capital of the Mexican state of the same name. There we would be celebrating Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), one of Mexico’s premier festivals. San Cristobal was on the road to Oaxaca, and we would visit it on the way, and again on our return heading back to Guatemala.

Since we knew that there was much to see here, we decided to spend about 5 days exploring the funky mountain town. The temperature was cool at night, I would venture around 15-17 degrees celsius (59-63 F) (although there would be frost on the grass first thing in the morning, so it must have gotten colder), but was brilliantly sunny during the day with temps at a reasonable 22-25 C (72-77 F).

We enjoyed ourselves as we walked around this magnificent town. Although, sitting at 2200m (7200ft) above sea level, we found ourselves very tired for most of the time, and also did a lot of sleeping and relaxing as well while we adjusted to the altitude. The town sits in a sort of valley that is perched between several small peaks that flank its edges. Normally, atop most of these surrounding peaks, sits a church or other significant building. Many of them have stairs that go up to them, so we found ourselves huffing and puffing up these stairs, in order to gain a good view, and a better perspective of the city below us.

The streets consist of ancient cobblestone sidewalks that are worn smooth with wear over the centuries that it has been occupied. The main downtown area, a pedestrian section only, bisects the center of the city and is rife with artisans and street pedlars from all over the world. From the get go, we could see that San Cristobal was not JUST another Mexican City, it was in fact very multinational. Because of this, for the first time in many months, we had access to Sushi, Noodle Bowls, Indian Food and more! In fact, our very first foray into the city brought us straight to a little corner restaurant that served Poutine! (If you don’t know what Poutine is, it is one of Canada’s national dishes along side Maple Syrup, Back Bacon and Ceasars. Check it out here.) Of course (!) we just HAD to have some poutine! It warmed our hearts and our bellies, and literally, our bodies, the first night we arrived.

After a couple days we found ourselves climbing some random stairs up a random hill and stumbled upon a funky bohemian bar. Immediately upon entry, we knew that we had found ‘our place.’ The building functions as an artist coop and we made quick friends with the people running it, plus met the current artist in residence, Jackie. Jackie is a hand poke tattoo artist, which of course, intrigued us. She is from LA, but would be living at the coop for 2 months while she promoted her art and secured some business. She has been travelling and working in many parts of the world, so we had lots in common and tons of stories to share. We hit it off with her right away. Most of the rest of our evenings were spent in this spot hanging out, and enjoying what must have been, one of the best roof top terraces with a stunning view over the city, that there was.

On our last full day in San Cristobal, we decided that rather than just hanging out in the city, we had better see something of the surrounding area. Together with Jackie, we decided to head to Mamut Caves, a cave system that was located just outside the city, a 15 minute cab ride for about $1 per person. We asked the guys at the artist coop where we should go. I had heard about Rancho Nuevo, but Meow (local born and raised) said that the Mamut Caves were just as spectacular, and not as busy. Perfect!

We headed off at around 12:00 and wound our way through the city streets and out into the wilderness. We arrived to an open field and a young man, clearly not happy with his day (or life) to pay our entry fee of about 50 cents. I asked him if this was his family’s property, and he begrudgingly nodded. After walking another 20 feet though, we were approached by another young man, this one asking for 50 cents more. He gave us a ticket and we reasoned that the first guy was charging us for driving onto his property to get to the caves, and the second guy actually owned the property with the cave on it? Who knows! Either way, for the price of $1.00, we weren’t going to put up a stink.

We entered the cave and were pleased to find out that we were, in fact, the only people that were visiting it at this time. Thank you Meow! We explored the well worn trails that had lights on them, plus went a little further with our headlamps into the far reaching corridors, until it got to the point where we would have had to crawl on our bellies to get any further. At the beginning of the cave, and the largest ‘room’, we had noted a vent in the ceiling and we could see greenery and light coming down the shaft.

After exploring the rest of the far reaches, we found ourselves back at the beginning and kind of feeling like “now what”. We had explored every nook we could, and it had only taken about half an hour. We didn’t want this party to end so soon.

As I went over and inspected the vent, I noticed all sorts of greenery, lichens and mosses, growing on the sides of the shaft. I commented that it would be really cool to be there when the sun shone down, which I was certain that it must do at some point during each day. Not 5 minutes later, after we had started looking at other parts of the room again, Chris pointed and said, “Look!”

There it was, a single sun beam shining down the shaft. We were immediately drawn to it. The cave was quite cool, and we relished in the warm beam that came down and caressed our faces as we stood under it. Little did we know that the show was just about to get started.

Immediately, Jackie noticed a green mound at the base of where the light hit. It was iridescent green like pond algae, and it looked just as slimy. But when we all touched it, it was hardened rock. It was a feast for the senses as we took turns touching it. Water would drip on it from above every few seconds, and somehow, probably because of the tiny bit of sun that hit it, it was retaining some chlorophyl or other green element, that the rest of the cave didn’t have access to. We were mesmerized by this phenomenon, and we spent much time looking at it, and playing in the sun beams. We affectionately named the green blob…….well ‘Blob.’ How appropriate.

This is Blob. It is solid rock, no slime at all!

In no time at all, we started to notice that the cave was illuminating all around us. Previously missed features that were hidden in dark corners, were now receiving light beams that were refracted from the tiny crystal structures that graced the entire cave. Light bounced into every recessed corner and we started to see just how intricate and incredible this cave was. As the sun moved, and the light beam adjusted with it, the light would bounce around to different spots and we sat for about an hour and watched one of the most spectacular shows that mother nature could ever produce.

This formation didn’t have near as much detail as this before the sun came through the vent.

As we sat in stunned amazement, watching the spectacle unfold all around us, we couldn’t help but realize just how lucky we were to have witnessed this. Our timing could not have been more perfect, and we were all so grateful. As the sun beam crept up the wall, starting to leave the cave, we heard voices coming in. Those voices were followed by other voices, and it became apparent that we were no longer the only ones in the cave. Although we were sad to not have it all to ourselves anymore, we also couldn’t help but feel sorry for the new arrivals, as they had literally just missed the most awesome event of the day, by mere minutes.

People arrived just as the sun was starting to sneak back up the wall of the cave.

We thanked ‘Blob’ for the show, and continued outside back into the stunningly sunny and beautiful day. A little trail wound up the hill above the cave entrance, so we headed up to hang out on some sort of old zipline platform, to decompress from what we had just experienced. While up there, some butterflies flew by us and all around us, and as they flew away, Chris declared that he wanted a butterfly tattoo on his hand, to remember this experience. With Jackie being just the girl to do it, our plan was set, we would return to San Cristobal again on our way back to Guatemala after visiting Oaxaca, so that he could get his tattoo.

Jackie Graced us with her flute playing.

Looking down on the valley below the platform we sat on.

We hailed a taxi from the side of the road as the sun was setting, and headed back down to San Cristobal, but not before we took a selfie and watched the awesomeness of the San Cristobal valley below.

To be continued………

Xoxoxo Happy Travels!

Current Location: Livingston, Guatemala

Travelling Plans: We are housesitting here until the beginning of January 2019.

To head back to the beginning of our journey, and the moment we decided to sell all of our possessions to travel the world, click here.

To see many travelling photos and to learn about where we are travelling, please follow our Facebook and Instagram accounts by clicking on the appropriate icon in the right hand column.

To learn about where I have previously traveled, visit my Countries Page.

To see all of my blog post headings on one page, (including all of the ones about letting our stuff go) head over to my Blog Post Menu.

To contribute to our Patreon account, please click here.

To learn about housesitting, please click here.

To email me directly, please do so anytime at jillamatt@me.com.

If you like my writing, and want to follow along on our journey, please put your email address in the right hand column to subscribe. That way all of my posts will go straight to your email inbox:)

One Year of Location Independence (aka Being a Digital Nomad)

“Yeah, but if we had never left there, then we wouldn’t know what else is out there to miss.”

On September 20th, 2018, we celebrated our one year anniversary of being Location Independent. It’s hard to describe in words what that means to us, or how it makes us feel. It is definitely hard to believe that it’s been a year already, but at the same time, we have experienced and done so much that it could easily fit into some peoples lifetime of experiences.

On that day in 2017, we left a town that we both loved. We weren’t leaving it because we were tired of it, or sick of it per se. No, instead we were leaving it because we wanted to take a chance at living an exciting and exhilarating life. We wanted to see what the heck was out there. We wanted to see life from a different perspective and learn how others live around the world.

Most of all, we wanted freedom.

When we left our town in Canada, we had to take a ferry. This is our getaway vehicle waiting in the line up on a typical stellar west coast evening. September 20, 2017. To read that story click here. From this post I mostly enjoy the following section:”This is it! I have once again found joy! THIS is what I have been searching for! I vow to myself to never let it go again.”

We wanted to be the ones dictating our time. We wanted to be the ones in the drivers seat. We were tired of living life while conforming to some sort of unwritten standards that society had presented us with. We were tired of seemingly working so hard, but never getting anywhere. While there is so much more that I can say on this topic, I will leave it for now, as this isn’t a post about ditching the conventional life…….well I guess it is, all of my posts are, really. But no, I want to dive into what we have learned in a year, a couple key takeaways from living life in the tropics, and how we have shifted and grown during this year.

Let’s talk about the weather.

Experiencing perpetual summer for a whole year has been interesting. Watching friends and family chat about the weather and the changing seasons on Facebook has been entertaining. I’ve really noticed how much energy is put into either loving the weather or hating it. How people post about the snow and the rain, reporting on what mother nature is dishing out in their neighbourhood. Now don’t get me wrong, I have certainly posted things about the weather from down here, but I have to say, it certainly doesn’t occupy my brain or my time like it did while living in the North. I can see how seasons dictate our lives up there. We are either planning for winter, or planning for summer. Getting out the summer gear, or putting it away for the winter. We garden in the summer, hibernate in the winter. We go camping and enjoy the outdoors in the summer, stay warm and indoors in the winter. For good reason obviously, the temperature dictates our lives in the northern climes.

Down here, everyday is the same. Most days we get a bit of rain (and let me tell you it does rain HARD when it does), but it never lasts long. Usually no more than an hour or 2 at the most, then it clears off again and it’s business as usual. Nobody frets about it, nobody looks at weather forecasts, nobody seems to care one way or the other what happens, they just take it as it comes. If it’s raining, they may take an umbrella, but they certainly don’t let rain get in the way of them accomplishing their tasks for the day. It’s literally a non issue. Unless of course a hurricane is coming, but if that is the case, everybody knows that there is nothing that they can do about it. If it happens, it happens and they just need to hunker down and ride it out. There is no worrying about it, or preparing for it, it just is. They do not give it ONE OUNCE of energy.

Creating community and calling a place home.

After now living in our 3rd place for over 3 months at a time, we have begun to notice some trends in our ability to create community. It seems that it takes a little while to really start to feel like we belong in a place, like we have friends and a bit of a network around us. However, it has happened, each and every time.

Our rented house in San Miguel, Guatemala. San Miguel is accessed by a 3 minute boat ride from Flores.

Very nice and modern. We have loved living in this house. 2 bedrooms and 2 baths for approx $220/month.

Eventually people start to recognize us in the neighbourhood, and notice that they have now seen us for longer than they would see other travellers for. They start to ask us our names and shake our hands, and say hello as we pass. Chris’ large stature is a hit with the local men, and they all want to high five and fist bump him whenever they get the chance. I think secretly they all want to look like him as well:). After a time, we start to feel like we have a support network, and that if we need anything, any of our community members will happily help us out.

After a couple months in one place, we start to notice that some things also start to annoy us. Like the drunken man next door that tries to speak slurring-ly over the fence at us in some sort of broken drunken spanglish. Or the lancha (boat) driver that still tries to charge us the tourist rate, when we have told him numerous times that we are living here and we are supposed to get the locals rate (because that’s what every other driver charges us).

Something else we have noticed, is that no matter how hard we try, it seems, our lives seem to get surrounded in some sort of crazy drama. It’s never our drama, it’s always that of others, and of course, we try to keep an arms length away from it all, but somehow we simultaneously get in knee deep before we realize it has happened. The drama never has anything to do with us, but we somehow become emotionally involved in other peoples lives. It’s an interesting thing to notice, but I’m not sure there is much we can do about it. We are both compassionate and caring people and, well, I think it’s just part of our make up. Surmise it to say that we never get involved enough that our personal freedoms are threatened, that’s for sure. But it’s interesting to note that it exists every where we go. I guess it’s just human nature after all.

Missing places yet always feeling the need to move on.

The other night, as we cruised back across the lake from Flores, to our Home in San Miguel, I took a moment to take in the sights around us. It was a perfectly still night, the lights were reflecting off the water in the stunning manner that they do. Our shuttle across the lake was filled with locals and their motorbikes, coming home from their busy days.

I turned to Chris and said “We are going to miss this.” We love riding the boat back and forth to town, and at the end of a busy day, it’s the tranquility and peacefulness of it all that sheds the stresses and busyness of being in the city and amongst the traffic and noise. Once out on the water it feels like it all falls away.

Chris agreed, yup, we are going to miss this. But in the split second it took him to say yes, I also realized that we had said this before. We said it when we left Matapalo, and our 4 months of living on a spectacular Costa Rican beach. I stated “Ya, but we said that when we left Matapalo as well.” He replied “Ya and I still miss that beach.”

Yeah, I do too, there is no doubt about that! But instead of voicing this, I said “Yeah, but if we had never left there, then we wouldn’t know what else is out there to miss.”

“Fair enough” he said.

We wouldn’t have had our experience in Guatemala, floating in a boat across this perfectly still lake. We wouldn’t have had our exciting, yet sometimes crazy, experience in Nicaragua. We wouldn’t have experienced living in the base of the Costa Rican mountains, in a traditional Costa Rican house, the jungle around us rife with parrots and Scarlett macaws, Toucans and Butterflies. We quite simply would not have a lifetime of stories to tell in one year, if we hadn’t have left that beach.

Spectacular sunset over Lake Peten Itza. This is our highway home at the end of the day.

This is the life that we have chosen. This is the life that we want to live. We love the feeling of community, we love getting to know a place, and to make it home for the time being, but we also like to leave, to set out into a new frontier, to find a new and interesting place. We don’t know if it will be better, we don’t know if it will be worse, but it will be different, and that is all that matters.

We now know with 100% certainty, that if we can create community in three places so far, we can create community wherever we go. It is out there, it is all around us, we just need to reach out for it.

Soaring confidence and creativity.

This year, after pulling ourselves away from so many distractions that we both faced up North, we have found that our creativity has soared. We literally can not get our ideas for art out of our head, and onto paper, canvas or walls quick enough. Through this, we have begun to find an inner confidence in ourselves that I know both of us were lacking while living in the north, and among so many other talented artists in our community.

This confidence has spread out into the rest of our lives. We are realizing that if we can paint a mural, something both of us would NEVER have attempted while in Canada, then we can do anything. In fact, I have had a book idea about creativity that has been brewing for some years now, and I am finally getting down to writing it. It is coming out of me bit by bit, but it is coming none the less. So stay tuned for that on the horizon!

Because of this new found confidence, on October 13th, we are hosting our very first art show! While in Flores, our rented house has had no wifi (which is also my excuse for not keeping up with the blog), so our nights have mostly been spent deep in creativity. Whether it is drawing or painting or working on the iPad, we have both created an pretty astounding body of work while here.

So, because we are Nomads, and we can’t possibly drag around every piece of art that we create, we have decided that it’s best to sell our originals as we go. The show will be hosted at San Telmo, a funky bohemian bar that has an incredible Terrace upstairs that looks out over the lake. In this spot, we have also been painting a couple murals for the last 3 weeks, so it will double as an unveiling of those. We are approaching this with nervousness and apprehension as it is the first official art show that either of us has ever had. But we know that it is just like everything else that we have accomplished on this trip so far, we just have to summon up the courage and go for it! Hopefully we sell a bunch as they will certainly be priced to sell, but don’t worry! We have found a place in Flores that will scan them for us and we will be able to upload them to our online platforms and share them with you on Facebook and beyond!

A portion of the mural that I am working on at San Telmo. Chris has his own section, which means a lot less arguing between us than there was on the last collaborative effort! 🙂 . By the way, this is the first set of eyes that I have painted EVER! I’m pretty happy with how they turned out:)

San Telmo Art Show October 13 — This is our art show poster. When trying to come up with a name for the show, we realized that the show is an extension of the life that we have chosen, so decided to name it the same as our blog and travelling brand. In the future we hope to have a scheduled night in a hostel or other tourist gathering place where we sell our art, plus have a bit of a presentation about what it is that we are doing in an effort to inspire others to live the life they only dream of as well . The hummingbird in this poster is part of Chris’ mural that he is working on.

As per usual, we are so grateful for this life we have chosen and for the people that have supported us along the way. Thank you for reading and we look forward to sharing more news about our next adventure very soon!

My Mom and Dad made the trip down to Guatemala to visit us for one week at the end of August. We had a really great visit, but unfortunately when this photo was taken, at the top of the largest temple in Tikal, Dad was sick with food poisoning in bed! I am so grateful for their love and support of this life that we have chosen to live!

Xoxoxo Happy Travels!

Current Location: We are currently in Palenque, Mexico on a quick one week trip to renew our 90 day visa for Guatemala.

Travelling Plans: On September 30th, we will return to Flores until Approximately October 15th. Then we will start heading west again and up to Oaxaca, Mexico for about one month. On November 26th, we will be housesitting on the Caribbean Coast of Guatemala for 6 weeks.

To head back to the beginning of our journey, and the moment we decided to sell all of our possessions to travel the world, click here.

To see many travelling photos and to learn about where we are travelling, please follow our Facebook and Instagram accounts by clicking on the appropriate icon in the right hand column.

To learn about where I have previously traveled, visit my Countries Page.

To see all of my blog post headings on one page, (including all of the ones about letting our stuff go) head over to my Blog Post Menu.

To receive added travel content by contributing a minimum of $2/month to our Patreon account, please click here.

To email me directly, please do so anytime at jillamatt@me.com.

If you like my writing, and want to follow along on our journey, please put your email address in the right hand column to subscribe. That way all of my posts will go straight to to your email inbox. 🙂

50 Experiences in 300 Days

Although there are some items on this list that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, at the same time, I wouldn’t take any of them back.

In less than a week, we will have been on the road, and away from Canada, for 10 months. While everyday is definitely not perfect, there have been many more seemingly perfect days while we have been abroad, then we would have experienced back home.

Letting go of all of our possessions has allowed us the freedom to live life on our terms. To experience the world without a schedule, without anyone dictating our time or how we spend our days. It has been an ebb and flow of trying to figure out what works for us. What works in some places, definitely doesn’t necessarily work in others, but we adjust as we go. We figure it out each and every time.

It occurred to me the other day that we have had some pretty wild experiences in the short 10 months since we have been gone. And it excites me to no end to know that we certainly wouldn’t have had half of these experiences had we have stayed in Canada.

To me, this is what life is all about. Life is a culmination of our experiences. They are what shape us, they are what make us who we are. Without our experiences to broaden our perspectives, we would be empty shells, robots in a sense. I believe that having new experiences is what life is all about. Only then do we grow and change as humans. Only then do we become new people everyday.

Traveling, to me, is the ultimate experience. It creates a platform for new and different things to happen each and every day. Around every corner, in fact, is a new experience that is waiting to happen. Around every corner is an adventure waiting to unfold. THIS is what travelling is all about! This is what makes it exciting, challenging, and soul enhancing. I crave these new experiences, and I will never stop seeking them out and searching for those ones, that I know, are just sitting and waiting, lurking in the corner, seemingly begging for me to find them.

And so, in no particular order, here is a list of 50 experiences that we can think of that have happened in the last ten months to either one of us, or both of us, and I am sure we are missing many…..

Had 2 hammocks break while we were sitting in them.
Encountered 2 wild snakes, both more than 6 feet long.
Saw 2 wild crocodiles in 2 different rivers.
Ridden in boats across 2 different lakes, one of which we cross everyday from our rented house near Flores.
Experienced 2 earthquakes.
Had our house struck by lightening.
Had food poisoning once.
Been sick with parasites twice.
Had an infection on my foot so bad that I had to seek out antibiotics.
Watched a sea turtle dig it’s nest and lay eggs.
Sat face to face with a sloth as it hung from a low branch.
Walked with a sloth as it crawled along the ground after falling out of a tree.
Seen numerous volcanoes, one that was actually smoking.
Visited ancient temples and ruins.
The ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal.
Had huge toads come into our rented house every night for 3 weeks straight.
Painted a mural.
Witnessed political unrest and war break out in Nicaragua.
Crossed the Panama/Costa Rica border once.
Crossed the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border twice.
Been on 5 airplanes.
Painted over the course of a month while staying in Samara, Costa Rica.
Rented 2 houses in local villages with Spanish speaking neighbours.
Bought handmade tortillas, made that morning, from our neighbours that made them, in two different places.
Housesat 3 houses.
Took care of 4 dogs.
Swam under the full moon, in the ocean, at midnight on New Years Eve.
Went 24 hours with no water in our house.
Experienced multiple power outages.
Walked down the street with a propane tank in a wheel barrow to refill it for our stove.
Ate tons of street food that was to die for.
Made a bazillion new friends.
Saw numerous Toucans, Parrots and Scarlett Macaws.
Visited an epic waterfall.
Saw numerous monkeys.
Helped build an earth bag home.
Got stung by a sting ray.
Zip Lined.
Volunteered at a Music Festival.
Had a visit from a tree frog inside our house.
Witnessed several incredible sunsets.
Slept in our tent on top of our bed to keep the bugs and snakes away from us at night.
Saw 2 tarantulas in the wild.
Saw various scorpions.
Rode in the back of numerous pick up trucks.
Ate traditional Mayan food at a neighbourhood barbecue.
Witnessed incredible handicrafts in Panajachel, Guatemala. Literally mountains of woven textiles, carvings, beadwork and much much more!
Attended a one week Digital Nomad retreat.
Shopped at numerous local markets, buying our produce direct from farmers and other food producers.
Opened numerous fresh coconuts to drink the water and eat the meat!
Learned to make local dishes wherever we go.
Ridden in numerous tuk tuks, buses and collectivos to get from points A to B.

Like I said……I KNOW there are many more, but you get the idea. Life is an adventure, and each day brings new and exciting experiences.

Although there are some items on this list that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, at the same time, I wouldn’t take any of them back. ALL of these experiences are shaping us to be the people that we are now, and they are making us who we will be in the future.

As the old saying goes “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”

So true, so very very true.

What new and exciting experiences have you had in the last nine months? I would love to hear all about them in the comments below.

Xoxoxo Happy Travels!

Current Location: We are currently in Flores, Guatemala. We have rented a house and expect to stay here until mid September at least.

Travelling Plans: We are considering the possibility of heading up to Mexico for a couple months after we are finished with our house here. Then we will be returning to Guatemala to housesit for 6 weeks starting November 26th.

To head back to the beginning of our journey, and the moment we decided to sell all of our possessions to travel the world, click here.

To see many more travelling photos and videos, and to learn about where we are travelling, please follow our Facebook and Instagram accounts by clicking on the appropriate icon in the right hand column.

To learn about where I have previously traveled, visit my Countries Page.

To see all of my blog post headings on one page, (including all of the ones about letting our stuff go) head over to my Blog Post Menu.

To contribute to our Patreon account, please click here.

To email me directly, please do so anytime at jillamatt@me.com.

If you like my writing, and want to follow along on our journey, please put your email address in the right hand column to subscribe. That way all of my posts will go straight to your email inbox:)

Venga Vale Vamos Guest Interview

I am honoured to join the ranks of many before me, and have been featured in this section with regards to our recent experience of travelling and living in Costa Rica.

Kristie Jeffries is a traveller, blogger and digital marketer. She has been on the road for a few years now, and has travelled to 72 countries…….and is still going! Her website offers a wealth of information about travel around the world, expat life, budget backpacking, working as a digital nomad, Australian working holidays/work visas, the Spanish auxiliares de conversación program, and so much more.

She has a section of her website where she features interviews from fellow travellers, called the Travel Talk Interviews. These interviews run the gamut from learning about being a Digital Nomad, to becoming a Spanish Teacher’s assistant in Spain, from travelling on a budget to seeing the world in style.

I am honoured to join the ranks of many before me, and have been featured in this section with regards to our recent experience of travelling and living in Costa Rica.

You can read that interview here.

Thanks so much Kristie for the opportunity to share my travel story and my tips to travelling in Costa Rica!

Xoxoxo Happy Travels!

Current Location: We are currently in Flores, Guatemala. We have rented a house and expect to stay here for a minimum of 2 months.

Travelling Plans: Our next plan is to head to Livingston on the Caribbean coast of Guatemala, where we will be housesitting for roughly 6 weeks at the end of November.

To head back to the beginning of our journey, and the moment we decided to sell all of our possessions to travel the world, click here.

To see many travelling photos and to learn about where we are travelling, please follow our Facebook and Instagram accounts by clicking on the appropriate icon in the right hand column.

To learn about where I have previously traveled, visit my Countries Page.

To see all of my blog post headings on one page, (including all of the ones about letting our stuff go) head over to my Blog Post Menu.

To contribute to our Patreon account, please click here.

To email me directly, please do so anytime at jillamatt@me.com.

If you like my writing, and want to follow along on our journey, please put your email address in the right hand column to subscribe. That way all of my posts will go straight to your email inbox:)

Reflections from Flores, Guatemala

Could this be the doors opening that we had been hoping for? Of course it was!

We arrived in Flores after 3 different flights from Costa Rica, and an 8 hour day. We hopped our way through Central America, stopping first in San Salvador, where we spent one hour in the airport, but managed to have a glass of beer at the airport microbrewery. Seriously, not something we expected to find! Next was a quick hop to Guatemala City where we had a 4 hour layover, allowing us plenty of time to grab our bags, clear customs and check back into our next flight to Flores.

Flores is a small island town that is perched on Lake Petén Itzá, in the most Northern Guatemala Department (similar to States or Provinces), also called Petén. Since we were arriving at night, we were a little concerned with getting to our hotel, which was across the the lake from Flores, a 3 minute ride by boat. However, our worries were typically needless. Our very friendly shuttle driver, drove us straight to the boat launch, phoned our hotel to send a boat, and we arrived in fine fashion.

As we entered the Island of Flores, by one single road connecting it to the mainland, we were immediately enamoured with the quaint and idyllic little island. We could see Bar-B-Que’s happening on the sides of the roads, and plenty of life happening in the streets. The teeny tiny little streets are just about the cutest little streets we have ever seen (although I think I say that about all the little streets that we see), some of them only big enough for motos and tiny little gas driven tuk tuks. Small little alleyways, many suitable for walking only wove themselves away from the main roads, and off into the matrix of houses that are intertwined in behind. As we passed each alley way and road, each of us craned out necks to look down as far as we could. We were both wide eyed and lost in wonderland and were immediately in love with this place!

Initially our two planned nights in Flores (actually, we learned, the area across the water, where our hotel was, is called San Miguel), turned into 3, and as we met more and more people in and around Flores, we found it really hard to leave at all.

THE PLAN

Our ‘plan’, when we booked the trip to Guatemala, was to visit Flores for a couple days, then head out to El Remate for a couple more days to see Tikal. After that we would be off to Belize by bus, heading north to Mexico up the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula. Our end goal was to get to Merida, the capital city of the Yucatan Peninsula, and where we visited for only 3 days in 2015, but fell in love with it. Chris had spoken to a tattoo shop there that accepts guest artists, and we have some friends that are currently living there that are from Portland, who we keep telling that we are coming up there. However, as it is with travelling, and this sort of life, things don’t always go as we plan.

The morning after we arrived, we were ecstatic to look out of our hotel window to see an island across the way that was literally beaming with colour. Even from our distance across the water, which is likely less than a kilometer, we could see that there were cute little buildings, seemingly stacked on top of each other. The coloured roofs seemed to interconnect, making it seem like a giant patchwork quilt set out on the middle of the lake. In the center of it all, and up on the hill in the middle of the island, stands a grande white church that looks down on the rest of the area. Needless to say, we couldn’t wait to get our day started, so that we could get back over there to explore.

A tiny little “lancha” took us across to the other side for just over a dollar for both of us, and we were dropped off in about 3 minutes. We immediately set out to explore what we could, weaving our way here and there up the tiny streets. Many Guatemalans sat on their front stoops, and I’m sure ALL of them greeted us in some way as we passed. Over the course of the day, we visited many little stores, coffee shops and bars and met some really interesting people. We learned that there was in fact a tattoo shop in town, however we didn’t find it that day.

By mid afternoon, we found ourselves back down by the water, and where we would be catching our boat back across to our hotel. We had noticed a really neat looking coffee shop along that road that morning, it was covered in plants from top to bottom, and really caught our eye. So, we decided to head in and have a beer before we headed back across the water. It wasn’t just the plants, and the lure of feeling like we would be sitting amongst a jungle that brought us in here, though. It was the bright vibrant colours that everything was painted in, it was the funky bohemian decor, and it was just the good vibes and the feeling in general. We felt very comfortable in that little place right away, and it felt like home to us. We took our boat back across the water after a fulfilling and great exploration day, and decided that maybe 2 nights wasn’t enough for this place.

The next morning, we told the hotel that we wanted to stay another day, and we headed straight across the water for breakfast, back to San Telmo, the comfy little bohemian coffee shop/bar that we had fallen in love with. Right away when we got there, we met William, or Docter Gato, as the locals know him as. He started chatting with us immediately when we came in. Having grown up split between Canada and the US, he has now been in Guatemala for 25 years. We don’t know how old he is, but I can imagine its between 60 and 70 somewhere. Although, he is also one of those spirited, spry people, that could easily be 80 as well.

He sat down to ask us what we do and all kinds of questions about our life. In an instant I felt like I could tell this man anything, while simultaneously feeling like I couldn’t get enough of what HE had to say. He immediately suggested that since we had no schedule, we should stay for longer in Flores since it is such a nice spot. We agreed.

Chris sourced out the tattoo guy through Facebook, and sent him a message asking if he was looking for any guest artists. He replied right away that he was interested, and, of course, wanted to meet us. We finished breakfast and then headed to his shop. We found it with no problem and felt completely at ease and comfortable in his presence, right away. He seemed excited at the prospect of having another artist in the shop, and we spoke with him a bit about needing a house to rent, if we were to stay longer . He immediately took us through the streets to look at a couple options.

We didn’t find anything that was suitable at that time, but later in the day after we had moved on to other things, Vladimir, the tattoo shop owner, messaged us that he knew of a place in San Miguel that was available and he wanted to show it to us at 9:00 the next morning. He would pick Chris up with his motorbike (actually he thought he was picking us both up at once, as they often do here, but I opted out of that one….) and take him to see the house. If we didn’t like it, we decided that we would head back over the the Island of Flores, and would stay in a hotel there that was just as cheap, but a little more part of the action than across the water at San Miguel.

Little did we know, Vladimir was hoping that we would stay in a room at his house! Him and his girlfriend had completely cleaned out one of the bedrooms, but left the mattress on the floor (a King Size Mattress none-the-less), complete with clean sheets. He stated that we could stay there for as long as we wanted, as long as Chris was working in his shop, and didn’t want any money or compensation for it at all. We were astounded at his offer and decided to spend a night to see how it went. Unfortunately, between many lights not working, a shower that never stopped running (at least while the water was actually working), water constantly on the bathroom floor, and a living area that had no furniture to sit in, we decided that this place wasn’t quite as comfortable as we wanted to be, and we set out the next morning to continue our search for accommodation. I booked a couple nights at a hotel in Flores, then booked 3 nights in El Remate, where we would explore Tikal from and we resigned ourselves to the fact that maybe Flores wasn’t the place for us to be after all. After talking to countless people and trying our hardest to find a place to live there over our first 3 days, we figured that no doors opening, meant that other doors would open somewhere else. At that point, our plan was to see Tikal, and then continue on to Mexico like we had decided before heading up to Guatemala. Maybe that really IS the best plan, we thought.

After our first night staying in Flores proper, Chris had decided that he wanted to tattoo Vladimir. Throughout our stay there, Vladimir had told him how excited he was to have another tattoo artist around, and there were some things that he really wanted to get finished on him. It turned out that what Vladimir wanted, was something that Chris would design himself, and be something that represented his art style. Knowing that he had very little money, but realizing that we were leaving, he still wanted to gift Vlad with his art, in exchange for how kind he had been to us, so he did it for free. At that point, it was our last day in Flores, and it needed to be done then, so Chris headed up to his shop, while I went back to our favourite cafe to do some work on my computer, visit with our new friends, and have some coffee.

At some point through the day, I left go to our hotel for something, and when I returned to the coffee shop, my initial seat had been taken, so I sat down to chat with a Guatemalan lady that was sitting on her own. We immediately got to chatting like we were long lost friends, and she started telling me where she lived, back across the lake in San Miguel, where we had initially been staying. The way she described her house somehow seemed so familiar to me, and I immediately asked her if she had and Air BnB there. “Si!” She announced. I really don’t know how I knew this, but the morning that we had woken up at Vlad’s, and after searching out some other options of accommodation possibilities, I had found her house on Air BnB and it was very reasonably priced at $15/night. I almost messaged her to see what she would charge us for a month, but quickly also realized that it was her house, and that we would be living with her if we wanted to stay there. This wasn’t ideal for us……we really needed our own space, so I didn’t.

But all of a sudden, here I was, sitting across a table from the exact person that owned this house. As we discussed her house a bit, Doctor Gato sat down and I told him the story. Suddenly these impossible words began spilling from his mouth “she is planning to move out of her house, you should live there.”

WHAT???!!! I couldn’t believe it! Here I had been already, researching this possible place to stay, feeling like it would have been the perfect house for us, but just not wanting a roommate. However, with her planning to move out, things were coming together perfectly! My mind buzzed with excitement!

I quickly asked her how much it would be to rent it, and she told me the magic number. We had been looking for something close to US$200 per month, and she wanted the equivalent of $225. Could this be it? Could this be the doors opening that we had been hoping for? Of course it was!

After explaining our situation and insisting that we were VERY interested, I asked her if she could wait there while I ran up the street to ask Chris about it. Of course, I was quite sure that he would be ecstatic about it as well and I arrived breathless and barely being able to get a word out, as I expressed how excited I was about this place. We agreed that it needed to be looked at, and made a plan with Heidi the very next morning to see it.

Of course, the house is perfect! It has 2 bedrooms (one which we can Air BnB if we desire), a beautiful deck, perched high up on the hill with a view of Flores from San Miguel. It is smack dab in the middle of a teeny neighbourhood of homes, and our closest neighbour makes fresh tortillas every day, 4 for 1Q (about 15cents!). The house is very modern, and we immediately fell in love with Heidi, she has spunk and a zest for life, and she knows all about Europe and Canada and many other places in the world.

We are so excited that things have worked out for us here. We really didn’t feel like leaving, we just hadn’t given it enough time for the Universe to lay out the possibilities. We are looking forward to being able to use this place as a launchpad to explore this area. Plus, with all the friends that we have made already, we really already feel like we are part of a community, and we look forward to sinking in even more and enjoying this place for a while. It is in the staying in one place where we feel the most productive. Where we can really sink into our artwork. Where we can make friends, meet people, and really learn about the culture and the people of this land.

Not to mention that being here on the lake brings with it a certain peace that is hard to quantify. It feels tranquil, welcoming and refreshing. After spending so many months on the Ocean, we are very happy to be near fresh water.

This is the life that we have chosen! Not a day goes by where we aren’t ecstatic about the opportunities that cross our paths. Every day is an adventure. Every day offers a chance to take a different path if we so choose. However, when you get to those places that bring you so much happiness, sometimes it’s nice to stay a while.

Next up, we are off to El Remate, as planned, to explore Tikal! We are over the moon with excitement about this chance to visit these sacred lands. Stay tuned for a full story on that adventure!

In other news!

In January I joined a network called Location Indie. It has about 350 members that are either already location independent, or are working their way to being so. It offers mentoring and advice on how to achieve a location independent lifestyle. There are many valuable free workshops, lectures and a great forum where you can post any sort of question, and you will get many answers from other members.

If you are interested in checking it out, and signing up for their newsletter, please click here!

In June, I was honoured to be featured as the monthly member spotlight, and got interviewed on the network for all members to watch live. The interview was also turned into a podcast! I am very happy to share that link here (find episode 113). It tells of our journey to location independence, and gives you an inside look at how we did it, and how we are making it work now. Give it a listen if you like, and sign up for their podcast. It is very inspirational!

Xoxoxo Happy Travels!

Current Location: We are currently in Flores, Guatemala. We have rented a house and expect to stay here for a minimum of 2 months.

Travelling Plans: No plans to go anywhere at this point!

To head back to the beginning of our journey, and the moment we decided to sell all of our possessions to travel the world, click here.

To see many travelling photos and to learn about where we are travelling, please follow our Facebook and Instagram accounts by clicking on the appropriate icon in the right hand column.

To learn about where I have previously traveled, visit my Countries Page.

To see all of my blog post headings on one page, (including all of the ones about letting our stuff go) head over to my Blog Post Menu.

To contribute to our Patreon account, please click here.

To email me directly, please do so anytime at jillamatt@me.com.

If you like my writing, and want to follow along on our journey, please put your email address in the right hand column to subscribe. That way all of my posts will go straight to your email inbox:)

Off to Guatemala!

Although we have been content here in our hostel in Samara for 3 weeks now, we also realize that we can’t stay here forever. We exchanged part of our stay for painting a mural for the hostel owner, but we are now living on paid time, and while the price tag is only $25/night, we also realize that over the course of time, that adds up.

A couple weeks ago I went online to find cheap flights up to Cancun. Obviously, flying is not our travel method of choice, but since the roads are blocked in Nicaragua, civil war has broken out, and the country is at a standstill, there really isn’t any other option. If we want to go somewhere, it has to be by plane.

As we are to be housesitting in November in Guatemala, it only made sense to head North, and not South, to cut down on future travel expense and time.

A couple weeks ago I researched flights up to Cancun. We have our sights set on Merida, a beautiful colonial city that we spent only 3 nights at back in 2015. It sits about 4 hours by bus to the west of Cancun, and is close to the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. We fell in love with the city and vowed to return for longer some day. Being close to Guatemala, makes it a good option for us to be close to our housesitting gig in November, and we can find apartment rentals for $150-$200 per month. Good deal!

Screenshot 2018-06-29 14.58.40 — *Image courtesy of Googlemaps.com*

When I did my my initial search, the flights were looking like they were about $200-$220 per person. Not bad. I researched many different days around the beginning of July, and found them all to be about the same price. So I figured that I would wait until we got closer, to see if any other opportunities came up for us around Samara, or in Costa Rica, before we committed to something solid.

When living a nomadic life, booking a flight is a bit of a big deal. When you are trying to live day to day, and take whatever opportunity comes your way, committing to some far off point can be stressful and a bit overwhelming. But as everything in life, we have to make decisions, and once we do, new opportunities will arise that never existed before.

Last night, feeling like our time is definitely up here in Samara, and in Costa Rica in general, I decided that I should sit down and find a flight and just book something. We needed to make a move. However, I was dismayed when I saw that all of the $200ish flights had now jumped to sometimes $350 or more! If we wanted a $200 flight, it would mean staying in Costa Rica for another 2-3 weeks, which would negate the cost of the cheap flight anyways.

Not to be deterred, I checked many websites and although I found the odd cheaper flight, most of them only allowed carry on bags and charged extra for checked bags. Unfortunately, although we are nomadic, our bags do not match our nomadic lifestyle! We have one complete duffel bag that is full of Chris’ tattoo gear, our tent, some thin sleeping bags, and (shudder) wool sweaters and cold weather gear! We do plan to get to Ecuador eventually and these warm clothes WILL come in handy, but just thinking about them at this point makes me sweat!

PLUS we have an entire carry on suitcase that is dedicated to our art supplies. This case in particular is a little worrisome as we have been adding heavy paper and other supplies to it making it quite heavy. Even if it does fit in the overhead bins, there is a chance that they won’t allow it onboard the plane due to its weight. On top of all that we have 2 small back packs and another large backpack that contains both of our clothing.

Like I said, one would NOT think we are nomadic with all of the stuff we are hauling around, that’s for sure!

However, this is a cross that we bear, and is why once we got down here we had resigned ourselves to bus travel only, at least in the near future. But, with travel comes uncertainty, changed plans, and never really knowing what is around each corner. So here we are, booking flights and stressing about our luggage!

I continued my searches through many websites and finally decided to switch things up a bit. Previously, I had considered checking flights to Guatemala, and they had all been quite cheap as well, in fact cheaper than to Cancun. I decided to throw that into the search engine to see what came back. Right away it was obvious that flights were cheaper, but Guatemala City is so far away from Merida, it seemed silly to try to save the $100 when we would have to spend days travelling north from there. Sure Lake Atitlan is nearby, a very popular destination and a “must see” Guatemala sight, but with the explosion of Volcan Fuego happening recently, maybe that wasn’t the best place to go. I’m sure there is an economic spin off happening with that, tourism is likely down and possibly, there could be other problems. No, we weren’t really interested in going there, at least for now, especially having just gotten over our shell shock from Nicaragua.

However, as I typed Guatemala into one search engine, just to see other options, in tiny writing and in an obscure corner of the page, was an option for other airports. Other airports? I had no idea that there were other international airports in Guatemala! I assumed that all international flights flew into Guatemala City, then connected from there (never assume….I know, I know.) I quickly chose another destination, Flores, yes, that looked like a nice name, meaning Flowers in English. Lets look there, I thought.

Screenshot 2018-06-29 15.07.14 — *Image courtesy of googlemaps.com*

Our German friend Nico, one of the same hostel family members that had been with us since we arrived in Samara, and who also left Nicaragua, had been to Flores. He quickly announced “Oh yes, Flores is lovely, then you can go to Tikal.”

Tikal??? What?? I have dreamt about going to Tikal for so many years, but it’s never been a solid plan, just some sort of far off fantasy. One that would manifest itself one day when I ever got to Guatemala. Well, all of a sudden this far off plan was suddenly manifesting itself before my eyes. Chris announced “Book it!”, and Nico was immediately on his feet with enthusiasm, whipping out his Lonely Planet guide, pulling up maps on his phone, and showing me all sorts of things to do and places to go in that area. I had to get him to slow down for a few minutes while I booked the flight, but I was pumped for his excitement. Clearly this was a great place to head to! Plus, it’s located in the Northern part of the country, which means getting to Merida, may be a little bit easier than it would be from Guatemala City.

The flight to Flores is $160 each, and includes one checked bag each (now we just have to make sure they are below 24kg!). BINGO! In an instant our flight was booked and just like that we are off to Guatemala. The hilarious thing, also, is that our flight is on the same day (July 5th) that our friend Nico’s is to Mexico City, and within half an hour of his. So we are all going to travel to San Jose together, stay in the same hostel, and see each other off at the airport.

In the course of a couple hours, we went from not knowing what we were going to do, or where we were going to go, or if we were EVER going to get out of Costa Rica, to finding a cheap flight, booking it, and planning our trip to Guatemala! For the first time since leaving Canada, I am finally going to a country I haven’t been to before, and I couldn’t be more excited!

We have no idea how long we will spend in Guatemala, we don’t really know anything about what we will be doing when we get there (other then going to Tikal of course!) but we are going, that much is clear! It feels incredibly good to have a bit of a plan, and to know that very soon we will be in a new county, experiencing a new culture and seeing new sights.

This is the life of a Nomad, this is what is exciting! One day at a time, step by step we choose our futures. It’s an exhilarating feeling and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Pura Vida from Costa Rica (for only one more week!)

Xoxoxo Happy Travels!

Current Location: We are currently in Samara, Costa Rica. After having to leave Nicaragua unexpectedly due to civil unrest. We have been in the El Dorado Hostel (highly recommended!) for 3 weeks.

Travelling Plans: Heading to Guatemala on July 5th!

To head back to the beginning of our journey, and the moment we decided to sell all of our possessions to travel the world, click here.

To see many travelling photos and to learn about where we are travelling, please follow our Facebook and Instagram accounts by clicking on the appropriate icon in the right hand column.

To learn about where I have previously traveled, visit my Countries Page.

To see all of my blog post headings on one page, (including all of the ones about letting our stuff go) head over to my Blog Post Menu.

To contribute to our Patreon account, please click here.

To email me directly, please do so anytime at jillamatt@me.com.

If you like my writing, and want to follow along on our journey, please put your email address in the right hand column to subscribe. That way all of my posts will go straight to your email inbox:)

Nicaragua – Should We Stay or Should We Go Now? Part 3

We had heard reports that a roadblock was set to begin in Rivas around that time. We were concerned about what this would mean to our tranquil little corner of the country, but until we felt like we were in danger, we obviously weren’t going anywhere.

We arrived in Nicaragua on April 9th, 2018. On April 18th, we got news that President Ortega had put into law a new social security reform which would negatively affect the entire population. The students took to the streets to protest, and in what would become the historical beginning to this crazy civil war that they have now entered, over 70 people were killed, mostly students, and many more hundreds were injured, around the country. On May 10th, we began a housesitting job in Rivas. Things had calmed down a bit, and we felt right in our decision to stay in the country. The violence had’t reached where we were, we really felt like it would stay calm. Day by day we watched as things escalated around us. We started to feel trapped. Roadblocks made travelling impossible and we weren’t sure if it was even safe to go anywhere. Maybe it is best where we are, we thought. On May 30th, a peaceful Mother’s Day March took place in Managua, the capital of the country. Estimates of 200 000 people took to the street to show solidarity and a will to make a point, to tell Ortega they wanted him out. They marched to remember their children that had already been lost in this bloody war. They were thousands upon thousands strong, mostly waving the Blue and White striped flag of Nicaragua. It was a sight to behold and I felt a surge of pride for the country and what it was representing. We read the following morning that late in the day, Snipers located high off the ground, started shooting into the crowd. That day they killed upwards of 15 people and injured hundreds more. One boy was shot right from his mother’s arms. On Mother’s Day. This was the turning point for us. This unspeakable and despicable act is what forced us from the country. Because you realize that if a person is capable of that, he is capable of anything. This is our story of 8 weeks in Nicaragua, when a civil war broke out.

To start with part one of this story, please click here.

Our first few days on our own, in the house we were housesitting at, were spent hanging out in our Nicaragua neighbourhood. It was fun to meet the neighbours and explore the streets around our house. Having already lived in the city for a couple weeks, we had our favourite spots to visit at the market, we shopped from vendors in the park and pretty much had our lay of the land figured out.

The National Dialogue, or commonly known as ‘the talks’, was ordered by the priests and was set to begin on May 16th. The residents of the country, and the visitors alike, seemed to be waiting with baited breath for this to begin.

Surely something would be sorted out, and all of this bloodshed and violence could be put behind us. Couldn’t it?

On May 16th, the students, the church and the government met to begin a dialogue to move forward. The message from the students was clear, Ortega was to step down immediately. A young Lesther Alleman, a University student, took the charge and declared directly to Ortega that the country, the people, wanted him to step down. He insisted that there was no other way to move forward. (Please see articles here and here.)

Ortega had likely never been spoken to like that, and certainly not from a young person like Lesther Alleman. He immediately became a national hero, the voice of the people. Watching the videos brought goosebumps to my skin and I felt like in some way, despite it only coming from one young man, the people had spoken. Indeed at this time, I had read that upward of 70% of the country was not happy with Ortega’s direction and where he was leading the country. Surely Ortega would listen, surely he would understand that he is not liked, not wanted, not appreciated.

Nothing was solved at ‘the talks’ that day, Ortega insisted that he didn’t know who was killing people, he said that he had ordered the Police to break up protests with non-violent tactics. He also insisted that the only thing wrecking the country at that time was the road blocks and that they should be lifted immediately to try and recoup the lost economy that had happened since their beginnings.

He didn’t apologize for anything. He didn’t accept responsibility for anything.

The talks were finished that day and it was declared that further talks would begin in two days.

That night, the following occurred according to the Havana Times:

Proof of Ortega’s intransigent stance is the fact that on the same day of the installation of the dialogue, on Wednesday, his paramilitaries attacked the Cathedral of Jinotega in the night, where students protesting against the regime were given refuge. And on Thursday the attacks continued at the Polytechnic University of Nicaragua (Upoli), where a 16-year-old boy died; and in Masaya, the siege and looting of shops continued on the part of the mobs launched by the Ortega regime.

It’s impossible to report on all of these sorts of activities as this was the normal run of events. We heard of students living in the Universities, using them as some sort of bunker. We heard of them being poisoned by rations that they had coming in. We heard of all sorts of atrocities that were being committed, all the while Ortega declaring that he was not directing it and that he had nothing to do with it. In fact his wife (also Vice President) declared that those protesting were the vermin of society, further enraging the students .

On day 2 of ‘the talks’, they began with Ortega’s representatives showing up in his place. Word travelled fast that he hadn’t even shown up. Apparently he didn’t want to be talked to like that again. Memes flooded the internet about him being a chicken, and not manning up to his position. However, it turns out, that him and his sidekick did attend, but much later then they were supposed to. By then, most of ‘the talks’ had been completed by his cohorts. But, yet again, it seemed, nothing was solved and nothing decided on.

Ortega wasn’t going anywhere.

Violence continued in the streets, Tranques (road blocks) were erected, the students were mobilizing, and they were becoming more organized and more determined by the minute.

However, all was still tranquillo in Rivas. We had seen no road blocks in our area, supplies were getting in, there was no violence, no bloodshed. We felt like we were living in an alternative reality. It was hard to comprehend that so much craziness was going on in the rest of the country, when we felt completely safe and normal where we were.

However, we were also keenly aware that things weren’t normal, and that we, ourselves, were also becoming a rare thing in Nicaragua. At that point, the travellers had mostly ceased to exist and this became very apparent to us when we took a walk to San Jorge one day.

San Jorge is located 5 km from where we were living. It is the gateway to Ometepe Island, one of the main tourist attractions in the country. Ometepe is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. It is composed of 2 volcanoes which are popular for tourists to hike and climb on. It is a beautiful island, but it too had been blocked by roadblocks over the last couple weeks. We heard that these road blocks were actually in retaliation to gas prices that had gone up. But I’m sure it’s all related, and the bottom line is that nobody was travelling to Ometepe anymore, let alone the rest of the country. Screenshot 2018-06-23 12.09.06

As we arrived to the beach where the ferry dock was, and where restaurants, normally hustling and bustling with travellers, lined the ocean front, there was nobody. Not one tourist was in sight, let alone barely any Nicaraguans. We walked along the beach and finally got waved into one of the restaurants where we were the only people in the place. We sat in disbelief as we drank our Tona’s (local beer) and stared out at the spectacular view in front of us. I think this is when it really started to hit home. This is when we realized how few of us were still in the country.

Maybe this is when we started to get a little more worried then we had been before.

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On May 23rd, I started to write some thoughts down about how I was feeling about the situation. Day by day we heard horrific reports of terrible human rights violations. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) had visited the country and had declared that awful human rights violations were occurring. (This article came out June 1st, but it states many of the same things that the IACHR had declared when they initiated their investigation.) Things were not getting better, but we still had not seen any violence or felt unsafe at all. In fact, the more we left our house, and walked the streets, the more we were reassured that all was just fine. Why would we leave this place when we were still having such a positive experience.

Here is what I wrote on May 23rd:

Today we hear this news:

Starting today at 6:00 am, it has been declared by the Campesino Leader, Francisca Ramirez, That road blocks along the Pacific Coast will become permanent.

What does this mean to us? What does all of this craziness mean?

The truth is, we aren’t sure either.

It has been a day to day following of events around here for the last month, tying to decipher what really is going on, vs what we are reading online.

My emotions run the gamut from completely freaked out and thinking that we are over the top CRAZY for still being here, but I also have days where we walk into town, the people are friendly, life is normal and business is as usual.

Our own Canadian government website has stated that we should avoid unessential travel to Nicaragua. But somehow that seems unjustified. I can’t explain the feelings that we are going through, at times it doesn’t even make sense to us, but we feel like we need to be here right now. We feel comfortable, and settled, and mostly at peace with what is going on around us.

Are we burying our heads in the ground? Are we purposefully rationalizing what is going on around us, so that we feel justified in staying? I really don’t know. But I do know this. Until we personally feel like we are in an unsafe situation, we aren’t leaving this place.

I’m sure there are thousands of people out there that think we are fools for staying. And believe me, I have been there. THIS is not a place I would choose to visit. I would never purposefully travel to a country with any sort of drama or unrest happening.

But yet here we are. Here we sit. Waiting and watching to see what unfolds. Trying to focus on the day to day and not some point in the future. We are dealing with this as we have dealt with every other challenge that we have had in regard to plans or planning of any kind, each day we make a decision of what we are going to do that day, and that is all.

We have focused really hard on this trip to not contrive our future too much. I mean, it’s one thing to book a housesitting gig at a far off point, just to secure accommodation of some sort moving forward. But mostly we are living in the moment. We are taking the time we need to focus on what is important to us. To work on our online businesses and to carve out our niche in this world of Digital Nomadism.

So far we have kept a low profile in Nicaragua. So far we haven’t felt threatened in any way. So far the people are amazing. So far we love our neighbourhood. So far we really have no complaints.

So why fix what’s not broken? When we move into a different phase of emotions, we will act on that. That is it, that is all.

To be continued………

Disclaimer: The information provided in my writing is based on articles that I have read from many publications, information gathered from Nicaraguan Expats and Locals, and from videos that I have seen posted online. I don’t pretend to be an expert on Nicaraguan politics, and if you feel like I have misrepresented information in anyway, please email me at jillamatt@me.com.

For news on what is happening in Nicaragua and to learn all about this crisis, please visit the La Prensa or 100% Noticias websites. Their online newspapers have covered this from the beginning and continue to do so.

After selling all of our possessions in Canada in 2017, we flew to Costa Rica to do an initial housesit for 2 months. Our journey has continued and we have now been ‘on the road’ for just over 8 months.

Current Location: We are currently in Samara, Costa Rica where we are staying in a familiar hostel with others that left Nicaragua around the same time that we did.

Travelling Plans: Depending on whether or not we get some work here painting another mural, we will be headed up to Mexico at some point. But nothing is set in stone yet.

To head back to the beginning of our journey, and the moment we decided to sell all of our posessions to trave the world, click here.

To see more travelling photos, and to follow our progress on Facebook, please follow our Facebook page Just Some Wandering.

Please follow my Instagram Page Just Some Wandering by clicking on the bottom right hand corner of this feed.

To learn about where I have previously traveled, visit my Countries Page.

To see all of my blog post headings on one page, head over to my Blog Post Menu.

To email me directly, please do so anytime at jillamatt@me.com.

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Nicaragua – Should We Stay or Should We Go Now? Part One

This unspeakable and despicable act is what forced us from the country. Because you realize that if a person is capable of that, he is capable of anything. This is our story of 8 weeks in Nicaragua, when a civil war broke out.

We had been staying at Amanda’s farm for about 10 days when we started to feel like it was time to go somewhere new. We had been living in our tent, it was dry and dusty, we were covered in ticks every day and we were dirty. It was time to move on, we both felt it.

It was April 19th, and we were scheduled to start housesitting around the beginning of May. So we had a few days to kill and we thought that spending them in Granada, would be a nice way to see another part of the country, before settling into our house in Rivas. I instinctually looked on Booking.com and found a place. I booked it and paid for it, but it didn’t go through for some reason. After a while, I received a message from the owner saying that they are not taking bookings because Granada was under attack. Under attack?? What do you mean under attack?? We had just been there the day before. Amanda had commented on the amount of police vehicles around, but other than that we didn’t see anything else unusual.

The man said that there were blockades and fighting in the streets and that they were closed. That was it. He suggested that we leave the country as soon as possible.

I went to find Amanda to tell her what I had heard. Mostly dumbfounded and really not sure what to think. It was all beyond comprehension to me. When I found her she said she knew. I don’t know for how long she had known, but she was in close contact with her Aunt in Managua and things didn’t sound good. But we were in Nandaime, nowhere near Managua, and everything seemed normal there. The 4 of us decided to just see what was going to happen. This could go many ways, and we wanted to make sure that what we were hearing was fact based, not just based on fear. And none of us were going to make any rash decisions about leaving, until we heard the outcome of this.

Because at some point this “fight” will end. Won’t it?

Obviously, we were as glued as we could be to the internet. Looking on Instagram and Facebook for updates. Many expats had started reporting about what was happening in their neighbourhoods. It was frightening and terrifying and we really weren’t sure what to think. But that was there, and we were not. We felt safe where we were, on a small farm well away from main roads and big cities.

Amanda’s Quidador (property caretaker) who is roughly 70, would come around our camp a couple times per day reporting in on the numbers. Letting us know how many had died that day. Stating that the revolution had started. Fearful for what he remembered from the last one. Sickeningly, looking back, we joked about it. “Viva la revolucion!” we yelled as we all laughed, his Nicaraguan nephew included. I think about that scene now and it makes me angry at myself. How insensitive were we? To think about what that man had been through, and for him to know what’s coming, and we all just made light of it. Maybe I only feel bad because I know now what I didn’t know then.

I mean really. How bad could it get?

There was a general feeling around us of “NAH, it can’t be that bad!” We knew it was serious and that people had died, but we really just thought it would blow over. Nobody really gave it too much credit. Or maybe that was our brain’s defense system. We went to town in numbers in the day, and we didn’t go anywhere at night. We hung low. We were cautious and we knew crazy things were going on around the country.

But they would sort themselves out. Wouldn’t they?

We stuck it out through the weekend hearing reports of more and more dead. By Monday upwards of 65 to 70 people, mostly students had been killed in various locations around the country. Mostly they were marching peacefully. They wanted Ortega out, and they were making a show of it. Somehow people got killed. Many say it was government trained snipers, other say it’s junior Sandanistas that have been groomed to kill. Who ever it was brought violence to the equation, and with that brought a fight.

Somewhere amongst it all, the students and their supporters started building barricades in the streets. They literally pulled the bricks up that were laid in the streets and built walls out of them. They staggered them through towns and cities, intermittently, with not much organization. Some road blocks turned into shields as the odd time guns were involved, and they would all crouch down behind them to dodge the bullets. These road blocks are meant to put pressure on the government to halt deliveries of supplies, and cause general disfunction in the country.

And oh ya, by Monday morning the newspapers were ordered to stop reporting and a national radio station was closed down. He was censoring the news. Our hearts sank.

After the weekend ended, Ortega finally agreed with the church to have talks. They were going to do some negotiating. The priests were tired of blood shed. Videos on Facebook and You Tube showed them walking into the conflicts, dressed in full regalia, to halt the fighting. They were tired of the violence and they knew that it needed a solution.

Day one of the talks, a young Lesther Aleman, a University student, told Ortega point blank to his face that the Nicaraguan people want him to step down. They are tired of his regime, and his presidency had gone on long enough. In fact, Ortega himself was the one to decide that he could be president for a third term, and in effect for life, by changing the laws that stated presidency was two terms, maximum. He also somehow decided while entering into his third term that the rules should state that his wife be allowed to be Vice President. You can imagine my shock when I read this in an article shortly after this all started. I remember distinctively thinking “His WIFE is the Vice President??” My heart sunk with this knowledge as right there laid out before me was the perfect dictatorship. Complete power.

The thing is that the people knew it. They knew that he was amassing an empire. They knew it, but it didn’t matter as much because their lives were good. Nicaraguas economy was booming, tourism had never been better. Expats were buying up land in droves and new guest houses, cottages and hotels were popping up everywhere. What’s to complain about?

But apparently however good Nicaragua seemed on the surface, things were not so good behind the scenes. Bit by bit Ortega had been amassing unbelievable wealth, and power. He made himself the head honcho to every branch of government, took over the countries electrical company and bought many more businesses and things to create a very powerful and dominant structure. Even if he did step down as President, he would still be controlling the structure of Nicaragua. It’s very scary to think about how entangled he is in the country. Taking notes from Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and the Castro boys, he seemed to be following a game plan. A long strung out government take over that would be done so slowly that nobody would notice. However, his plan backfired, Venezuela stopped their supports for Nicaragua, and a desperate government, one that knew that it was about to go broke, made a decision that stepped over lines and crossed boundaries.

I was told by a Nicaraguan friend that two years ago, Ortega was told that if he didn’t fix the Social Security program, it would be broke by June of 2018.

So it was in April, not even 2 months before that fateful month, that Ortega decided to finally do something about this. I read that he did it without speaking with the business sector, and without asking for any input from any other branch of government.

He just decided that it was so, and so it was.

His new bill would instantly increase the Social Security rates that the current employees AND employers were paying, and simultaneously reduce the current amount that seniors were getting now, and in the future. Thereby affecting the entire population of the country.

This is what started it all. This was the tipping point. The people had had enough of his power. This time he had pushed too far. It was time to say no to the monster! It was time to take their country back. It was time to rise up.

To continue to part 2 of this story, click here.

For news on what is happening in Nicaragua and to learn all about this crisis, please visit the La Prensa website. Their online newspaper has covered this from the beginning.

After selling all of our possessions in Canada in 2017, we flew to Costa Rica to do an initial housesit for 2 months. Our journey has continued and we have now been ‘on the road’ for almost 8 months.

Current Location: We are currently in Samara, Costa Rica where we are staying in a familiar hostel with 2 others that left Nicaragua in the last few days. We have also met 5 other people in town that just left. We call ourselves the Nicaraguan Refugees.

Travelling Plans: Our ‘plans’ have been flipped upside down and we are now trying to figure out a new one.

To head back to the beginning of our journey, and the moment we decided to sell all of our posessions to trave the world, click here.

To see more travelling photos, and to follow our progress on Facebook, please follow our Facebook page Just Some Wandering.

Please follow my Instagram Page Just Some Wandering by clicking on the bottom right hand corner of this feed.

To learn about where I have previously traveled, visit my Countries Page.

To see all of my blog post headings on one page, head over to my Blog Post Menu.

To email me directly, please do so anytime at jillamatt@me.com.

	jillamatt on Moving on…….
	jillamatt on Our Nomadic Kitchen
	LeBeau on Our Nomadic Kitchen
	Passport Overused on Moving on…….
	ccandraymond on A New Year and A Brand New…

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An update on our current travels…….

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Most of all, we wanted freedom.

Let’s talk about the weather.

Creating community and calling a place home.

Missing places yet always feeling the need to move on.

Soaring confidence and creativity.

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