Explorers 3.0

I don't blame you at all - I would have done exactly the same. We had a sort of fixed route between February and July but we changed it many many but so many times that yes it's confusing, even for me. This post is supposed to help everyone.

In order to help and influence other travelers but mainly to keep track of our own trip, we have been using a travel planner tool called Goosit.

Goosit in Halong Bay

Focused in the backpackers niche but not restrict, in its essence Goosit will help you plan a trip by offering you suggestions on what to do and showing you how to get there, by estimating the total costs of your trip and my favorite part is the fact that Goosit allows you to invite friends to participate in the planning! Are you curious to know how Goosit works? Watch this helpful video!

If you enjoy stats as much as I do, I'm sure you will also have fun with the information that Goosit compiles for you such as your costs per country, how many cities you have visit and how many Km you have travelled so far.
Are you curious to know where we have been in Asia? Check out our 3.0 Asia plan.

Are you curious to know what we did when we moved to the Americas? Check the 3.0 North And Central Americas and the current the SurAmerican plan.

As I write this post we are preparing to move on and continue exploring South America so our plan is not a real plan, or at least in the real term of a plan. Our plan is more of an unfinished book, that is constantly changing and in the writings.

I follow a blogger, an ex-lawyer, that quit her job to travel 7 years ago. Yes, Jodi is currently traveling for astonishing 7 YEARS! I have no intentions of doing that, (relax mom!!!) but I recently found this post where she talks about her ride and how she feels about the "What's next?" question.
I couldn't relate more.

"When people ask me what’s next I usually say “I don’t know”. Because I don’t. 

Because we rarely do anyhow, but when we choose a life that is so flexible, we know even less. All we have instead is the bag that is with us, the shoes on our feet, and the brainpower that pushes us to be what we want to be."

Legal Nomads, April 2015

Happy Goosit planning, everyone!

Mostly I worked with different farmers every day. In my first day, out of the coffee harvesting season that goes from November to March more or less, I picked coffee berries - red, green and some black ones, all had to go out of the trees. These berries were not the best quality anymore but they had to be picked as they fall they can germinate a fungus to the tree itself. And along with the damage that they could do to the cycle, these beans are still source of income - the farmers sell these type of beans to produce instant coffee, as its of such low quality. And this was how I learned what was I drinking almost every morning back home... I did all sort of different things during the volunteering with De La Gente - some related to coffee some not, but all with on thing in mind: they would be done to help the farmers somehow. I roasted and packaged coffee to sell in coffee shops in Antigua, I picked peaches (duraznos) at about 1500m above sea level, made firewood with a machete and carried it up hill few days later, I pealed peanuts to be used in natural peanut butter, I cleaned the weeds from the coffee trees and dig holes to protect the baby coffee trees from the heavy winter rain. I distributed flyers in the city to promote the tours that De La Gente does almost every day (if you are in Antigua check them out!!).

The complete coffee process is long and needs time. For example, after picking berries the pulp has to be removed and the coffee beans have to dry. Only after it's time to sort - first, second and third quality beans - some to export, some to sell locally. Sorting can be tedious, and for doing it you need a good pair of eyes but it was by far one of my favorite tasks. The farmers open their houses to us, seat with us, and are eager to share their knowledge, experience and dreams. It was in this intimate environment that Florian thought me all about the signs that nature sends when the rain is about to arrive; I got to know Manuel's dreams of taking his 4 kids to Florida (yes, to Disney world!); I got to know Julio, a 18years old helping his dad in the fields early mornings and learning English in the afternoons. At a kitchen table, in their backyard, you can even learn how shy, happy, humble and thankful a farmer is, with no words, just by the smile he gives you when it's time to say "adios" - that's how I met Mercedes.

Red coffee berries

After the pulp is removed and they dry in the sun for some time

we roast the bean

And grind it

After packaged we all know the next steps

It may sound that I was doing this all by myself, which would be totally impossible. We were always 2-3 volunteers every week but there was a lot of rotation which made it hard to connect with everyone but still I met great people and we had great talks. I'm sure that without them, I would have been a lot more useless picking duraznos or digging holes - it's was always a great team work! Important is to mention that my experience got in a whole other level because of the little things, or better say, because of people. People like Jane - our helpful De La Gente point of contact, always starting the days with an important ritual of a coffee co-op: turning on the coffee machine. And like Phomolo - our Maximo Nivel field manager, that at least once a week, became one of us and worked as hard, always with a joke ready to make us crack. 

Manuel and the helping crew

Even 3 and 5 years old can help and have fun!

Happy sorting morning

This post is getting way too long, but I still need to mention Thelma dos Reyes, our lovely host mother. The house was located in the boarders of Antigua, simple, warm, full. The family was basically formed by 5 women and one grandson but she had a lot more people coming in and out throughout the day. Food was never an issue while we stayed there and I always had the feeling that she spent her entire day, cooking. Not only cooking but also laughing! The whole family would have food after us and thats where they would laugh even harder, together, at a kitchen table. 

I got sick the last weekend there and I'm pretty sure it was something I ate at home, but I will always remember her food as amazingly tasty. The people we met in Thelma's will also be part of our memories and our hearts - William wrote all I wanted to say about them in his blogpost!

My fav. Guatemalan family selfie

Our Guatemalan mom

I talked about the volunteering so many times now that I wonder if I still add something new to it...
I feel though that I need to share it as much as possible to inspire people to try it too. But it doesn't have to be abroad, it doesn't have to be a month, it doesn't have to be on the other side of the world. We can be volunteers in our neighborhood, in our city, in our own country - just look around and try to see if there is someone in need of help. I'm sure there is someone in need of a smile as there is always room for it.  
But to be totally fair and honest, I guess I will never be able to explain in words how good is the feeling of giving, of helping, with simple acts of kindness, sweat, strength, effort. I will never be able to truly explain the power of a kitchen table. 
Give it a try!

From El Cerro de la Cruz, my fav. view from Antigua and Agua

Our days there wouldn't have been so amazing if we perhaps had not met the super duper cool French couple - Luïc and Lucile. Why? Because we literally highjacked their plans and join them for their whole time in Banaue. And it was sooo much fun!

So what was expecting us in Batad?!? Yes, rice terraces. No internet. Many hours hiking and stunning view points. Rain and beautiful sun. An unforgettable peace. I also can't forget that in the evenings we played "truco".

Just going back to where I started, I wonder...

How much beauty we miss sometimes just around the corner? How much do we miss a place, a person, when we are not there or we can't hug that person? How little importance do we give to someone that sits everyday just across us? How much do we take for granted?

We must, more often, stop and look around us, be thankful and never stopped to be amazed by the small things. We all will be so much happier and feel, more often, special.

The scenery is quite inspiring - almost clear sky, small rice fields, people returning back home after another working day, some backyard gardens full of nice herbs, teak tree's plantation, some odd smells once in a while (hmmmm maybe not that inspiring, blah!), the sun behind the mountain. I feel like a little kid, as old as the one that is hysterical waving at every single person outside, on the window next to mine. 

How happy and grateful I feel, we have been traveling nearly 2 months and I can't stop thinking how lucky we are. I can't say everything is easy, chill or even natural to the 2 of us - we do mistakes all the time, we learn each time; we get to silly arguments often, we say sorry each time; we get ripped off, we pray for nice people to get closer and the bad to go away.

Day light is over for us and I keep on smiling.

With the dark the train seats become the lower beds, the partial train's selling becomes the upper beds. The train becomes a long corridor shaped by curtains, protecting each bed that are just small bedbunks. 

Mine smells like rain. I can see the lightning through the same window I was earlier smiling. The heavy rain got in my bed through the open window so my sheets are slightly wet. The fresh feels right even though is still so humid.

We are about to close the circle that started our adventure - Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and then again Thailand. We move soon to Philippines and then to South Korea.

The train gets to Bangkok with the sunrise but from the city's ring to the center takes us more than 2h. The sun is strong, it feels as humid and sweaty as I remembered. Busy, noisy, full of beautiful people. We both desperately need a shower, an ACed room and a soft bed to rest.

Bangkok threats us well and we continue our journey, backpack on, into the next stop.

But Phong Nha was different! The Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park hosts one of the best things I saw in Vietnam: huge and unexplored caves. But also the greenest rice paddies among with sweet people and many happy children. We had a lot of fun there and made me rethink the Vietnam experience.

Planning to go to Vietnam? 

Don't miss it! 

How to get there? 

We got a direct bus from Hué but we started by emailing the Phong Nha Farmstay to get more details - a super cool place run by an Australian and Vietnamese couple known as the engines of tourism in the region. Even though the Farmstay was fully booked the days we wanted to stay the helpful staff gave us further info - other options, description of the places, prices and also the available tours around the national park.

Where to stay?

We decided to stay in a Homestay recently opened called "Farm 2 Home". This is a super unique place: the rooms are in a small common space (with a little too hard mattress), there is a kitchen and toilet all in a concrete building just recently built. Map (you should read it Mop), the owner, her parents and her niece live side by side in a 40 years old wooden house. Around the houses you have chickens, roosters, dogs (also puppets when we were there), pigs, a pepper plantation, pumpkins, coriander, basil and loads of other herbs and veggies. Map is a former Farmstay employee that is starting her own business, even though highly supported by Ben (her previous boss) she is a happy talker, simple and with a vision - make the business grow to be able to help out her parents. Living apart from her husband for over a year, while waiting for the Canadian visa, she is one of the few women's entrepreneur I met in Vietnam...Okay I can say the only one I met...note to self: there is that gender's issue around here, don't forget, Diana.

I'm super happy we stayed over and were able to meet and help her. If you want to stay there - way cheaper than the Farmstay and better than staying in another hostel - check her on Facebook, or email the Farmstay as we did and jump on a homestay adventure - you will not regret it! 

What to do in Phong Nha?

There is plenty to do, it's beautiful and it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and caves are the thing, in both scale and length. We decided to get one of the tours that the Farmstay offers around the National Park. It included three different caves: 

- the 8 women, super small cave it is dedicated to the Vietnamese that died while building the Ho Chi Minh trail during the war in Vietnam; 

- the Paradise cave, said to be the longest cave in the world because it extends for 31km (you can only visit the first km); 

- and the Dark cave, that I won't tell anything more about it rather than the obvious: it's quite dark inside because of the black limestone that is made from, but don't worry you get torch lights. Another piece of information, non-water proof cameras are not advised to go inside, so no pictures for us:( And please,please, please don't read reviews spoiling all the magic, it should be a surprise, and again, you won't regret it. 

Oh and one more thing to mention, the homestay is in the middle of nowhere, street lights do not exist as well as pavement roads...this is what you get if you get home after sunset.

Don't worry Map will take care of you and you will totally enjoy it. 

Go now if you can :)