Lydia & Julz Go Large Week 29

Week Update 29

Our trip is booked! We've now committed to traveling to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil...

We've always maintained a VERY frugal approach since arriving in Canada (yeah this is clearly by choice) and anticipate that this will continue when traveling. We see “budget travel” neatly coinciding with our so called ethics and more in sync with our desire to make a contribution at the “local level.” This is our well rehearsed line when asked why we didn't stay at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. We wont be opting to take the “luxury” route in seeking accommodations, this fits well with our wish to immerse ourselves with the community- another well rehearsed line. Although we've sworn not to veer off the beaten track as my Dad is adamant that we will not get through to Panama, after the corruption of Mexico and after watching "taken" documentaries. Julia has been warned about South American's love of blondes which we've resolved through our staff discounts at the Hat Gallery. I, however will need a distinctive accessory so I don't get lost amongst the crowd. This joke stems from Julia yelling out "Lydia, make yourself known" every time a group of Asian tourists come through the store, I probably don't help my cause by wearing a metre width visor around my head.

Nonetheless, we have much to organise in the remaining 6 weeks before we embark on another blind leading the blind journey. We're become the epitome of Murphy's Law and hope that this trend breaks before we go large through Central and South America, last thing we need is to be left on a chicken bus!! 

After much advice from our fellow travelers in Canada, it's become necessary to learn the basics of Spanish as we didn't realise how difficult it will be with the language barrier in South America. We've been learning Spanish from tutorials from the most valuable information source- YouTube! So far we've got:

"¿Cuánto es este bolso?" translated "How much is this handbag?"

They'll be a heavy reliance on body language in South America, I think pointing will be our best source of navigating our way to and from the chicken buses. 

Love

Lydia and Julia x