Wow! I got a bit behind. So, we’ve been crossing the globe a bit since the last time I updated you all. I think the last we left off was the end of October, and we were leaving NYC for Playa del Carmen for a pet sit.
Where We Went – The Stops
- Mexico – Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Bacalar, Tulum, Cancun
- USA – Phoenix, AZ (Matt)
- Brazil – Rio de Janeiro, Foz do Iguaçu, Salvador, Manaus
- Paraguay – Ciudad del Este
- Colombia – Medellín, Bogota, Zipaquirá, Miraflores
- USA – Marysville, Seattle, & Olympia, WA; Honolulu, HI
What We Did
Well, we finished the sit, and while in Mexico, we visited Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Bacalar, Tulum, and Cancun. Bacalar was easily our favorite location. It was beautiful, laid back, and authentic. We don’t think it will stay that way for long because it’s that special and getting so popular. Matt had to go to Arizona for a few weeks, and I stayed in Cancun, which was fine but nothing of note.
We were pretty happy to move on from Mexico and start our South America era, which was supposed to be much longer than it ended up being. Our plan was to stay in South America for a few months, but because of a request from Matt’s dad to join him in Washington, we rearranged our plans and cut it short. We loved Brazil and Colombia and can’t wait to go back. We also stopped in on Paraguay, but it was such a short trip we didn’t feel we got a flavor for Paraguay.
Making a New Friend in Brazil
Brazil was an absolute blast. We loved every second of it. We were disappointed to miss going into the Amazon, but we know we will return, so no worries. Rio de Janeiro and Salvador were both better than we imagined. Our trip to Iguazu Falls lived up to the hype. They had a lot of rain, so the falls raged when we visited.
Salvador was extra special because we had a great time with our friend, Nina. We really wish we could hang out with good people like her all the time.
Meeting a Friend
Since the time we left Florida at the beginning of 2023, we had one trip on the books for the longest time, and it finally came to fruition. Colombia to meet our friend, Jeanine, and see her family’s hometown. This trip was so special to us that I still have trouble putting it into words. We spent Christmas week with her and some of her family members. We ate Colombian food, played games, drank, and relaxed on her family farm, and it was wonderful.
Back to the USA
We spent January cold and unhappy in Washington, USA. Matt was in the north, and I was in the south. Him working on a job with his dad, and me on a housesit. The PNW is a fantastic place. It just isn’t a fantastic place in the winter, especially when you don’t have the correct gear. A bright spot in our otherwise gloomy time was getting to see and share a meal with our friend Chris! Getting to spend a little time with him lifted our spirits.
From Washington, we headed to Hawaii, where Matt ticked off his 49th state and is now 1 away from joining me in the All 50 States club. Pretty exciting!
The Great
Favorites
- Bacalar, Mexico, checked all our wonderfully surprised boxes. What a relaxing, beautiful destination. It’s definitely not for everyone, but we loved it and are so glad we visited before it explodes in popularity.
- Getting to see friends around the world. We love, love, love seeing the people we adore in the wild. And meeting all the wonderful people we have met in the past few months. With extra special nods in Salvador, Brazil, and Miraflores, Colombia
- Matt visiting his 49th state.
- Washington has the best teriyaki chicken out of anywhere in the world.
- Eating our weights worth of Poke and Ube in Hawaii.
The Not So Great
The Least Favorite
- Washington State’s winter got to us. The gray, cold, damp, short days and only seeing each other once a week was not our jam.
The Oops
- Getting rid of our cold weather gear too early. We still needed it. We had to buy new stuff and rearrange our packing again.
- Wasting our time in Manaus, Brazil. We had to rearrange our schedule, which left us no time in Manaus to explore. We should have stayed in Salvador longer.
- I sprained my ankle on Christmas Eve, and still, in February, it hasn’t fully healed and is causing issues.
The LOLs
That ferry ride from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel is full-on hell. I don’t know how we had not read or heard anything about it. And that we were such idiots that the bad weather didn’t stop us from going. Neither of us has ever been on the water with waves that high. Nor have either of us been pummeled by a wave that we were sure we were out of the way of. Such a horrible time, but now it’s really funny to look back on.
What We Learned
When we decide we aren’t going to cold climates and get rid of our cold weather gear, we should stick to not going to cold weather climates without gear.
Petsitting is good for us on many levels. We really need and crave having animals in our day-to-day lives. There was a second we thought we might give up pet sitting, but I think we would be unhappy without it.
Interestingly, we had about 145 days of TrustedHousesitters gigs in 2023. 4 in the USA, 1 in India, 6 in the UK, 1 in Latvia, 1 in Greece, 1 in Kenya, and 1 in Mexico. And all were good. We will continue to sit in 2024 because we love it, and it helps us offset travel costs throughout the year.
If you want to sit, use our link for 25% off the member fee.
Feel free to contact us for questions or advice regarding house/pet sitting.
Up Next
We are in Torquay, Australia, on this awesome pet and housesit through the end of April. There are a few things planned while we are here, but mostly, we are playing it day by day. We plan to visit Tasmania, Taiwan, and South Korea at some point this year.
Matt will probably return to Washington for a bit, and I am undecided about that trip.
Other than that…we’ve got nothin’.
