Here’s what we learned in our time in Athens

Off we went to the Shola market, where we saw so many incredible spices and herbs and the stalls were filled from things such as chickens, to traditional Ethiopian dining tables to socks. Our tour guide said it was the standard market in the city that everyone goes to for just about everything – himself included.

Every tour guide we had was so kind, all our taxi drivers texted us after saying they were so glad to have met us and locals helped us whenever they could. Every morsel of food was 10/10 and being there at the end of Ramadan was very special

That night we went to an Iftar buffet. This is a nightly buffet that restaurants do all over the city for people after a full day of fasting. We went to one at the most magnificent hotel on the waterfront set between two palaces.

At some point on day 2, Erik had been chatting with a new friend, Lahiru, and he got us invited to the next days Sinhalese New Year! We had been hearing about it when we were in Sri Lanka but were so surprised to hear that they planned to celebrate on the island.

We awoke the next morning with time to shower, apply deet and sunscreen again and head out without breakfast. Don’t worry, we would be back in time for breakfast by 8:30 am. We were greeted at the gate by Suraj, our TukTuk driver. He was delightful and all smiles.

The show was absolutely incredible, Madam Butterfly. The story is horribly heartbreaking, and Mr. Pinkerton is a complete loser, piece of trash, but the staging, the fireworks, the huge floating ‘sun’ on the water – everything came together to be a breathtaking performance.

So many beautiful things on the last 3 days in our camper van. 

Lots of drive time these days but lots of beautiful things to see in the mountains. Wow! A gorgeous part of the country. 

On these days we had some really fun, both planned and unplanned, activities. Each day brought new topography and incredible sights. Enjoy! 

Some ups and some downs, literally and figuratively. Enjoy our days across the northern part of the South Island! 

These were drive heavy, boat heavy days - we still had some great experiences throughout but the days were more calm than the past three. 

Day's 4 - 6 were some of our favorite days on the trip in regards to activities. They were action packed and a mix of adventure, fun and relaxation. Enjoy! 

We're safe, happy, healthy and absolutely loving every second of this adventure. Thanks for checking in :) 

Our priorities in Mendoza ended up being: wine, relaxing and spending time with great people. In the long run, who cares about laundry and bus tickets. :) 

We enjoyed every sight we could, just smiling ear to ear. 

we headed to what I think is maybe one of the coolest galleries I’ve ever been to – Xul Solar. If you are ever in BA, this is a must visit. We stared at each painting for so long, they were each so interesting.

”We were told we can get a yellow fever vaccine here”
“Oh, who said that?”
“Our doctor!”
“Oh, okay, who is your doctor and can you show us the order?”
“She’s in the US and no.”
“lol”

As we got closer we could see some fur seals though playing! Romping around, rolling, running and sliding, it was all so cute!

We came across some Weddell seals. They were so very curious! They swam right up to the zodiac and poked their dog-like noses against the black rubber.