HELLO Milla & Tom’s 3rd WOrLdWiDE Update

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Tom and Milla
May 06, 2024

Hello Family & Friends, especially you 🙂!

Another email to say g’day, with a lil update of what we’ve been up to, another book review and we’ve also got a prize to giveaway down below!

As we sail further into this year of adventures, we’re keeping our spirits high and backpacks full with lots of laughter. These last few weeks have packed in some pretty phenomenal memories, including some unique cultural traditions in Guatemala and some real high energy cowboy fun in Arizona. The rest of the email is written without chatgpt… I (Milla) have made sure of it. I (Tom) have snuck some in lol. …

On a more serious note, we’re writing this from Mexico City, and we’ve been keeping close tabs on the news of the two Australian brothers and their friend who went missing recently on the Mexican Baja peninsula. It’s an absolute tragedy and we feel for their families back home. We reassure you all that we are safe and sound in the capital city, with next stop a flight to NY city towards the end of May.

Antigua, Guatemala 🇬🇹 for Easter!

We left you in El Tunco in our last email, where Tom went for a surf out on some sharp rocks. From there, we jetted up by bus (so chugged really) to Antigua in Guatemala as we had heard that the Easter there was unmissable. The biggest in the world, most colourful of traditions, and it brings hundreds of thousands of people. We witnessed the incredible 'alfombras', vibrant street carpets meticulously crafted from flowers and dyed sawdust, stretching impressively along the cobblestone. The processions were very impressive, with giant floats — some towering two stories high — each laboriously carried by up to two hundred devoted worshippers, who then walk straight over the alfombras destroying them in the process. Each procession would last around 16 hours, winding its way through the town. We enjoyed some awesome and delicious recommendations from Holl & Lize’s cousin, Charlotte, who used to live in Guatemala - thank you!! For more piccies of alfombras see here: https://millaphotos.myportfolio.com/guatemala

One thing we found pretty wild was that the alfombras (some stretching 100m long) would be laboured over for hours and hours, but were finished only within minutes of then being trodden on by the procession!

One family were in such a rush, as we were walking past, they asked if we could help them make their alfombra! It was go go go!! Minutes later, the procession came past.

The whole week was a celebration, but it was really the Thursday, Friday and Saturday that had events for 72hrs straight - we thought we’d get up at 4am one morning to see what was on and the crowds were still going strong!

some late night alfombra making

There were some delicious Easter treats that we enjoyed, one being these Mollete con miel which tasted like panettone soaked in hot honey (on the right). Deeelish. If anyone is ever in this area around Easter, we highly recommend staying in Antigua for Easter. It was truly unmissable.

Acatenango hike and life of Lake Atitlan leisure

Post-Easter, our journey turned rugged as we tackled the Acatenango Volcano hike. We hiked our way up dusty trails, leading up to 3900m elevation, where we could feel the air thinning by the burn of our leg muscles usually relatively easy ascents. After arriving at base camp, we saw the sister volcano Fuego erupt. And erupt and erupt and erupt. Every 6 minutes on average it would spew out a stream of rocks and smoke, and as we drew closer to sunset we could also see the rocks were red hot and lava flowed down the sides. Sleep was hard to come by that night, with 20 of us piled into two super wide beds in a tiny cabin, but it didn’t matter too much as we were woken at 4am to begin our hike to the peak for sunrise. Tom struggled particularly with the altitude (boy i felt like absolute shit), but it was a breathtaking sunrise while watching Fuego continue to erupt.

sunrise hike with view of Fuego volcano

you can see in my eyes i am feeling awful, but still, i take a pretty good photo

After descending, and showering (much much much needed, I (Milla) still can’t get this one thick pair of socks completely clean from volcanic silt, and I (Tom) got mine all clean now due to my superior shower clothes washing techniques), we took a shuttle to Lake Atitlan for some rest and relax. At Free Cerveza hostel (2 hours of free beer with dinner every night), we took out the free kayaks or stand up paddle boards in the morning (unfortunately the lake is quite polluted and you risk getting sick by swimming, so Tom particularly did not enjoy the risk of stand up paddle boarding - in fact he hated it).

i asked milla why this photo was in here but she replied ‘i put it in there, does that not speak for itself hahaha’. Brutal. there will be revenge in the next email. just. you. wait.

We stayed at another place nearby the next two nights before returning to Free Cerveza on the Saturday where we had offered to DJ after dinner before whoever was up for it took a boat to a dance bar in a nearby town. We did a B2B Tom opened and Milla sent the night along, and we really got the crowd dancing. Our sets surprisingly resulted in nearly a record turnout for the boats to the dance club, and drew great support from our fellow backpackers!

The next couple days we spent in Guatemala City. We stayed in a nice area that was partly residential but also had offices, factories, plus had lots of restaurants scattered throughout. The c o d e w o r d for the quiz is ‘Lucha Libre’. We had some delicious meals while exploring the streets, before packing up for an overnight flight to Arizona.

Yeeehaw Arizona 🇺🇸

The flight(s) (4am stopover in Fort Lauderdale) were rough but worth it, and we arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, ready for the excitement of Travs and Kelley’s wedding in Scottsdale. It was crazy to see all my (Tom’s) good mates from school on the other side of the world, and we had a great time cooling off the Airbnb pools, hiking Camelback Mountain and going to the wedding hype event - the rodeo! The wedding was spectacular, at Kelley’s folks place, with a lovely ceremony, great cocktails and a delicious dinner while seated at an endless dinner table that seated all 120 guests! Huge congratulations Travs & Kelley!!

From here we flew back down to Mexico, but we’ll leave the details of that to our next email…

Tom’s Book Corner

In quieter moments, I rediscovered an old favourite in a funny way. Andy Griffith’s The Day My Bum Went Psycho** might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but amidst the chaos of travel, it brought an unexpected solace with its ridiculously funny storyline and many fantastic jokes about butts and poop and stuff. Based on a true story, Griffiths tells a bizarre yet belly-aching tale around an unconventional hero, proving laughter really can be the best medicine. If anyone has any other books held to similar esteem, please let me know in the replies! Do not recommend Bugalugs Bum Thief by Tim Winton as i have read it and it was no good anyway. Having said that, Tim Winton’s other books about Lachie Leonard are bloody great, oh and the TV show was very cool too. I recommend that also.

Milla’s (actual) book reviews Milla read a book too!

I finished reading Yellowface by R.F. Kuang in about a day, it was addictive and I DESPISED the main character. The commentary around the book is really interesting, and if you’ve read it and wanna chat, hit me up! If you haven’t read it, it’s an easy and entertaining read.

I read a series of short stories titled “This Is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature” written by writers who attend the Palestine Festival of Literature over the previous 10 years and wrote pieces inspired by experiences there. It was a moving and fascinating read. This was published in 2017, and there is a new anthology of essays titled “Their Borders, Our World” due to be published June 2024 by the festival organisers. I am looking forward to it’s release.