Joyful Finds

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Joyful Find: Kristin and Chris of The Darien Plan

December 16, 2009 in Joyful Finds, Other Joydrivers, argentina by kels | 1 comment

Once in awhile, in a rare occasion some cosmic forces collide and by sheer coincidence you end up meeting some people who you know will be your friends for life. We were extremely fortunate to meet up with Kristin and Chris by chance in Puerto Escondido, Mexico and continued to meet up and hang out with them on our long driving adventure.

From Mexico to the end of the world we have managed to:

  • share ridiculously small spaces and not kill each other (5 weeks, 4 adults, 120 square feet and a cold shower
  • listen to the most amazing music mixes including Jolene and Dreadlock Holiday
  • ship cars from Central America to South America and have them arrive to the right port
  • deal with inane border bureaucracy smoothly
  • work the system to find the best accommodation deals
  • stumble through language issues with the locals (between 4 of us we managed)
  • survive unsafe handling of fireworks
  • sample as many wines as possible in South America
  • create the best website about driving the Americas
  • whine about what we miss from home
  • handle long blamming drives
  • laugh through every crazy and funny bit of it!

These two have made our trip all the more special and saying goodbye (only for now) was pretty sad but all of us know we will meet up again soon…Carnaval 2011 we hope!

Some delightful pics of our amigos we like to call “Los Rubios” (the blonde ones).

Who the hell is Vesper?

Joyful Find: The Ultimate Travel Shoe

November 13, 2009 in Joyful Finds by tom | 1 comment

We were talking about the best travel accessories the other day and for me, before the travelling alarm clocks or the plastic ziplocks is a pair of all star canvas chucks… They’re light, they pack down easy and they look better with wear – they breath well and they’re durable. Our Chucks have seen some wear – they’ve been put through their paces and they’ve served us well.

converse_travel_shoe

Joyful Find: Hilana Wool Jacket

November 10, 2009 in Joyful Finds, ecuador by kels | 5 comments

When we were in Otavalo, a short drive south of the Colombian border, I spotted a wool shop that I wanted to check out and then promptly forgot the following day.  Fate must have been thinking that I was in need of a new jacket because Casa Helbling, the hostel we stayed at in Quito, was directly across from the exact same store, Hilana.  Not only do they sell beautiful wool, they make a well-designed selection of wool jackets, slippers, scarves, mittens and much more.  I believe the designer is French but all the materials are sourced from Ecuador.

It was actually Tom who spotted this jacket and suggested I try it on.  The sleeves were a tiny bit short but with a bit of chatting the lady at the shop managed to get the sleeves lengthened in 24 hours.  And I came away with a custom tailored, 100% wool jacket and a couple of skeins of lovely Ecuadorian yarn for $60 USD.

Jacket from Hilana

Joyful Find: Coconut Water

September 23, 2009 in Brazil, Joyful Finds by kels | 2 comments

Kero Coco Water

Maybe it’s because we are both feeling the nasty pain of too much wine last night but right now I am really missing my coconut water – the world’s best natural hangover cure.  Brazilians drink agua de coco like it is going out of style and you will find fresh coconuts stacked high on nearly every street corner ready to be struck open by three deft machete chops. Apparently you need one coconut for a regular-sized hangover (two if you got blitzed) to start your recovery.

Cool and refreshing, with a hint of sweetness, coconut water rehydrates your body – at least that is what the Brazilians claim.  Naturally fat-free and low in calories coconut water contains 5 essential electrolytes.  It is a great alternative to drinking fluorescent-flavoured sports drinks that claim to make you fly.  If you cannot find the real thing or don’t want to drive with a coconut in your hand, Kero Coco is the next best choice in Brazil (in the US you can track down some here).

Joyful Find: Clos

July 21, 2009 in Joyful Finds, Peru by tom | 3 comments

al-and-tom

Clos … I like to give it a slightly Germanic drawl so it sounds like house. We first heard about Concha Y Toro wines from Luisa, a retired dancer from New York, who put us up in Mexico City – ‘you can get a decent bottle of red for six bucks’.

Living by the beach and watching our budget at Bob’s place in Costa Rica we found the Concha Y Toro line again, this time as Clos de Pirque and in a one-litre tetra pack … travel friendly! Clos also made a solid showing in Mancora, Peru when we hung out with Al for a few days waiting for the swell.

Al did get in touch with us after we left Mancora…  “By the way I met a German guy who told me Clos in German is slang for toilet (bog, shitter, dunnie) you get the picture. Still enjoying the odd glass though.” And while it’s not winning any wine awards it has to be said that Clos is a real backpacker favorite, this resealable, nonbreakable and fairly drinkable gem will only set you back about 3 dollars.

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