When was your last haircut?

I’m sure this question is more directed at Julien than me, but for those interested in my luscious locks, I got a much-appreciated trim in Quito for $5 by a Chinese woman named Lee on December 2. Julien’s last cut is estimated early-May.

What is it like having a hair cut like a llama?

It’s kind of like being a rock-star.

How are you guys so cool?

Like on any social media, we try to put our best foot forward. However, Julien is a great fan of the out-takes; here are a few photos that are…less-than-polished.

Trying Inca Kola on the bus to Trujillo, Peru

On the beaches of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

Wife-brows photo-bombing in Granada, Nicaragua

Licking my coffee stick, Salento, Colombia

Go-Pro-ing in the Valle de Cocora, Colombia

Tiny-lips-ing in Bucaramanga, Colombia

This is how so many Go-Pro shots start out; this one in Moray, Peru

Unbridled excitement about slightly-dangerous New Year’s fireworks in Cusco, Peru

Someone getting in the way of my photo in Saksaywaman, Cusco, Peru

Scraping for ideas for new photo-poses

How do all of your things fit in your backpacks?

We have very little, though enough. Shared we have 1 toiletry bag, 1 silk cocoon, three cameras, one computer, portable speaker, mouse, a deck of cards, a life straw, a Swiss army knife, selfie-stick, fleece blanket

Julien: 10 t-shirts, 2 long sleeves, 3 shorts, 1 pair of pants, 7 undies, 7 pairs of socks, swim trunks, 1 rain jacket, 1 towel, 1 sleeping bag, 2 pairs of shoes, 1 pair of flip flops, 6 juggling balls, 1 baby-alpaca hat

Anne: 5 t-shirts, 4 long sleeves, 2 skirts, 2 leggings, 1 pant, 2 scarves, 14 undies, 5 pairs of socks, swim suit, 1 rain jacket, 1 towel, 1 sleeping bag, 2 pairs of shoes, 1 pair of flip flops, 1 baby alpaca hat

We take all our clothing, fold and roll it, and then carefully place/cram it into every nook and cranny of our packs, mine a 40L bag, and Julien’s a 55L bag.

How do you handle your clothing situation? Apparently you have more or less the same clothes, but how do you wash them? Or do you ever wash them??

We’ve had the same clothes since the beginning (with a welcome gift of two shirts each from my sister for Christmas!), and of course we wash them! Most hostels/hotels have a laundry service, but if we’re feeling extra thrifty, we’ll look for another place to do laundry to save a dollar or two.

How do you find lodging?

At first we did Couchsurfing and general online searches; we also took fellow-traveler suggestions and our guidebook suggestions. Now we work almost entirely with hostelworld.com and booking.com choosing lodging after a thorough look at reviews and services provided.

Our roommate Ambar, from a Couchsurf we did in Oaxaca, Mexico

Are you used to cold showers?

We are not unfamiliar with them, but in our thorough ho(s)tel-choosing we do beforehand, we make sure where we’re staying has hot running water. In some places (notably southern Mexico, Nicaragua, and Caribbean coastal Costa Rica) where temperatures were consistently over 90°F, homes/hotels aren’t so much equipped with hot/cold water as simply running water, which was plenty appreciated. The cooler showers were a welcome relief and we would take up to five “rinses” in a day to cool down.

Do you ask ‘por favor tienen wifi’ wherever you go?

Traveling through Latin America in the late 2000s (2006 to 2010), I was a frequent customer of the internet cafés that dotted the continents, rooms filled with little cubicles with bulky computers, posters from the 90s decorating the walls. Fast-forward to today, the internet boom has hit Latin America and any successful café (actual cafés with coffee, and views!) or ho(s)tel has working WiFi, greatly enhancing the being-online experience. As for the speed, it has mostly depended on the country.

Internetting at Café Tierra Madre, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, about 150 feet from the Caribbean Sea

How do you manage to have so many updates?

Any free moment is spent updating or working on the blog. Because we have just one computer, we have become really efficient in our computer use. While I’m editing photos, Julien is translating text; while Julien is editing videos, I’m writing blogs based off the photos we’ve uploaded to the draft folder of our blog, looking at them on Julien’s phone. The computer is probably our hardest worker!

How do you decide where to eat?

If we have the time and resources, we think about what we are hungry for and scour TripAdvisor for the best option quality and budget-wise. Street-food prices are hard to beat, and if we find a favorite street-food lady , we have been known to return unapologetically day after day. We don’t always have the opportunity, but when we have a kitchen, we love whipping up a hostel-cooked meal.

What is the most delicious thing or things you have eaten? Favorite food you did not know of and discovered during your trip ?

Some favorites include: Alpaca steak in Cusco; anticuchos (kebabs, or as we like to refer to them, “street meats”); yuca rellena (mashed yucca, stuffed with meat or cheese); a great variety of lime-based salsas made by our host-mom in Xela; doughnut holes from Bake Shop, a Mennonite-run bakery, also in Xela. While in Central America our favorite traveling snack was Ducal refried beans (that came in very transportable pouches) with tortilla chips. I also discovered a love of the fruit guanábana (soursop in English?!) and Julien enjoys a fresh fruit smoothie almost daily.

Anticuchos: chicken, chicken and salchicha, and beef heart kebabs, topped with a baked potato

How do you find where to rent bikes?

We are always on the lookout for bike tours. Though we’ve only done one in Bogotá, if bikes are made available, we’re renting them.

Biking in coffee-land, Salento, Colombia

How far ahead do you plan your itinerary?

Generally about a week before entering a new country, we’ll take a look at the map in our Rough Guides guidebook; the Rough Guides have really nice maps with 6 highlights/country that we take into account. Fellow traveler suggestions are heavily weighed in as well. We usually give ourselves 4-5 days in a city during which time it is easy to book tours/visits the day of or the next. It is easy enough to travel spontaneously throughout Latin America we usually book long-distance buses (8+ hours) a day in advance, flights 2-3 days in advance.

What language do you speak with each other?

90% English, 5% French, 4% Spanish, and most recently a little Quechua! Julien has also picked up a little Australian and New Zealand.

How is your Spanish?

Spanishing; Julien is not shy about chitchatting with Hispanophones in Spanish, and I am often asked how I speak Spanish so well. Most recently, in Peru, we are asked if we are from Latin America (usually if we are from Chile or Argentina) which we credit to our level of Spanish.

Do you ever get any time to be by yourself?

Aside from the bathroom, not really! At my encouragement, Julien once took a two-day trek that he was interested in and I rested. Julien’s video-editing is a pretty solo operation so it’s like being alone. Other than that, we very much enjoy each other’s constant company!

Do you ever splurge on something, and how do you decide when to do so?

As the trip goes on, we spend more on lodging (spending about $15/person for a private room). Being great food and beer appreciators, we don’t hesitate to eat at a nice place at least once a week and try local crafts at each stop. Not having extra room in our backpacks means most souvenirs come in the form of photos and is a great relief to not think about buying “stuff” at all the markets. Our biggest material purchases were two paintings in Guatemala, a backpack, and most recently two certified baby-alpaca hats. When we’ve taken flights it is after great time/price consideration; that said, the most we’ve spent on a flight is $115 and it was to save 30+ hours by bus.

Is it bothersome to change location all the time?

It’s always exciting to travel to a new climate, culture, city. More than bothersome, it’s tiring, but if we find ourselves too worn down, we just stay put a day or two or three longer.

What is the biggest challenge you have confronted?

Dealing with Julien’s stolen credit cards and dealing with the week Julien was down with the flu. Finding healthy, cheap food is perhaps the most constant challenge.

Since you have left, what have you missed the most?

I miss exercising, cooking and fitted pants. Julien misses playing volleyball, and a good French cheese and fresh baguette.

Does Julien still walk around with an empty money belt ?

No, now he just walks around with empty pockets and a fierce look! It was a great lesson on being conscious of our surroundings and what is in our pockets which is, now, nothing. The pick-pocketing in July ended up being a perfectly-timed lesson.

Favorite people/culture (whole nation or from a specific area) so far?

Colombia was the most open and kind, genuinely welcoming without asking for anything in return; Medellín especially. Mexicans and Peruvians were/have been very warm.

Have you kept all the coins that you weren’t able to exchange when you left a country because “we only exchange bills!!!”?

We’ve actually been pretty good about spending every last cent before crossing, so we just have a few coins.

What is the least expensive thing you lost, or was stolen, what was really annoying?

As the primary loser-of-things, I’ll let Julien respond. Julien left behind a WI Film Fest long-sleeve in Quito (loss in the fact that I have a matching one); he lost the top half of his shorts/pants; the money-belt pick pocketing was initially a big loss, but we recovered all lost funds; we lost a $20 bill on our way to buy fresh fish in Panama, but luckily the $5 bill we had was enough to get a pound of tuna; we misplaced our passports just after getting stamped into Colombia, but luckily our guide from the San Blas Islands trip had come across the ziplock bag we keep them in and kept it safe for the hour or so we had lost it.

After crossing a border, how long did it take for you, on average, to realize that you had to change the time on your watches?
The only boarder that we were completely blindsided by the fact that there was a time-change was between Mexico and Guatemala, and we were an hour off for just a day. Just yesterday, we realized our secondary camera was an hour ahead, so a good three countries behind.

Put in order from most useful to least: your towel, a roll of toilet paper, plastic bags, shampoo, sunscreen.

Plastic bags, roll of toilet paper, sunscreen, shampoo, my towel.

What nationality of backpacker have you found to be the most annoying? And the coolest?
There is a prevalent presence of Israelis that travel in groups of 6+ that can be quite cliquey and less-than-friendly with fellow travelers. In an alternative sense of the word cool, Australians live up to their reputation and are probably the most chill and up for anything nationality.

For you, the worst nightmare is: 1 week without money, 2 weeks without WiFi, or 3 weeks without hot water.

A week without money, followed closely by two weeks without WiFi and three without hot water.

Any travel tips now that you’ve been on the road for a while? A “Five things we’ve learned” or “10 travel tips”?

Five things I’ve learned

A: I do not tolerate the heat as much as I used to and am always much happier when we are in a place that has lower temperatures, somewhere in the 70s or 80s.

J: Spanish, at least a beginner’s level

A: Medellín is a gorgeous city made apparently, completely of brick.

J: Latin American geography and history

A: Inca is the name of a family, and it’s a bit of a misnomer that we give the name to an entire civilization. A guide explained it as if we were to call the U.S. the Obama Empire.

J: There are very few French travelers; we’ve run mostly into young Australians, Israelis, Americans and Germans.

A: Peru has an extensive, and sandy desert

J: Learned that bombs/explosive noises can be signs of happiness and for some, beeping is a lifestyle choice.

J: What an earth-tremor feels like and what an active volcano looks like.

10 Travel Tips

A: Chose your lodgings carefully. I feel like I can go out and conquer whatever activity we are up to if I know we have a comfortable, clean bed waiting for us when we get back. Fast WiFi is an absolute plus for me as well.

J: Don’t drink too much; it’s expensive, can be risky, and we’re getting old.

A: Know what you enjoy and go out and enjoy it! I love learning about people and cities, and am less excited about spending a week in the jungle; consequently we spend more time city-hopping than jungle trekking. I don’t mind wearing the same clothing over and over again, so I don’t invest much in new clothing, but I do enjoy a well made drink and quality food and am always up for a nice meal.

J: Don’t give papaya (giving the opportunity to be thieved) but stay friendly and don’t become suspicious of everybody

A: Rest when you need to. We were non-stop traveling and adventuring for the first six weeks, and it left us exhausted. Julien pointed out we hadn’t taken a weekend since we had started traveling, so we had to learn that some days you just need to lay around and do nothing.

J: Go with the flow; things invariably will not go according to plan and you just have to stay flexible.

A: Wear sunscreen. You can’t imagine the number of (mostly) younger travelers in all stages of redness and peeling. Not this girl!

J: Travel at your own pace.

A: Just travel, however you can. I enjoyed a quote from a Facebook page I follow, Travelers of the World; one of the travelers they interviewed said: “Everyone needs to travel differently. Decide what you enjoy. Some people love living out of a tent and are total minimalists. Some people need a little more luxury, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If you need a hot shower every night, that’s great, but make sure you travel in places that are going to have that. Go where you’re going to enjoy yourself. Maybe you can only enjoy travel for 2-3 months before you get so homesick that you’re no longer enjoying travel. Then arrange your trips to only be 2-3 months. We all have different thresholds. Prioritize, and understand yourself. A lot of that you’ll learn while you’re out there.”

J: Take photos and take notes, memories are precious and ephemeral.