Youppi!!! We missed you so much! Where were you?! What happened?! Are you all right?!...
He explained that the night before I saw him for the last time in the city of Hanoi in Vietnam, he went out after the puppet show and after Steve and I went to bed, and he met Tēu, the star of the show, and they had a blast.
Tēu invited him to stay at his place for a little while and told him that maybe he could get him a role in the play. Youppi said no and came back but the following day, when he realized it was our last day in Hanoi, he thought "what if I'm missing the best opportunity of my life!" So, without thinking, he jumped out of my pocket and left us to live his own adventure. He spent time with Tēu but quickly realized he didn't have what it takes to be a member of the show. Apparently, he was too fat, too orange and not flexible enough.
So he left Hanoi and tried to find us… in vain of course. But he made some good friends everywhere in the country and had a good time anyway. In fact, he stayed in Vietnam for 9 months! But he said he was missing us and he was also starting to get bored so in December, he decided to come back home. He wanted it to be a cool surprise so he ended up in my Christmas stocking. You should have seen my face when I saw him, smiling at me! We hugged each other and I told him about our upcoming trip to New Orleans, which includes a 5-day cruise to Mexico and our 4-week trip to Nicaragua and he immediately said he was in. Isn't it a super cool story?!
But I also told him to never ever do that again. I made him the hero of my travel stories! He cannot just leave us like that! Between you and I, I even kind of made him feel a bit guilty by telling him that the reason why we didn't travel since he left was because we needed him and our adventures would not have been the same without him. He promised it was the first and last time.
So… Now, that Youppi is back, let’s go on a new adventure!...
We went on a 10-day trip to Lafayette, New Orleans and on a short cruise to Mexico with Steve's sons, Simon and Charles-Étienne, with Valérie, Simon's wife and Nicolas, Charles-Étienne's best friend. I was supposed to write my blog but the situation was a bit different this time. Not that my dearest husband is boring but we usually have quite a few down times when we travel together so I do have time to write. How can I say that... I love him to death but I would say that he is not the most communicative and conversational person on Earth... But this time, I had company! People to talk to and that would actually answer me! No, I'm slightly exaggerating but honestly, we had such a good time all together that I decided to enjoy every single precious minute with them and put my blog aside. But to make a long story short, we flew from Ottawa to Toronto and Toronto to New Orleans... And Simon almost lost his shoe!
We rented a minivan and drove to Lafayette. We had an amazing Cajun dinner in an old authentic restaurant with a band that was probably the guest band for their grand opening, 60 years ago.
Sorry for the group picture, I didn't realize Charles-Étienne had his eyes closed...
Wait a minute! There he is! With wide opened eyes!
The following day, we visited the Tabasco manufacture. It was HOT! Sorry, it was an easy one... And we went on a boat tour in a bayou and yes, we did see alligators!
Aren't we cute!!!
On day 3, we drove back to New Orleans to get on our cruise. We spent 1 day on the sea, 1 day in Cozumel, Mexico, 1 day in Progreso, Mexico and 2 days on the sea.
Finally, we went back to New Orleans and had a blast. We had good food, had a lot of fun on Bourbon Street, enjoyed jazz bands on Frenchmen Street, went on a "ghost tour", visited great markets and walk in the streets just to admire the architecture.
It was short and sweet but it was a memorable trip! Thank you Simon, Charles-Étienne, Valérie and Nicolas for making this trip unforgettable and engraved in our memories.
Now, we have to start planning our next trip and get ready for Nicaragua!
Located between the Pacific Ocean and the Carribean Sea and bordered by Honduras and Costa Rica, Nicaragua seems like a great place to discover. It's much safer than Honduras and much less touristy than Costa Rica. And between the volcanoes, gigantic lakes, beaches, wildlife refuges, 2 UNESCO world heritage sites, architectural treasures, coffee plantations, interesting culture and plenty of other things, we won't have time to get bored!
Nicaragua, here we come!
