A B O U T ~ L A H N I
Lahns is hands down one of the coolest chicks I know. Growing up in a small town on the West Coast of South Australia meant a proactive childhood of surfing, fishing, and camping along the rugged coast which shines through her humble personality.
Not only is she a fantastic human but also a talented photographer, she cooks a delicious vegetable curry (living with her was the best), she’s hilarious, she shreds in the surf, and her party trick is falling asleep with her eyes open. I’ve known Lahni Rose for over ten years; we’ve been ocean loving soul sisters for a lot of that time. We share some amazing memories; from living in our Mykonos house in Byron Bay together to traveling across the other side of the world to party in Vegas, run a muck at Coachella, scuba dive in the Caribbean, sail around the Panamanian San Blas Islands and experience how they roll in Central America.
All photos below are by her, do yourself a favour and check out her Instagram @lahnirose.
There’s that special something about Central America… Whether you are traveling solo, as a couple or with a bunch of your mates, it’s one of the best trips I have done.
I knew I was in for an adventure with Sarah and Meagan right from the get go. The world was our oyster for the next four months, starting off in California drizzling our way down to Columbia.
Mexico had already won my heart over three years before this trip, so I thought I knew what I was getting myself into the second time around. I knew I wasn’t brilliant at speaking Spanish; I knew I would eat my body weight in $1 tacos, and I knew I would come back with one or more tales.
This day in June I fell in love with Mexico all over again…
Each of us had completely different ideas about this one day and how we were going to get to this particular place called Hierve El Agua in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. Tours weren’t big on our list of how to spend our day, so we decided to find our way to the mountains.
Sarah is a go-getter and would seriously jump in anyone’s car if they greeted her with a smile, so hitching was always her first option. I had a little man inside my head telling me not to be so stupid then I had the other man saying just live a little. Meagan and I were both thinking we should try to catch some local buses although none of us could speak Spanish (our language course was booked in Guatemala in a months time) and we were having trouble with reading the mud map drawn for us from the hostel. We compromised and decided one bus then to hitch the rest of the journey.
We found ourselves on several different buses going to where we thought was the right place. We eventually got to a town and decided to hitch because admittedly we were lost…. I did think twice about this but just followed Sarah’s positive attitude, this is what it’s all about isn’t it. We got in the back of a locals rundown ute for a few pesos along a rickety dirt track in the middle of Oaxaca. Little did we know we were sat with the most beautiful old traditional Mexican couple I ever did see. Admiring the lines on their faces, I was in awe of life that they must have seen and known.
We sat in silence for over half an hour just looking into each other’s eyes with smiles and nods as if we were in conversation. If only my Spanish would work spontaneously.
I snapped a few photos of them and then we arrived at their home village. It consisted of about ten homes amongst cobbled streets with huge cactus plants and donkeys scattered throughout the hills. As they departed the ute, the woman held Meagan’s hand and waved goodbye. I felt an overwhelming feeling I’m not sure how to describe but the whole morning we had been struggling with the language barrier and yet here we sat in silence with this couple, and it felt so powerful without a single word spoken.
When we arrived at our destination, the lake was nestled on top of the mountains with a beautiful view and just the three of us sat on top of the world wondering how the hell we made it there.
