What’s the TravelnLass up to today?

Note to self:   under NO CIRCUMSTANCE should you ever be foolish enough to publish a page that needs constant updating – silly girl!

That said, I *have* managed to revise this “NOW” page a few times over the years, but it’s high-time (July 2022) I pecked an update that halfway reflects my World TODAY.

As my TravelnLass site rarely reflects real time, this page is the most up-to-date snapshot of where I currently am on the Planet – usually in my beloved Cuenca, Ecuador these days.   But (as evidenced by the slew of 30-odd countries that I’ve visited since leaving my native land 10 years ago), at any given moment I may well hop off to… most recently Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda (January 2020 – I barely made it back into Ecuador before they closed the borders due to covid!), along with Spain and Italy just last April.  Or Cuba, or Easter Island or Japan or Turkey, or, or, or…

Travel Dreams

Thus it is here that I shall post my latest plans for future travels, which – at the moment include:

Since I last reported-for-duty here on my TravelnLass “NOW” page (more than a year ago – yikes!) I finally was able to resume my usual M.O. of hopping jet planes every chance I get.  Yesirreee, all “vacuna’d” up here (w/ no fewer than *4* jabs mind you!), I did indeed hop on a silver cigar-tube (not to mention a bazillion trains, busses and ferries) last March/April to return to Europe and explore a wide variety of new corners of Spain and Italy, that I missed in my earlier trips there.

And oh my – after more than ***2 full years*** of being (necessarily) tethered to this mountain-top (which I continue to ADORE, but still…) – OMG!!!  It was sooo nice to once again be back on the free-spirited trail exploring new global corners, meeting amazing people in other lands, and… EATING sublime new taste treats like Spanish tapas, cava, vermut, etc. in Barcelona, along with amazing Venetian “chicchetti”, “Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia” pasta, and all manner of Italian pizza, cannoli, aged “Parmigiano-Reggiano” cheese, ever-so-thinly sliced Parma prosciutto, et al – all sloshed down with sips of delicious “limoncino”.

Do check out my “Spain and Italy by the Numbers” post for all the details of my marathon from Barcelona to Venice, to Bologna, to Cinque Terre (my #1 FAVE!) to Puglia, to Sicily and the Aeolian Islands (where I dined directly beneath the booms and fiery bursts of an active volcano!)

Furthermore…  Having been denied all that wondrous travel fun for two looong years – all that month+ travel glee did was… re-whet my appetite for MORE!

Which neatly segues into the present:  So… what travel shenanigans are you cooking-up right NOW, Dyanne???

You know it’s funny.  Funny how/where my next-up travel destinations spring from.  Could be some stray mention in the Lonely Planet FB group or my Google News stream, of a corner of the globe I’d not given much thought to before.  Or could be a quiet, latent travel dream suddenly come to life.  In this case ’twas the latter – a long-time dream of celebrating “El Día de Muertos” properly, authentically where it originated…

in MEXCIO!

Thus with little more than 3 months since my last international skip around Europe – I’m already now deep in my “happy place” researching (not to mention dropping $$$ on air tickets) to CDMX and beyond.

I’ve of course been to quite a few lovely locales in Mexico previously.  Indeed, my first ever international tiptoe outside the U.S. was a summer backpacking from Mazatlán to Puerto Vallarta with my (then, 8 & 5 year old) daughters.  Later, I returned solo to Acapulco, as well as most recently – a quick hop to Mexico City and bus up into the Michoacán mountains to see those miraculous Monarch “Butterflies DRIPPING From the Trees“.

But the land of Mexico is nothing, if not IMMENSE.  Indeed, more than **20** European countries fit into the boundary of Mexico, so clearly there’s many more corners there that need to be explored.  So yep, Mexico is surely THE place to witness The Day of the Dead festivities.  And while we’re at it – why not experience the annual festival in one of the prime locales for it:  Oaxaca?  That Oaxaca is also said to be the “foodie capital” of Mexico (a country already renowned all over for its many diverse and tasty eats) is merely frosting on this avowed foodie’s cake!

So that’s the “NOW” travel plan:  Come late October/November 2022, that’s (g-willing) where you’ll find me.  I’m presently noodling out a 3 week itinerary – including a full week in Mexico City (the most populous city in North America, and chockfull of fabulous eats, markets, museums, Aztec ruins, et al), plus a week in Oaxaca for the Day of the Dead festival.  And sweetly polishing it all off with a final week wiggling toes in the sunny sand at Puerto Escondido on Mexico’s southrn Pacific coast.

Projects & Passions

And here too I shall periodically scribble some of my current gotta-do’s and wanna-do’s.  Which presently include:

• Teaching English:I’ve been teaching EFL off and on ever since I left my native land more than 10 years ago.  And while I’ve loved all of my classroom teaching assignments (students of all ages and English levels in both Ho Chi Minh City and Dalat, Vietnam, as well as at several schools here in Cuenca, Ecuador), such formal teaching gigs tend to cramp my wanderlust style (i.e. continuous set terms with but a week’s break between terms – how’s a lass s’pose to explore new lands on THAT schedule?)Furthermore, the pay scale here in Ecuador (even for folks like me with a CELTA, a Masters and years of EFL teaching experience) is woefully pathetic compared to the $20+/hour I earned in Vietnam.  Thus… I’ve now gone totally freelance, and only teach small private classes in my home.  Though it’s never been about the money – the good news is that with just 3-4 students (the max. I have room for in my small apartment), I can charge each student as little as $4 per hour (i.e. very affordable for most Ecuadorians) – and still make nearly twice what the local private English schools pay.In short, it’s a win-win for all, and with private classes, I can easily rearrange my teaching schedule should I want to skip off to some new far-away land.
• ¿Hablas español?Still far from “fluent” here. But the good news is that I can now fully hold my own in most any Spanish conversation with my Ecuadorian friends (some speak a smattering of English, others none at all, and a few are fluent – though I insist on speaking Spanish and appreciate both their patience and their gentle stray corrections).  Of course I still have a long way to go and I’m ever striving to add new vocabulary and hone my grammar (which is still pathetically limited to but 1.79 tenses with an occasional future progressive tossed in).  I hired a private tutor for awhile, and took a couple of intermediate level classes, but I found that neither added significantly to my progress.  Indeed, I’ve learned far more by simply avoiding perpetually hanging out with my fellow gringos, and instead speaking with locals every chance I get.  After all – that’s the beauty of living in a Spanish-speaking country like Ecuador:  full immersion is right there for the taking!
• New Passion:  FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY!
  

  Lemon-Meringue Popsicles – Yummm!

  It started with the grim restrictions on movement thanks to “The Great Unpleasantness”.  Like many of you, I was necessarily “quedate en casa” for many months.  With no hope of whizzing off to some far-away land, and much of my social life restricted, I necessarily turned to my alternate life-long love of photography for consolation.  But of course it couldn’t be new iconic world wonders or quirky foreign locals in front of my lens, so… what’s a girl to do?  Why photog right here in my own “cosina” (kitchen)!  There was plenty of time to cook and fuss with pretty desserts and such, of course (as evidenced by my blossoming waistline!)  So began my new love affair with food styling and photography.

  What could be better (short of hopping planes to far-away places) than… whiling away the weeks ‘n months enjoying two of my favorite pastimes:  Cooking and photography!  Indeed, I’ve now amassed quite a collection of foodie pics (do check out my Portfolio).  I’ve even started shooting food for a few of the local eateries here in Cuenca.

• Hobbies and Stray Interests: Exploring ever new corners of the globe continues to be my Numero Uno passion of course.  But I must say – having a semblance of a “home base” here in Cuenca, Ecuador (not to mention a most coveted permanent resident visa) offers a myriad of perks not available when one is perpetually skipping from one foreign country to another.Staying put in a foreign land for months and years on end would seem (leastwise for this wanderlust) to be the best of all worlds:  Learning a new language and the many challenges of living day-to-day in a wholly new culture suits the adventuress in me to a T.  Plus basing myself first in Southeast Asia, and now on the South American continent enables me to easily sample the variety of foreign lands that surround me.  Yet – at the same time, the stability of having a permanent address allows for building close relationships with both local Cuencanos, as well as a few fellow gringos.^*
  Best of all, what with 8+ years now in Cuenca, I’ve come to know most every nook ‘n cranny of my beloved (delightfully walkable) “El Centro”.  And I still have to catch my breath whenever I gaze at the splendor of those incredible blue domes of the New Cathedral.

And now I have the best of all worlds – recently I stumbled upon a new *penthouse* apartment overlooking the gurgling Rio Tomebamba (for little more than $350/mo. furnished, w/ all utilities!) Needless to say, I’m greatly enjoying the serenity of my new Cuenca digs.  And thanks to the nearby electric Tranvia (runs every 9 minutes @ but 17¢ a pop for we dodderin’ “tercera edads”), I can swiftly be skipping around the cobbled streets of my beloved “El Centro” – visiting old neighborhood friends, munching on juicy “hornado” (tender pulled pork – straight off the roasted pig!) at my favorite 9 Octubre market, and enjoying a perfect gel “mani” for just $10.

In short…

(yeah Dyanne, when did you EVER keep the mots “short” here?) – though my day-to-day life here in Ecuador is much like yours – filled with grocery shopping, errands, and a seemingly never ending “To Do” list.  I’m grateful for this most enchanting life of expatdom, and the ability to continue to follow my dreams.

 

 

 

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