Where’s the TravelnLass Off To Next? The Galapagos Islands and… AFRICA!

Seriously.  I simply have GOT to get my act together here and knuckle down to peck a (looooog overdue) update.  Indeed, more than ***5 MONTHS*** without a single scribble here.  I seem to have (permanently?) lost my TravelnLass mojo.

And it’s not as if I don’t have plenty to write about (Dubrovnik, Montenegro, Turkey – I’m lookin’ at YOU, plus there’s always something new right here amid the cobbled streets of my adopted home of Cuenca).

What can I say? Life…  happens.

And mine continues to be chock full of both the usual (e.g. drumming a bit of English into the heads of my Ecuadorian students, and being perpetually entertained by the “carnival” that I enter the moment I step outside my El Centro door), along with my newest passion:  the delightful and delicious rabbit hole of food photography.

Ah but enough prelim – I’m here today for one, and only one purpose:  to assure you All that the TravelnLass hasn’t dropped off the face of the earth, whilst simultaneously sharing a preview of what’s penciled in on her upcoming wanderlust dance-card.

So without further ado, let me just spit a few things out here…

A Return to Those Luscious G’s!

Yessiree… hard to believe it’s been more than 4 years since my first flirtation with the amazing Galapagos Islands.  And I must admit, returning for a second visit seems a bit greedy given that many are still dreaming of one day checking them off their bucket-list.

But hey – I LIVE here in Ecuador after all.  And when old friends come to visit, I have no choice but to make sure they get the chance to swim with penguins, catch a glimpse of a seahorse, and enjoy an up-close encounter with the humongous tortoises that Darwin met when “The HMS Beagle” first landed on San Cristóbal island in 1835.

Little known fact:  Charlie Darwin actually ATE a tortoise or three whilst exploring the G’s and noodling out his evolutionary theory!

And so it happens, that a dear Seattle geocaching chum is coming to visit me – in just (yikes!) 7 days.  Indeed, when he first messaged me with an out-of-the-blue “What’s the weather like in Ecuador in September?” back in April…

Long story short?  I couldn’t let him visit me here in Cuenca without nudging him to take a spin around the Galapagos while he was at it.  And indeed, his visit inspired me to dust off my old “International Tour Operator” hat, and cobble together an entire month-long itinerary for him that includes a veritable TRIFECTA of South American bucket-list items:

A week in the Galapagos; plus a visit to Easter Island 2,000+ miles off the coast of Chile; plus a wander into Peru to gaze upon that legendary ancient citadel of Machu Picchu.  And finally he’ll scale this 8,400 ft. Andean mountain for a few days so that I can show him around my beloved Cuenca.

And though I’ve already been to all three icons (Easter Island, Machu Picchu, and the G’s), my friend offered to treat me if I tagged along on the Galapagos segment, so how could I possibly refuse?

But honestly – simply helping a pal realize his dreams of gazing at a trio of the World’s most iconic corners in one fell swoop gives me no end of pleasure.  And now we both can look forward to a most epic September!

And there’s MORE…

The BIG trip: EASTERN AFRICA!

The truth is, I’ve been sitting uncharacteristically tight here in Cuenca lately.  Haven’t left Ecuador since my amazing romp through Japan more than a year ago.  Happily content with sitting still for a spell, but also saving up my pennies for the next BIG one:

Back to Africa to make another dent or three in that HUGE continent (with no fewer than 50-odd counties to tease me!)  This time with an entire month to wander.

And wander I shall come January 2020!  My main target is Ethiopia (known in ancient times as “Abyssinia”).  One of but two African nations that were NEVER colonized (which I find fascinating given the history of the “Scramble for Africa“ back in the late 1800’s), Ethiopia’s long been on my radar.  And for this trip, I’ve deliberately timed my visit for the Timket festival – a 3 day annual extravaganza celebrating the Epiphany in the Orthodox church.

There’s also a boatload of other amazing sights unique to Ethiopia including the famous stoned-carved underground churches at Lalibela, the perpetually active Erta Ale volcano set amid ancient salt flats (still plied daily by lumbering trains of camels) at Dallol – said to be the hottest place on the face of the Earth (with a a daily temp of more than 105 degrees), and my personal pièce de résistance:  the bevy of indigenous tribes in the southern Omo Valley – still living as they’ve done for centuries.

Ah but given the rather steep airfare tab to get myself from Ecuador all the way to eastern Africa (close to 2 grand round trip!) I of course wanted to make the best use of those precious travel dollars, so…

Long story short?  I decided to throw all fiscal prudence to the wind and… try to see those legendary “Gorillas in the Mist’ while I was on that side of the globe.  No small undertaking as a permit to spend but a single HOUR with the gorillas in the wild is $1,500 in Rwanda!  But with a little (well o.k. a LOT) of (mind-numbing) online research, I instead opted to do my gorilla trek in Uganda where the permits were “only” $600 (a $900 savings!)

I started researching my East Africa trip way back in March, and it’s a good thing too, as they only issue a small number of gorilla permits each day and needless to say they get snapped up months and months in advance.  But I was able to get (the LAST) gorilla permit at Bwindi National Park in Uganda for the 6th of January, and with permit securely in hand, I then proceeded to work my air and land itinerary around that single date.

Far too many details to peck here (and many still – deliberately – left loosey-goosey) but suffice – the “Plan” is now mostly in place and looks somewhat like this:

• Direct flight from Ecuador to Spain with 3 nts. in Madrid (to break up the marathon flights from Ecuador to Rwanda) – just in time to ring in 2020 on 31 December in Madrid!
• A few days in Kigali, Rwanda which (believe it or not) is the shortest overland route to the gorillas in neighboring Uganda (remember, I saved $900 by getting a Ugandan gorilla permit rather than do a gorilla trek in Rwanda).
• Overland to Uganda (~ 5 hrs.) and a 3 nt. stay at the Gorilla Close Up Lodge
• 6 January – a most epic day chasing my ultimate bucket-list dream (that I never in a million years thought I’d ever do): scrambling after wild mountain gorillas in the Ugandan jungle!
• Return overland to Kigali in Rwanda and flight to Ethiopia on 9 January
• 17 days to wander around Ethiopia (including at least 4 days hanging out with the indigenous tribes in the Omo Valley – no doubt sleeping in dirt-floored thatched huts – my fave!) 😉
• And then polishing it all off with another 3 nts. in Spain on the return – this time in Valencia to enjoy a big plate of paella in the city where paella was born!
• And finally a return (direct – yay!) flight back to Ecuador on 31 January.

WHEW!

Just a bare-bones synopsis, still plenty of research to do over the next 4 months. But meanwhile…

1. I’ve got a date with the idyllic Galapagos next week, and…
2. Hallelujah!!!  At least I finally manage to peck an update for All of you here at TravelnLass!

 

 
 
 
 
P. S. No telling when I might stumble in here next to write another post.  But with any luck, once I return from the Galapagos (and certainly after my epic adventures in Africa) I’ll at least pop in here to share my pics of those GORILLAS, along with a word (or 3,000) 😉 on my wander around eastern Africa.

And while I’m on the trail (in the G’s or Africa) your best bet for keeping tabs on what I’m up to is by following my Travelnlass Facebook page, or my Instagram account.
 

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