We’re All In This TOGETHER
O.k. there’s no denying it. Clearly I’m not likely to ever go back to my reliable weekly (or even monthly) pecking of TL posts here.
After 10 YEARS, and no fewer than **500** posts (and I’ll bet money that you – yes, YOU out there – haven’t read more than a hundred of them at best – so GET BUSY! 😀 )
But seriously – literally close to a MILLION carefully composed words (enough for nearly a *dozen* BOOKS!), sharing my every (considerable) move – from Seattle, to Vietnam, to Cambodia, Sumatra, Laos, Mongolia, Thailand, Nepal, Borneo, Bali, Singapore, Australia, Egypt, Morocco, Cuba, Easter Island, Peru, Japan, a marathon romp all over Eastern Europe – and MORE! Not to mention dozens of posts on my beloved adopted home here in beautiful Cuenca, Ecuador.
Repeat: reliable peckings of what and where-all I’ve been up to?
Sorry, but that just ain’t gonna happen no more.
Apparently the heretofore trusty, reliable TL muse has moved on. And even with an uber-limiting World-wide pandemic keeping me from hopping on a plane to some new foreign land, not to mention, far more time on my hands with sparse socializing right here “en casa”. . .
Never dreamed I’d ever gaze at these magnificent creatures in the wilds of Africa!
Even with all that, clearly I seldom even THINK to pop in here (to share… um, perhaps a few of the THOUSANDS of pics from my amazing adventures skipping around Rwanda and Ethiopia, and gawking at those legendary “Gorillas in the Mist” in Uganda last January. . .
Nor danced with the many different indigenous lasses amid the remote Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia!
#seewhatimean?
And oh my – the Danakil Depression in the remote Afar region of Ethiopia (a.k.a. “The hottest place on Earth”) was seriously SPECTACULAR!
Good times! (but too lazy to share all of the 2k pics, sorry)
Ah but ever so occasionally, I simply can’t help but share something that seriously touches me greatly. Something that presses sharply on my center core – the very HEART of why I’ve spent my entire life wandering ’round this amazing globe. Something seemingly stray and totally innocuous, yet. . .
Something that brought tears to my eyes:
An ad, yes, and that (“Jerusalema”) song? Clearly mesmerizing folks the World-over for months now during this acky pandemic (and prompting them to DANCE).
But here’s the thing…
When you combine that joyful, catchy tune – with an AIRLINE? lol, what can I say? For a profound wanderlust like me – it makes me verily burst into tears with proud, humble HAPPINESS!
Proud and humble to be a “global citizen” – one small (decidedly dodderin’) person, presently hanging out here beneath the Equator – that shares this precious Planet with folks who have the exact same dreams, worries, hopes and joys.
Indeed, if anything, this insidious pandemic makes it crystal clear that (#mask or #nomask) we’re ALL. IN. THIS. TOGETHER.
I feel oh so blessed to have personally explored so many of the World’s amazing corners (including 10 remarkably unique lands in Africa alone), and I feel bad for those that never leave their native land.
Because for me, travel offers up an ever precious reminder that there are folks JUST. LIKE. ME. all over the globe, at this very moment – all of us living TOGETHER under the same stars, the same moon, the same sun – no matter our race, our religion, our gender, our age, the model of smartphone in our pocket, or the number of pennies in our piggy-bank.
So if you’re like me – fed up with this stupid (albeit oh so deadly!) virus, weary (but nonetheless wisely dutiful) of donning a mask whenever you go out, and utterly disenchanted, disappointed and discouraged with the seemingly endless barrage of negative sniping and political circusry that constantly streams across social media – just click that little white “play” triangle on the above video, and remember. . .
We’re All in This Together, and there’s tons of unrestrained JOY out there among us.
(Seriously, I DEFY you not to smile as you watch it.)
P.S. Well o.k. that video makes me cry with happiness, but also… hurts my heart just a little that I can’t hop on a plane this minute and fly to some new foreign land. 🙁
About the Author
Dyanne Off-the-beaten-path travel is my passion,and I’ve always lived life “like-a-kid-in-a-candy-store” – eager to sample as many flavors as I can. Indeed, my life motto has long been: This ain’t a dress rehearsal, folks!
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Off-the-beaten-path travel is my passion, and I’ve always lived life “like a kid in a candy store” – eager to sample as many flavors as I can. Indeed, my life motto has long been:
Dyanne,
I think we both have the same apathy virus as I am now 26 days behind writing in my journal. I share your laziness.
I came to Panama back in February, planning to stay for just 3 months. I have now been here on Isla Colon, in the Bocas del Toro area of Panama for almost eight months now. This weekend will be the first in many months that there will not be a Sunday quarantine. Curfews are now easing up too. I actually saw a couple of new tourists this morning. The whole island and country, for that matter, shut down a week after I arrived here in Bocas Town. I’ve been about the only ‘tourist’, (A-hum, Traveler), here since then. For three months, there wasn’t one positively tested person on the island. However, that didn’t last as there are now a few quarantined for the virus. The government of Panama has done a very good job of controlling the spread of the virus, especially here on the island. Right now, even though international flights have resumed, I don’t plan on leaving here anytime soon as it’s much too dangerous back ‘home’ in California. I feel very safe here on ‘my’ beautiful tropical paradise island in the Caribbean. There’s a very good brand new hospital here on the island if anything should arise that I would need health care.
I have a room with a kitchenette and am very self-sufficient, cooking all my meals as there are no open restaurants. Well, now there are, but for take-out only. We’re all looking forward for everything to open back up in the near future. There are now two flights a day from our airport back to Panama City, which means that I could leave anytime I want. But that’s just not gonna happen until maybe January of next year.
So, that’s how it goes with me. How about your situation? Do you feel safe in Cuenca? I have fond memories of our time together last year. As you know, there are so many places on this planet for us “Citizens of the World”, that it’s hard to pick any one place, or a dozen places, that deserve either a first or return visit. I will always be a wanderer, but will just have to wait it out until things get safer.
Hope to hear from you,
Steve Cordis
It sounds like our covid-trajectories played out similarily Steve – I barely made it back to my beloved Cuenca from Spain/Africa in early February before Ecuador closed its borders.
And yes too, I’ve felt faaar safer here, than in my native land during these remarkable times. Glad you’re safe and sound – there are worse places than a tropical isle to be quarantined. 😉
Now that there’s flights to the mainland, have you considered exploring more of Panama? One of my bar-none most idyllic spots on the Planet are the San Blas Islands. Highly recommended.