Last of's and first of's - a new adventure awaits

As you can tell from our last blog post, we really enjoyed Ecuador, in fact we enjoyed it so much (and got reinfected with the travelling bug) that we're packing up house keeping and heading down to South America.  There is such a big world out there, yet to discover, that we don't want to wait any longer.  So with that in mind we're going to start in Cuenca and use it as a base to discover as much about South and Central America as we can comfortably afford.

Of course, we're going to have to learn Spanish (I list that under "bonus" on our pro and con list) and adapt to a different culture and adjust our star watching to an entirely different sky, but we're excited at the idea and are looking forward to a new adventure.

It's also a sad time, as our gentle life here on Prince Edward Island is coming to a close and we'll miss our friends and beautiful house.  It's a time of last times...last lobster supper, last cake to make, last party and so on, but with the lure of firsts beckoning, it softens the blow.

Why Ecuador?  Why not!  It's centrally located between Central & South America (relatively speaking), is fairly safe, the cost of living is managable.  (Don't believe all that stuff you read, it's not quite THAT good, but better than here.)  It offers a beautiful city with lots of amenities (including  access to an international airport) and a European approach to living.  (Can you say "siesta"?)

We're planning on coming home, eventually, but aren't sure where the winds will take us, but we're keeping the house and storing necessities and will be gypsies for a while.  I'm surprised how supportive people have been.  I expected way more "Are you nuts?" responses, but I think that most people, no matter the unlikelihood that they would actually do it, harbour a fantasy about selling everything and globe trotting.  As I said to a friend at work "If you aren't independantly wealthy you have two options in life; you can collect stuff, or collect experiences.  We're choosing to collect experiences."  Okay, so that's a bit of an oversimplification, but boiled down, that's how I see it.

Anyhow, that's our big news.  We'll be heading out to Vancouver for a good long visit in September and then we'll be heading off on our next adventure.  Wish us luck!

A quote from St. Augustine "The world is a book and the one who doesn't travel reads only one page."  Very wise...