Exploring Abroad: What our first month traveling has REALLY been like

Edd:  We’ve been posting on social media like crazy and blogging our brains out since leaving the States about a month ago.

Cynthia:  What a change, right? During the pandemic we pretty much sat at our computers in Cuenca for over a year. Not a lot of photo-worthy moments.

E:  Now we’ve flung ourselves out there visiting places we’ve never been. Seeing new things and meeting new people.

C:  And doing things we’ve never done. Like traveling to one location after another and living out of what feels like very tiny suitcases. It’s been a huge adjustment from our simple life in Ecuador.

E:  I’ll say. The pics we post show the sunny side of our global adventure, but we’ve hit our share of speed bumps over these first weeks.

C:  Sure have, but keeping it real, we’re making this up day by day and knew that we would have to be flexible.

E:  Ha! Flexible? That’s an understatement. Like the first place we stayed. We thought “shared bath” meant with any other guests. Not the whole family! One small bathroom for 5 people? Not good.

C:  Plus it was located all the way on the other end of their residence from our bedroom. So you’re walking back and forth through their living space wrapped in a towel. Also, not good.

E:  Oh well, we’re learning as we go. There was no street number at the second place we stayed. Had to get our driver on the phone with the owner to even find it!

C:  Then torrential rains knocked out the power in our neighborhood for 15 hours. And the water, since we were upstairs and a pump—run by electricity—was required to move it from ground level.

E:  With the heat and humidity in this part of Mexico, that was a totally miserable experience.

C:  Until we realized we’re living a digital nomad lifestyle! So we grabbed our computers, walked into town, and set up shop in a comfortable cafe. Plus had a great lunch.

E:  Except the dessert. I still can’t believe you liked that yumminess-free slice of vegan “carrot cake.” It didn’t even qualify as a distant relative to the real thing!

C:  No comment.

E:  Something we still don’t have a handle on is laundry. Places we’re staying generally don’t have a washer and dryer, and you’re really particular about the who and how of that chore.

C:  Yes I am. It’s even off limits for you. Getting our clothes clean has required some resourcefulness for sure. And our standards on what “dirty” means have definitely been lowered.

E:  Sniff test?

C:  Again, no comment.

E:  What’s this backpacker laundry technique you said you were going to try?

C:  I read about this product called aLOKSAK, which is basically a heavy duty Ziploc bag. You put your clothes inside with a little detergent, fill the bag with water, then squish them around for a bit with your hand. After they sit in the soapy water for about 10 minutes, you rinse them out!

E:  Sounds great, except we don’t have one of those…

C:  Right. So instead, my brilliant solution is to hope using the trash can in our room that does have a plastic bag works.

E:  Good luck with that. Enough about dirty laundry. We’ve posted a lot of pics about fab food we’ve had. What about some that folks haven’t seen?

C:  Oh, like our “meals” from Oxxo, the Mexican version of 7-Eleven? They’re everywhere! When’s the last time we were actually in a 7-Eleven? Teenagers getting a Slurpee?

E:  Dunno, but when we’ve arrived late somewhere with no food for tomorrow, those Oxxo stores have been a godsend. We cornered the market on yogurts with granola on top and snack bags of dried fruit/nut combos at one of them.

C:  And there’s been more than one night that we stayed in our room and dined on chips, popcorn, nuts and beer from where else—Oxxo. When you’re in town only a short time and the supermarket isn’t within walking distance, you have to improvise.

E:  In those times our mantra is, “It’s just a meal. There will be more of them tomorrow.”

C:  Sometimes I feel like this experience is an odd version of camping, except we’re not sleeping in a tent.

E:  Or on the ground. I’ll grant you the “sometimes,” but overall our experience hasn’t been that spartan.

C:  You mentioned heat and humidity. That’s something we thought we knew about in the Yucatán and Riviera Maya. No words could have prepared us for how hot it really is in Mérida.

E:  It was definitely a shock to our systems after living in Cuenca’s springlike weather for so long. Hats off to Mr. Carrier for inventing air conditioning!

C:  Did you look that up or just make it up? I don’t even like A/C, but am very grateful to have it in this part of the world.

E:  Besides the occasional barking at one another, we’re doing fine. And we’re both looking forward to a change of scenery—and temps—when we visit the highlands of Mexico soon.

C:  It’ll be fun to compare places like San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, and Lake Chapala to our hometown in Ecuador.

E:  Before we head in that direction, because of our years in Las Vegas, I’m quite interested to see what it’s like to actually live in Cancun for a while.

C:  Me too. Both are mega vacation destinations created out of thin air. Maybe we’ll go to Dubai someday and complete the trifecta.

E:  Another inferno? Not in the mood to even consider that idea. I’m proud of us, Cynthia. We’re living our dream and overall having a lot of fun. And to quote a Beatles song, “It’s Getting Better All the Time.”