Well, we are finally here in Olon. It took longer than I had planned, but the end result is sunshine and warm temperatures not far from the Equator. There are two windows which have window seats. I can already tell that this might become my go-to writing corner. We are closer to the beach than last year, about one block – short block – away, all on a sandy path. And, it is many, many times quieter.
Our journey was memorable. We left from our home airport about two hours later than originally planned – airplane issues. When we finally did get off the ground, we arrived too late for our connecting flight to Quito, Ecuador. The airline put us up at a good hotel which we got to use for about three hours before needing to take an alternate flight, this time to Cancun. Once on the runway, our plane turned back to have us disembark because of mechanical issues. Another few hours later, a replacement plane took us to Cancun.
We had to circle around Cancun for almost an hour to get slotted in for a landing. The result, another missed connecting flight and another night to layover, this time at an all-inclusive hotel along the Caribbean Sea. The next afternoon we boarded our flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. By the time we arrived and cleared customs, we were too late to catch the bus to Olon. Another night in another lodging.
Finally, we got on our bus for the three hour trip to Olon. We left our house at 12:00 pm on January 3 and arrived here on January 6th at 1:10 pm. Naturally, the airline lost our luggage somewhere along the way with all the rescheduling, and rescheduling of our flights. There’s more to the story, but that is irrelevant for this post.
This is our third year at Olon, and it will likely be our last as we have other places we want to spend the winter. We had originally thought to try a different place this year, but getting too comfortable with Olon made it hard to move on. We both think that the universe has been telling us that we have to get out of our comfort zone and move on. I think we both agree that this time we will listen.
We aren’t doing too much today. We went out for an incredible lunch, then grocery shopped so that we could make our own dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast. Now, we are just relaxing. She is in her hammock, while I am on the window seat writing this blog post. We are too tired to do anything more. It will be an early bed time for us. The beach can wait until tomorrow.