Read about our first week in Villanueva Villanueva - Week 2 During our second week in Villanueva, our volunteering schedule was shuffled around a bit. The director decided that she wanted Dennis, the writing expert, to focus on teaching written English to the older students, who are only at the main campus. And she wanted … Continue reading Kicking Back in Villanueva
Puyo, Ecuador turned out to be a bit of a disappointment -- at least as far as the city itself. We didn't see why anyone would recommend going there except for nearby attractions. Like the Amazon -- Puyo is the closest jumping off place to tour the jungle; even the tours leaving from Baños go through … Continue reading Monkeying Around in Puyo
Hard to believe that two years have gone by since our last performance of one of our theatrical programs in front of a live audience. That occurred in January of 2020 at the Charleston Museum in Charleston, SC, and we had no idea at the time that it was going to be our theatre company's … Continue reading Showtime in Ambato, Ecuador
Let's be clear right up front: we've used Airbnb quite a few times, and have always been quite pleased with their service. And with one exception, we've never been unhappy with the hosts we booked with. (See our story about our stay near Naples, Italy.) But we've never encountered an outright fraud before. Until now. … Continue reading Getting Scammed (Twice) On Airbnb: How It Happened, How We Recovered, and How To Prevent It
Finally, the time came to report to our next volunteering position. While we've been enjoying our "down time" to play tourist, that's not really the purpose of this tour. We are volunteering our way around the world, and so we were glad to be able to get back to it. These girls are carrying cement … Continue reading Volunteering in Jaibalito, Guatemala
We had an early morning flight from Cancun to Guatemala City; and from there, we had to get to the village of Santa Cruz la Laguna at Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. This was a long, rather complicated process with several hurdles to overcome. The first problem was just getting to the airport. As we've mentioned … Continue reading Getting From Cancun to Lake Atitlán, Guatemala
So you have three days to spend in Cancun. What do you do with them? Most people who come here just head straight to the Hotel Zone, the tourist area along the beaches. But our AirBnB was more in the heart of the city; and while we certainly had an interest in seeing the beach … Continue reading Cooling Our Heels in Cancun
Alas, the day finally came for us to say goodbye to our friends at the hostel, and leave this incredible city of Merida, which we've really been enjoying. Our next stop will be Cancun, where we'll be spending a few days before flying off to Guatemala. We bought our tickets yesterday, walking to the Ado … Continue reading Getting from Merida to Cancun via Autobus
December 3, 2021 - Part II > If you're going to visit the Yucatan Peninsula, you simply have to see some Mayan ruins. And the best place to do that is the enormously famous Chichen Itza, right? So we thought. And so we'd planned. It is after all, one of the seven wonders of the … Continue reading Mayan Ruins and Chocolate (Part 1)
Tue. Nov. 30, 2021 Early this morning, we welcomed a couple of new arrivals to Barrio Vivo hostel: two young men from Seattle who work in robotics and computer-related fields -- one is a PhD candidate. These are only the third and fourth fellow Americans we've met here since checking in here. Then we went … Continue reading Anthropology Museum and Theatre Games
travel with a theatrical flair 