Well folks…time to let the cat out of the bag. We are coming home to Canada. We’ve had a great time here. Love the place and the people. We just love our family and what we had back home even more. Something we totally underestimated. Friends, family and the music scene we were part of played heavily in this decision.

Not a failure. I did well here. They really would rather I stayed on. We had a great adventure and missed most of winter in the process. We knew most of the people here, but had a chance to get to make more new friends. We’ve learned something about international living and some of the hoops you need to jump through in order to make it work. We’ve had a chance to get up close to active volcanoes and watch surfers battle the ocean rolling in. We’ve been able to sit on our porch to see and listen to birds we’ve never encountered before. So yeah, it’s been good.

The civil unrest we experienced last week was unsettling to say the least. However, I believe there are powers behind the scenes that don’t want a repeat of the late 70s early 80s. It came as a complete surprise to us because in all the previous visits, there’s never been a hint of any kind of safety concern. For the most part it’s settled down. The sad part is lives were lost. Mostly students. So our hope is that dialogue will happen. Nica has come such a long way in regards to increasing their position on the tourism curve. My feeling is that anyone with a stake involved will want this situation settled peacefully and quickly. The general public does for sure.

When we decided to come here, we went all in. Sold our home, left good jobs. So now we start over. We have a few people on the look out for us for a place to rent. We also have a few people looking for opportunities for us regarding work. People who know about our decision have been very supportive and we’re grateful for that.

I read recently that it’s better to cross the line and suffer the consequences than to stare at the line for the rest of your life. We crossed it and we’re glad we did. We’ve learned to simplify and downsize, although you’d never know by the amount of time we’re spending trying to pack.

I’m really looking forward to playing with my pals in The Committee again if they’ll have me. I look forward to some good Canadian beef! I’m sorry, but I am totally spoiled by the quality of our beef at home. There’s nothing like it. And cheese! New Bothwell cheese!

One of the reasons we moved here is to stretch our dollars. Totally doable. But as I mentioned, we underestimated what we left behind. Sometimes that’s the case isn’t it? You have to go away for awhile to see what you had.

We fully expect to have the “I told you so” folks out there, but that’s ok. Wasn’t their journey. Never let that keep you from following a dream. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But there’s always something to learn along the way…

Cheers…see you soon.