Still Recovering

This is day two of my return from my month in Bogota.  Travel is hard on the health.  I always seem to hear about people getting seriously ill because they did not get a couple of days, at least, to rest, following three weeks or longer of hiking, or adventuring, or simply hanging out or being absolutely stupid in foreign climes.  I have just finished my seventh major trip in almost as many years.  I think that on two occasions I actually did go right to work one day after returning from a month or longer in Latin America, always because I wanted to get back to earning money as soon as possible, only to end up having to book a couple of (sometimes unpaid) days off as consequence. 

This time I have five full days off, thanks to the Easter long weekend and I am taking it easy.  Yesterday, at times, I could hardly walk, though of course I soldiered on to get everything done that no one else would do for me since I am not sick enough to require professional assistance nor rich enough to hire servants.  Today and yesterday I have been resting, trying to eat well and getting back into the habit of taking good care of myself, factoring in as well long and mostly enjoyable walks.  I have not been able to connect to visiting with friends as scheduled for yesterday or today as other things have come up for them and we are postponing for a few days.  This for me, as much as I want to see my friends and speak with them in Spanish (I have indeed spent the last month speaking the language of Cervantes during my stay in Colombia and I want to keep doing it) but they are my friends which means I do not expect them to be there on the ready to help facilitate me in their mother tongue.

Travel is a huge pleasure and it also is a huge responsibility.  As well as learning to travel well and respectfully in someone else`s country comes the need of developing and polishing extraordinary talents in good self-care.  Especially when you have reached, or passed, a certain age.  Having returned to beautiful wet Vancouver following a month in Bogota Colombia it is like leaving one dreamscape for another.  Things are going to seem not quite real, or very surreal for a while as I adjust to the reality of being home again, in my cosy apartment, near friends and dear ones and preparing for the healthy tedium of work and all the other features of ordinary life.