For those of you who are wondering......

Yes, I did make it home safely.  As I have said before, I hate the flying part.  I left Dublin at 2 p.m. on Tuesday the 22nd of April and headed for Toronto, Ontario.  I had a 6 hour wait in Toronto and then boarded for Calgary, Alberta.  It was 1 a.m. Tuesday, April 22nd that I landed in Calgary.  No wonder it takes a couple of days to feel grounded! 

I took a day to rest and then on to Red Deer to visit kids and grand-kids.  It was great to see my family again.  I am still fighting that flu or something I caught on the plane.  I could hardly swallow for a couple of days, but I seem to be on the mend.  They were predicting snow for today, but it turned out to be a beautiful, warm, sunny day. 

It seems like a long time ago that I was in Panajachel.   I loved Panajachel.  I loved the weather, the Mayan people and the ease of friendships. I will go back.  Sicily was a totally different experience.  The difficult thing in Sicily was my lack of ability to speak Italian.  In Guatemala I could use what Spanish I have and I could usually understand and be understood.  In Sicily I was totally lost.  Three months is a long time to be in a country where you cannot converse.  Fortunately, my sister was there to visit with and to translate. Unfortunately, she grew weary of translating and often I missed the whole conversation.  Sicily is a beautiful country with a rich history.  I became quite attached to my sister's family.....they are a special bunch of people.  It was sad to leave.  Ireland was green and lovely.  The Irish are warm people who seem happy to lend a hand and give directions.   It was good be in an English speaking country again.

I was in for a shock when I returned as far as prices go.  Gasoline has gone up at least 10 cents/litre and I paid $1.28 a litre yesterday.  Ouch!  Food has gone up tremendously.  For 461 grams or 16 oz. of spinach I paid $3.27.  For the chicken drumsticks I paid $5 for last summer, I paid $7 for yesterday.  Almost every item I bought was more expensive than last year.

People often ask me how I can afford to travel.  It is cheaper to fly to a warm country for the winter than it is to stay here.  My friend told me that being a cold winter this year, his light and heating bill one month was $500.  I could live in Pana for $300/month if I was really careful.  I limited myself to an average of $500/month.  That is less than one month's utilities in Alberta.  And there was the intangible of being warm.  Will I go away again this winter?  Of course! 

But it is good to be home.  Thank you all for following my blog.  I have had over 12,000 people read my blog.....from Japan, Malaysia, India, Poland, Ireland, Germany, Macau, etc.  I hope you all found it enjoyable. 

Until next time..........