And the 'Discover Tour' Beat Goes On

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We’re posting this with a month of all-over tan under our sarong. And we have a month to go to soak up as much of the southern Mexico sun as we can muster. We’ve had plenty of time to reflect on our really wonderful highlands tour of Mexico last month. Loved every minute of it (except for the part where we quarantined in Guanajuato with Covid-19).

With gobs of time to read, meditate and enjoy this delightful little seaside town of Zipolite in Oaxaca, we’ve also been busy filling in the blanks and making some changes on our future travel itinerary.

After a quick visit home to Portland, Oregon this coming March and a visit to Rich’s Grandson Archie in Berkeley, California we are visiting Ecuador for five weeks. Highlights will include a few days in Quito and visits to the indigenous town of Otavalo, the Amazonian thermal baths of Papallacta, the stunning volcanic Quilotoa Lake, the gay friendly beach at Montanita and the famous Galapagos Islands. First time visit for us. We’ve left a week unscheduled at the end for maybe another week at the beach, a plant medicine ceremony if it feels right or whatever else presents itself.

We’ll then fly to nearby Bogota, Colombia, enjoy the capital city for several days and then catch a direct flight to Madrid, Spain. From there we’ll comfortably prepare for easier onward travel to Cairo and our tour of Egypt and Jordan. We’ll be rested and ready to hit the ground running. We return to Sitges, Spain and the beach to rest. We’ll also be doing a men’s tantric workshop and visiting Barcelona before heading to France for more beaches and friends in Cap d’Adge, Montpellier and Bordeaux.

After a week at a naturist village in Bordeaux we fly to Rome for several days of sightseeing followed by a few nights on the Amalfi coast. Paul’s paternal great-grandfather was from a small village in southern Italy so we are spending a few nights in that village, Nocera Terinese, at a wonderful farm homestay. From there we travel across the boot of Italy toward the Adriatic Sea and spend two weeks at a naturist resort in the country among olive trees.

We’ll ferry across to Greece, visit Athens and three Greek islands — Paros, Folegandros and Crete. We’ll also be there about three weeks. Then fly to Cappadocia region of Turkey and see some of the ancient sites of western Turkey. In early September we join an organized tour of eastern Turkey.

After the tour is over we have a week to enjoy Istanbul and then will fly onward to Peru. We’re hoping by then the Peruvian political situation will improve enough to allow once again for visits to Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca and more. We can’t be this close to Bolivia and not go — even with the steep visa fee for USA citizens! [If Peru is still “closed” we’ll skip Bolivia too and just fly on to the Atacama region of Chile.]

Then next winter our plans include visiting Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. We might never stop traveling!

For a daily update from the road find us at hotelguys1 on Instagram. We also do periodic updates on Facebook at Global Hotel Guys.