Last updated on March 18, 2022
Eleven years ago, I left a little town in Sri Lanka with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. I’d been there two months and fallen in love with the place and its people. Multiply that feeling by a hundred and you have how I feel today, leaving San Pancho behind.
For the past few days, we’ve been going through our goodbyes, having dinners with different friends, getting our final fixes of favourite tacos, cakes and breakfasts. The weekend was one long party, ending with Steve singing karaoke in Spanish on the beach (it seems he has quite the talent!). Shopkeepers have bequeathed us gifts, friends hatched schemes to make us stay – even Leila, our favourite dog, looked sad to see us go. When I arrived in San Pancho six months ago, nervous at the start of my yoga teacher training and with the intention to stay just a month, I never thought it’d become such a home.
Despite the sadness, we both know it’s time to move on. The San Pancho season is coming to a close, the weather is warming and more people leave as the weeks go by. As we explained a few weeks ago, we have the itch to explore other places. Later today, we’ll be in Mexico City, the antithesis of our beachside town. We lived in London for ten years so city life was once our ‘normal’. It will be interesting to see how it fares us now.
Two days later, we’re off to Tulum where we’ll celebrate my birthday next to the Caribbean and have one last bout of beach time before heading back to England. It’s fourteen months since we left there and we return with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. We’re delighted to be seeing friends and family, and re-visiting our favourite things, but nervous about the habits we maintained there and how our new selves will fit in.
We’ll be in Europe for six weeks – four in the UK and two split between Italy and Spain – going to a friend’s wedding, spending time in Bristol and London, taking a family holiday in Tuscany and visiting friends in Barcelona.
And we are off to…
Our next move was something we deliberated for months. We need a place where Steve can go deep into the edit of Continuum, and where I can concentrate on yoga and writing. More time in Europe, a return to Central America, time in India or elsewhere in Asia were all options we considered – until finally our minds were made up.
What we’ve decided on feels ideal and involves monkeys, yoga, a plethora of vegetarian food, and a peaceful place to work. Can you guess? We’re going to Bali, and more specifically to Ubud. It’ll be our first time in Asia together, the first time I’ve been back in ten years, and the first time for both of us in Bali. We get there in early June and can’t wait to see how it goes.
So although today our hearts our heavy with goodbyes, we see a lot of light ahead.
As Heraciltus said “Everything flows”.