Expat perspectives: This is retirement?

By Edd and Cynthia Staton

We were catching up with local friends last night over dinner and they asked, “So what’s been going on with you two since we last saw you?” I proceeded to rattle off the following:

“Well, at the beginning of May we went to Atlanta for an International Living conference.

Then, since I was born in Atlanta and we spent most of our adult lives there, we stayed over some extra days visiting family and friends. I’m missing my 50th high school reunion this fall so I organized a mini-reunion of classmates which was a blast.”

The view from our bedroom window.

Next we flew to New Jersey and stayed with our daughter and her family for three weeks. While there we took a train into Manhattan to visit friends who live in SoHo.

Before returning to Cuenca we took another train to Boston and enjoyed exploring that beautiful city for four days. Plus we discovered we really love train travel.

After being home only about two weeks we turned around and flew back to Quito for another IL conference, then hung around in the city a few days.

Another view.

We flew home and spent the weekend before leaving for several glorious days in Yunguilla.

And now we’re back in Cuenca.”

Our dinner companions own several businesses and have young children so their lives are very different from ours. The husband seemed amazed and remarked, “Wow, you two are really busy for retired people!”

The truth is, yes we are. On purpose.

After this recent flurry of activity we have no set travel plans for awhile because we are working on a massive project that requires us to stay put and focus. That doesn’t mean we’ll be hermits. We cherish our relationships with close friends and look forward to socializing with them after being away so long.

I’m in no way knocking those who embrace a more reserved approach to retirement. Heck, if you feel like you’ve worked hard your whole life and just want to putter around, I say more power to you. We enjoy limited doses of chillaxin’ ourselves, with our just-completed getaway to Yunguilla I mentioned serving as a perfect example.

We spent an extended 4th of July celebration with wonderful friends eating, drinking, sleeping, playing games, sunning ourselves (the weather is fabulous there–and only an hour away!), and hot tubbing. Sound like fun? It sure was!

Here are a few photos of our surroundings:

More views:

Yes, this is retirement, Edd and Cynthia style.