About Me
I was born in Mexico City to American parents. Our family moved to Southern CA when I was two, but I like to think a seed was planted that helped sprout my travel addiction by being born on foreign soil. I currently live in Encinitas, California in North County San Diego with my husband Raphael. We have two adult children, Nick and Jolie, and a new son-in-law, Johnny and very new granddaughter Cove born in April of 2021. I am a retired English teacher, and now that I have the time and the health and a sliver of the wealth, my husband Raphael and I are traveling like madmen. Our friends always ask us, “What is your next trip?” Our last big trip was March 2020 to New Zealand under the Covid wire. Since then we visited Sayulita, Mexico during Thanksgiving for a family vacation, and we traveled to Croatia and enjoyed a mini yacht cruise in 2022. A trip to Chiapas, Mexico in March of ’23 and a family reunion in Jackson Hole Wyoming. Next on our agenda is Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula in December. Then Hawaii and Australia for next year. Whew!
We are open to the “rugged edge” (a term a Nicaraguan real estate agent used about Granada) but savor the occasional splurge. “Sometimes you just have to break the bank.” as my parents never said. Affordable luxury is the perfect oxymoron to describe our travel goals. Our mission is to continue with our adventures while we are still young at heart until we literally drop—well, maybe figuratively too. Rather than concentrate on a narrow niche like finding the best lip gloss in each and every destination, I merely hope to share my quirky observations, record my adventures, and perhaps shed some light on your future expeditions or as Sloane Crosley put it to be an “articulate witness.” All my insights are pure—I receive no compensation for any recommendations I make. Check out the menu above to share in Penelope’s Odysseys.
A Tale of Two Names
Why Penelope’s Odyssey?
The name of my blog is Penelope’s Odysseys. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Penelope is the wife of Odysseus who has been gone for twenty years. Ten years fighting in the Trojan War and ten adventurous years sailing home with altercations with the Cyclops, temptations from the Sirens, and the enchantments from Circe who turns several of his men into pigs. Meanwhile Penelope, his patient wife, is waiting for his return. The name Penelope means “good wife” or “good weaver”. Obviously, she is a good wife waiting patiently for her husband’s return. But she is surrounded by suitors who insist Odysseus is dead, and it’s time for her to remarry. She begins weaving a shroud for her father-in-law Laertes and tells the suitors that she’ll remarry when the shroud is completed. Unbeknownst to the suitors, she unravels at night what she has woven during the day (the suitors were a bit doltish). One of her servants betrays her to the suitors, and she arranges an archery contest. The men will have to string Odysseus’ rigid bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads. She will wed the winner. Odysseus arrives dressed as a beggar and slices through the axes winning the contest and revealing his identity.
I like to imagine Penelope and Odysseus catching up after their reunion. While happy her husband is alive, it’s clear that he was the doer and she was the “waiter” and not at a restaurant. I would like to think perhaps Penelope might have been inspired to set out on her own odyssey which means eventful journey. That may be fanciful thinking, but I do know this Penelope would like to create her own eventful journeys. It’s time to set out and become my own weaver of tales.