It’s been a while since I wrote a personal post and with many changes happening, I thought it was time for an update.

This week has already begun as an emotional one. It’s the week I leave Medellin, a city that I have lived in for nearly 18 months. Months before I couldn’t wait to leave this city so I visited Manizales for a change of scenery and swopped the city life for quieter more mountainous one.

It was after I returned to Medellin that my situation changed. I met someone.

They always say that it happens when you’re not looking, and with only 6 weeks left on my visa before it expires, it happened and I found myself in a relationship. Four weeks later and I am now living with my boyfriend, (proving that relationships when you travel can be both intense and accelerated).

Now, with only 1 day to go until I leave this city, I find myself not wanting to leave. It’s ironic in a big way but travelling teaches you so many things and the biggest lesson it teaches you is that nothing is permanent – everything is temporary. From the place you call home, friendships you make on the road, and romantic relationships.

As much as they are tough lessons to learn, they all come as part of the digital nomad package. It’s a mindset and I have to remember how privileged I am to be able to live my life this way instead of focusing on what I am leaving behind. So I’m shifting my focus and having just being chosen as one of the Best Conscious Travel Blogs 2016 by GreenMatch, I have just been given the boost that I need to refocus and change direction.

I want to visit projects which are making a difference in the world and write human interest stories, and show what the world is really like. Having just been chosen as one of the Ambassadors for visit.org a social impact platform which brings together purposeful travel connections, now is the perfect time for me to take a different direction with the perfect opportunities coming along.

So where does the world take me now?

After visiting the rest of Central America and most of the Caribbean last year, I’m off to explore the rest of South America, slow travelling and visiting projects as I go.

I still have 4 months of my travels in the Caribbean to catch up with so expect posts about Puerto Rico, St Martin, many more other Caribbean islands as well as those three little countries grouped above Brazil in South America – Guyane, Suriname, and French Guiana (ever heard of them? Never had I!)

Having already seen Peru and Bolivia and Santiago in Chile 13 years ago, there are still many more countries in South America to see. So I’m starting with Ecuador. Flying into Bogota then visiting the desert before travelling overland to Ecuador where I have arranged with the charity Shelter Box to visit one of the areas affected by the devastating earthquake last year. Then possibly back through Peru to northern Chile before heading to Argentina, hopping across the water to Uruguay, then Paraguay and Brazil.

To be absolutely honest, I have no idea where I will be in a few months. Maybe I will find myself back in Europe or even end up back in Colombia? My intended itinerary gives me the option to come back up the Amazon into Colombia when my visa starts again in January 2017. Time will certainly tell but for now – it’s time for packing, planning, and saying goodbye to this chapter and hello to a brand new one.

As England exits the EU, Lisa is exiting Colombia. I guess you could call it a Lexit.