Author Jaclyn Lanae

A new life in the third world

I’m a terrible writer. I mean, I think I’m a decent enough WRITER, but the business of writing… I’ve always kind of struggled with. If you’ve followed me for very long you know the truth of this. I don’t post often enough, I’m all over the place with my subject matter, I don’t promote my…

The Books

I write because I’m a writer. And I’m a writer because I LOVE to write. Across myriad topics, and in every imaginable medium-including in my ever-wandering-mind. Books, however, are perhaps my favorite iterations of this passion. I’ve published two so far, and a third is pending. I think I love them so much because I…

Breaking Down the Walls of RECEPTION

I just wanted to be ALONE, damn it. But the Universe brought in a sledgehammer to bust down my walls

Why I (we) sometimes want it to fail. (And how to stop.)

I’d always said I couldn’t handle a long-distance relationship, but the Universe brings you what you need whether it’s what you think you want or not. Distance can be tough on a relationship. It can also help save it. At least in my opinion. His words were so sweet, I felt his touch so deep,…

Festival of Lights, Villa de Lleyva, Colombia

There is almost ALWAYS a good reason to find yourself in Villa de Lleyva, Colombia. In truth, the town itself is reason enough. Fiercely protecting the architectural influence of the Spanish that invaded these lands centuries ago has given the whole town a sense of cleanliness, continuity, and tranquility that has appealed to travelers from…

FLYING

We’ve been trying to go paragliding since my first trip to Colombia. Or, at least, the first trip we had together. But despite having spent nearly a half a year here, we just couldn’t make it happen. Conditions weren’t right or we were off doing other things, or whatever. Finally the stars aligned, however, and…

Manizales, Colombia: the BEST little detour.

We’d already been on the road for 7 hours and still had four to go when we stopped for gas a little after midnight. We’ve done it before – pushed through 13, even 20 hours in the car – but we were both tired and we couldn’t hang out with Li’l Wild until afternoon the…

Love. A package deal.

We’re different people, the Wild Man and I. I mean, obviously. And I know this isn’t news. We have SO MUCH in common, but there’s significant differences too – even outside of the cultural things. I like to keep my clothes in a separate bag from my laptop, for example. He’s more a shove-it-wherever-it-fits kind…

Backpacking packs are not the right way to travel.

Back when I bought my first backpacking pack I used it exclusively for camping and true backpacking, because that was really all the travel I was doing at the time. The first time I took a trip and packed my backpacking pack I was so excited to BE backpacking through a country! It felt so……

Mesa de Los Santos and the 2nd largest canyon in the world: Chicamocha

We’d thundered across the Andes (because the Wild Man LOVES his music at full volume) a few days before, fresh from Socorro and 10 days living with his mother. Whom I love. But, you know, living with the boyfriend’s mom… not super easy. (Shameless plug: if you’d like to read the more personal stories of…

Monterrey Mexico: Parque Natural La Estanzuela

Monterrey is a significant city full of beautiful ways to spend your days and a rich nightlife. San Pedro-one of the cities that comprises the Monterrey metro area-is perhaps the richest city in all of Latin America and as such San Pedro and the surrounding area of Monterrey offers a lot in terms of shopping…

Angels in Colombia

Yes, weird things happen to me. It isn’t news. In fact I have another book on the horizon detailing all my weird little adventures. Or at least the ones that are appropriate to publish. (Actually, no guarantees on that – some of the best stories are the slightly inappropriate ones). Anyway, I’m so excited about…

Foot in Mouth disease

I met him for the first time on a warm summer night several years ago. I was relishing the opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine outside one of my favorite establishments with the sun on my skin and the cool of the evening brushing past my face. A dear friend of mine joined me…

Toilet tales

You may have recently discovered your personal level of gratitude and appreciation for toilet paper. And I’m happy for you. I really am. Because I learned that lesson, back in June when I made my first trip to Colombia. In my now-favorite country, you often have to pay to use public restrooms and TP isn’t…

15-ish Tips for Traveling in Colombia

Being from a small midwest city, when I told friends and family that I had plans to travel to Colombia, the news wasn’t exactly received with unbridled enthusiasm. Quite the contrary, in fact. Dropped-jaws, most notably. Generally, immediately followed by an apparently inevitable question: “Why?” And a caution: “Be careful!!” or even “Please don’t go.”…

Milestones

Last week, I received a phone call that brought tears to my eyes.

Following Your Curious Bliss : Vancouver, WA

Last summer I took a road-trip west and vowed to make it epic – just by more intentionally immersing myself in the experience. After my first stop in Wallace, Idaho, and a particularly rewarding stop-and-smell-the-roses moment in Coeur d’Alene, I knew I was on to something. So, I made my first day in Vancouver Washington…

Enjoy the Journey: Coeur d’Alene, ID

It’s been FOREVER since I wrote about my trip west last summer (I have good reasons – you can even read about some of them. But I can’t tell you about the biggest one. Not yet. I promise I will though.) and it occurred to me it might come off a bit ridiculous to write…

Thank you for the (poison ivy) pain.

I like to think of myself as, um, durable? You know, rugged, kind of… in a ‘put-your-head-down-and-get-through-it’ sort of way. But as I recover from one of my more difficult physical challenges I feel compelled to tell you that my perception of myself was somewhat shaken. Or, more accurately, rocked to the core. Last month…

Crazy. Messy. Beautiful.

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks in my world… this time of year in the Black Hills of South Dakota often is… especially for a motorcycle lover. I got to do several book signings throughout the event, met some incredible people, made some new contacts… all in all it was great. And there were…

Enroute to Washington : Wallace, Idaho

I love to travel. LOVE. I really love to travel alone. And it seems that at least 70% of the time when I do, I head west. Often, I think, because I feel a sense of safety and connected-ness in the mountains. So when I received an invitation to attend a friend’s wedding in Oregon,…

Just wild.

It’s been a wild few weeks here in my little corner of the world. Well, more like a wild month. Actually, now that I think about it, it’s been a pretty wild year. Of course, I know I’m not the only person harboring that sentiment, but, since I can only really tell my story… I…

Weird Ones… Hands UP!

Not long ago, I had the chance to visit Phoenix, Arizona for the premier of a movie directed by a documentary film maker whose acquaintance I’d recently made. It was a great trip, overall, it really was. I had the chance to actually hang out with a friend of a friend of mine, with whom…

Squirrel Dreams

There are a lot of things I love about hiking with my pup, Rumi. The way her tail gets a kink in the end when she’s really, really excited, for example. The way her tongue falls out of the side of her mouth when she’s really tired. The way she runs and wags her tail…

Egg In My Hair

I stink. No, like I actually stink. A lot. It seems that no matter how much I scrub, shave, or employ my hippy-style deodorant, I always smell just a little bit like garlic and onion. Which is especially weird because I don’t eat many onions. I do eat a lot of garlic though. I know…

When “I was wrong” is right.

Years and years ago, after I’d made a particularly silly mistake… while driving… and talking on my cell phone…the driver I’d inadvertently cut off (because I didn’t see him, of course) followed me up the street screaming out his window until I pulled over and he could properly shame me on the side of the…

When shutting up isn’t enough

I’ve never taken criticism very well. It’s something I want to work on because I know that constructive criticism can be valuable. Not easy to hear, perhaps, but valuable. General criticism, on the other hand, is never valuable. Assuming we have any real understanding of others lives and how they should be lived is, in…

Playing God

Create. Messily. Badly. Just create and set your god-self free.

Wiser, Wilder & Weirder.

Weird stuff happens to me. I mean, weird stuff happens to everyone of course but I get the sense that I have particularly weird luck. And, I do a LOT of weird things, knowingly (we’ll get into those in subsequent posts.) According to the Secret Code of Birthdays, my mother’s inability to exert perfect control…

Be. Be still.

Last year about this time I took a little road trip. Just me and my dog, wandering around the Northwest Coast, looking for… well, I’m still not really sure what I was looking for, but something in me said I’d find it in the Redwoods or the ocean. So we headed west. I learned a…

Being a being, sometimes takes some doing.

I got older this weekend. I mean, of course I did – I get older every day – but this weekend the calendar marked the occasion. This fact by itself doesn’t bother me. In fact, for a couple of months now I’ve considered myself as old as the calendar just made me – and said…

Just a little more “out there”

A little while ago I came to the realization that I need to get out more. That’s one of the things about working as a writer / marketer / event planner… I end up spending a lot of time alone. And because I like to be alone, I spend a good bit of my personal…

Little Miss Fix-it

I do it a lot. A LOT. I don’t really want to be doing it. It fully contradicts my entire belief system in terms of the way we treat each other. It sounds both demeaning and pretentious as it comes out of my mouth. I cringe and bristle and scold myself even as the words…