Earth at a glance: a few travel memories
At last count, I’ve visited some 50 countries. The majority of that travel has occurred – curiously enough – since my 50th birthday.
Until that auspicious birthday, I had been only to Canada, Mexico, Switzerland and the United Kingdom countries of England, Scotland and Wales. And that’s aside from a 14-month tour of Vietnam (1968-69) that I enjoyed courtesy of the U.S. Army.
When thinking back on my travels, the question that I often ponder concerns my favorite experiences. Which ones, in other words, do I recall most pleasantly? So let me try to run down my Top 10 countries to visit. I’ll go in descending order.
10. Mexico: My earliest memories involve Mexico. Early on I lived with my parents in San Ysidro, Calif., a district located south of San Diego and just a few miles from the Mexican border. My mother had a disability that caused her to depend on a number of Mexican woman to help out around the house, and it was they who taught me my first Spanish words.
Since then, I’ve been to Mexico several times. I used to drive regularly with my first wife, Freddie Jenkins, down the coast of Baja California to eat dinner in Rosarito Beach. And a few years ago my wife Mary Pat Treuthart and I shared time with our friends Megan and Greg in Mexico City and the town of Oaxaca.
My favorite memory, though, is the summer of 1973 when I attended a Guadalajara language school in what has been a lifelong attempt to learn Spanish.
9. Morocco: From the Atlantic seaside town of Essaouira to the Mediterranean city of Tangier, Morocco is a blend of geographical and cultural wonders. I rode a camel in the fading light of a Sahara Desert sunset, slept in yurt and rose to greet the sunrise over those same Sahara dunes.
Our stay included taking a tour through the Atlas Mountains, drifting through the marketplaces of Marrakesh, nearly getting lost in the twisty, narrow streets of Fez and successfully making a dinner reservation in French while staying in the Blue City of Chefchaouen.
Yet the high point had to have been having dinner at Rick’s Café in Casablanca, a spot-on replica of the establishment owned and run by the character played by Humphrey Bogart in the 1942 film of the same name. We’d gone to Casablanca, of course, for the waters (and enjoyed them because, contrary to what the movie would have you believe, the real city of Casablanca fronts the Atlantic Ocean).
8. Hong Kong: Some years before the Chinese central government took over control of this former British colony, Mary Pat, I and our friends Ann and Matt spent a few days together here. Other than enjoying a couple of good dinners, I remember how much fun we had riding in a cable car to the Big Buddha.
Well, fun is one word for it. The wind was blowing so hard that the cable car stalled at a couple of points. As well as a theme-park thrill, the ride gave us a chance to enjoy a spectacular view of the city itself and the sea beyond.
I was even more impressed, though, at our riding a ferry to the mainland just so we could see the city of Kowloon. I’ve always enjoyed telling people that, yes, being in Hong Kong was nice, but then asking them, “Have you ever been to Kowloon, China?” I’ve yet to meet a person who’s said yes.
7. Nicaragua: Early in the 1990s, Lisa Brown – long before she became Spokane mayor – visited Spokane’s Unitarian Church, which was then located in the Glover Mansion. She talked about her experience monitoring the Nicaraguan elections, a fact that got some church members interested in going on a Witness for Peace delegation to the country.
So a group of us did go, traveling from the capital of Managua – which was still battered from the devastating 1972 earthquake – to the Atlantic coast where we stayed with a village of Miskito tribal families. The trip ended up being one of the most eye-opening travel experiences I’ve ever had.
And that was because even though Witness for Peace is a determinedly left-leaning organization, our two tour leaders arranged for us to meet up with a range of Nicaraguan groups of all political persuasions. Listening to Sandinista supporters on one day and conservative business leaders the next gave us a good feel for what problems the country was facing (and likely still does).
6. Guatemala: A year after visiting Nicaragua, I joined a Spokane Habitat for Humanity group that was headed to this other Central American country. Along with a dozen other Washinton residents, I spent time helping to build houses for needy families in a village just outside the city of Quetzaltenango.
I also accompanied a Spokane couple who were intent on visiting the mountain village at which they’d once served as Peace Corps volunteers. I recall going to sleep one night heading gunshots and wondering who or what was being hunted.
My most profound memory, though, involves being at a public market in the city of Huehuetenango watching a group of Guatemalan woman, garbed in their native dress, rolling their eyes at a German couple, dressed in short-shorts and tank tops. It was a textbook example of culture clash.
In my next post, I’ll run through my top five. And along with adding in a few honorable mentions, I’ll share some final thoughts about blogging in general. As for this post, I’ll just say that it’s a big world, and though I’ve seen only a part of it, the memories I have would fill a book. Maybe even two.
But I’ll settle for a couple of blog entries.