Thinking about how to sum up a year of travel, through some of the poorest countries on the planet. A thought provoking journey. A trip to cut through the crap we are told by media: newspapers, TV and the internet.
Countries in debt up to their eye balls to the world bank and the IMF, where corrupt governments are almost the norm. Places where oil companies drill and destroy forests. Where pollution is irrelevant, where global warming is an unknown phrase, but where Coca Cola is cheaper and more available than drinking water. Mining for diamonds and gold causes war, death and destruction. Where endangered animals, silver back gorillas amongst them, are murdered for bush meat. Where the majority of the population are subsistance farmers living without choice.
We have seen so many wonderfull things, animals: lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, gorillas, hippos, crocodiles, anacondas, phiranas and hummingbirds. We have been to cities, great and small: Capetown, Cairo, Rio de Janerio and Cartagena and seen monuments such as the Pyramids of Giza and Machu Picchu. Possibly the most iconic archeological sities in the world. We have stared out across the Serengeti plain, camped under the stars in the Sahara, canoed in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest and snorkelled with sea lions in the Galapagos.
There have been many ups and downs, smiling like crazy people after seeing the silver back gorillas of Rwanda. The connection between them and us incredible, looking into each others eyes. I have shouted at painfull Egpytions over small change. I have feel scared in Quito after having my trousers slashed in an attempt to steal my money. I have felt foolish when asking a Ugandan boy why he did not go to school. His parents had both died, maybe from AIDS, he could not go, he had to run the household now and grow food for his brothers and sisters.
I have never felt so emotional as I did standing in the genocide memorial in Rwanda, a country where, in 1994, a million people were slaughtered in six weeks for practically no reason at all. Bigotry. I wanted to scream and shout upon reading the brutality of it all. How could someone murder a child, a two year old child, for belonging to another tribe, then murder another and another.
I have looked on in awe at Condors flying just metres away from me, so effortless and gracefull. I am full of wonder at nature: the mountains, vast plains, forests and animals. Still I get annoyed at the lack of protection, the readiness to destroy, to pour concrete, to push national park boundaries for mineral wealth.
My mind is expanded.
I have done things I thought I could never do. Spending eight days aboard a boat, I thought that impossible, but I did it. I convinced Bec to canoe the Zambesi amongst hippos and crocodiles. She did it.
We have spent a year in each others pockets and have not strangled each other. We have seen a bit more of the world, taken photos, written journal entries. We have met wonderfull people: locals, travellers, lots of people.
I hope Innocent sets up his street kid program in Africa, I hope Jorge stays passionate about the Galapagos and fights for its continued protection. I hope Gerry Lewis learns an extra eight languages to make fifteen and continues to guide with such enthusiasm.
So, we have travelled through twenty countries, sat on over 150 buses, flown 18 times, been in 70 plus taxis, driven a Land Rover in Kenya, watched the world go by on 24 trains, 10 bicycles, motorbike taxis, 3 camels, a dinosaur bus, canoes, horses and by foot.
I could go on and on. Overall it has been a fantastic experience, at times I have wanted to finish early or continue on past our one year deadline. I have learnt a lot, seen a lot. I have a well used passport and a tired mind and body, but I would not change it for anything.
Thats it, through our eyes, now it is your turn. Go on get out there, go travel. See the world you live on.
