Reflections on Travel

All my life I have been an avid traveler.  Sometimes I traveled for vacation, sometimes for my studies, sometimes for work, but whatever the reason, I find traveling a pleasure.  I have traveled to all continents except Antarctica.  My favorite places are warm, lively and by water.

Greece has felt like my second home for 27 years.  I first went to Greece as a tourist, then developed a travel-study program in Greece for my university, then was assigned to Greece as a U.S. diplomat, and, in retirement, I restored two old Greek buildings with my husband and turned them into lovely island homes.  

One of these buildings I restored was an abandoned olive press on the island of Aegina.  I used the restoration experience in a murder mystery, Death at the Olive Press . The second building, a hundred year old home on the island of Lesbos, is described in my memoir about my Greek god-daughter, Nona: A Different Kind of Motherhood.

Greece has changed a great deal in the years that I have been visiting and living there.  The country becomes more and more European with all the advantages of European culture and all the disadvantages coming from losing something distinctly Greek  As Greece has developed economically, it has become more and more expensive, especially for Americans who are exchanging dollars into Euros.  And Greeks have not yet polished the art of conservation so that the land, sea, monuments and cities are often subject to pollution of one kind or another.

Yet, it is still possible to find in Greece the things I love – people who enjoy the pleasures of life, intense sociability that can makes meals take a whole evening, a passion for politics, a pride in national history and identity, an appreciation for Mediterranean beauty.  

In this blog, I will write about Greece as I experience it today.  I hope others will also share their Greek experiences.
        
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In the last year, I have formed an attachment to Guatemala that is almost as strong as my attachment to Greece.  I do not know Guatemala well, but I am learning. 

So far, I have only visited tourist locations – the gorgeous colonial city of Antigua, the magnificent Mayan ruins at Tikal, and the breathtaking scenery of Lake Atitlan.  It is La Laguna that I wish to write about.

I brought a group of women to Lake Atitlan to participate in a travel-study program called “Weaving Our Stories.”  We were based in the Mayan village of San Marcos, a lovely small village about a half hour away by boat from the lake’s main city, Panajachel.  In recent years, a number of foreigners have settled in San Marcos, many of whom have an interest in New Age activities and holistic health, so that San Marcos is an interesting mix of traditional and New Age contemporary.

For me, one of the most exciting aspects of being in Guatemala was meeting women who were engaged in nonprofit activities to help the country.  Some of these activities included: a group that saves kids from a life in the Guatemala City garbage dump and sends them to school; a group that teaches recycling to villagers and builds structures from discarded plastic water bottles; a group of Mayan women that have formed a weaving cooperative and are learning Spanish and business techniques.  I was so inspired by these women that I am leading a second travel-study program to Guatemala in January, 2009, entitled “Women Changing the World. ” 

I am also looking for ways to help the villagers living around Lake Atitlan.  The U.S. has such an ugly past in Guatemala between a 1954 coup on behalf of United Fruit and support of right-wing governments and military forces that I feel it is necessary for us to begin making up the damage we have done in the country.  I have taken on the responsibility to send one charming boy to private school to improve his life chances and am looking for other ways to get involved.  

I welcome thoughts on this from my readers.