What A Year

(Above: Table Mountain in Cape Town)

2006 was coming to a close and it seemed fitting for me to celebrate the completion of one year and the incoming of another in a destination far from home. Afterall, I spent half of 2006 on the road, exploring countries I had never visited, but always imagined. 2006 was in a way, a year of fulfilling my dreams, some of them at least. It wasn’t like building a baseball field in the corn fields of Iowa, but the inspiration did come from a similar voice within.

I had the good fortune to have the nexus of time, means and health to explore the globe, albeit a small area in comparison to total number of countries. Along the way I met strangers who went out of their way to help me, share their wisdom and invite me into their homes. Traveling alone means you cannot share the brilliant sunsets or the unexpected discoveries with someone, but it does have certain benefits. People opened up more, felt safer because I was only one person and were willing to share brief autobiographies or talk global politics.

There is an interesting dynamic I’ve noticed when meeting strangers, call it the “confessional freebee”. It’s when strangers meet on the road (sometimes only one is a traveler and the other, a local), their lives intersecting for only a few hours, and one or both of them share personal opinions and/or secrets they have not shared with those closest to them. It seems to fill a need of some people to get a secret they’ve been holding inside off of their minds such that they are liberated or absolved of the intangible weight within.

Many times throughout the year I wondered how I “lucked out” experiencing such amazing people and places. There is a sense that with my fortune comes an unwritten obligation to which I will not be held accountable, but inside I know I have a deeper soul commitment. What that means precisely, I cannot say, it is more a knowing sense. It is a dharma of sorts, to act with respect and dignity toward others at a minimum and from there it involves helping others whenever possible.

When I thought of people in other countries prior to traveling this year, I visualized strangers. But what I learned and continue to learn is that people are noticeably different, but simultaneously the same in the most significant aspects. People in all cultures want to love and feel loved. They want to be recognized in some way, if only to acknowledge their presence. Listening to people opened up worlds I had never known before. Instead of faceless strangers, they became real people with loved ones, homes, jobs, hopes and dreams.

Traveling in many of the third world countries, I noticed the increasing presence of television, from remote parts of Thailand to the hill tribes in Vietnam, “television sprawl” is rampant. My unscientific take is that this is having a tremendous impact on changing cultures that were previously functioning in relative isolation. And don’t forget about that relatively new phenomenon, the internet. Almost as fast as a speeding bullet, and certainly faster than television, it is transforming the globe in dramatic ways. Where internet access exists, people can communicate in real time where previously a phone call was prohibitively expensive or technological limitations involved delays and poor sound quality.

The world feels smaller than ever as the possibility for global community presents itself for the first time in history. And the human race will need the net to solve some of the larger problems facing mother earth today, namely global warming. Coming to the forefront of the media each day, on a grand scale, the world is now beginning to sound the alarm bells. Melting glaciers, drowning polar bears, rising oceans and warmer temperatures are a few of the latest bits to hit prime time.

Will we take action and act in concert to preserve the planet for future generations and the remaining animals, plants and insects? I hope so and have been encouraged by the awareness of others in the countries I visited. Most people know something has to be done and are willing to help, they just don’t know what to do. Awareness is rising slowly, but surely.

2006 was a year of transition for me. An opportunity to question the old, discover the new and uncover within. I learned a lot not only about the world, but myself. A product of age or a time capsule within, I was motivated to take a hard look inside. I was both pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised. 2006 was full of blessings and gifts from the world that forever changed me.

Change can be a tough pill to swallow, but drink plenty of fluids and it will go down easily. Be fluid and flexible, “go with the flow”, is one of the many lessons I internalized on a deeper level. Unable to control most things in life, except myself, remembering to swim with the tides has helped me see many things I would not have seen struggling against the current, which brings me to my next destination.

Arriving in Cape Town, South Africa on the day before New Year’s Eve, I was anxious to get into town and scope the scene, but my “go with the flow” attitude would be put to the test. After smooth sailing through customs and claiming my bag, I approached a rental car counter for my local transportation. The clerk behind the counter asked me if I wanted the car for February 1st, which I quickly dismissed as his attempt at humor. I explained clearly that I wanted it for the next 10 days. He smiled and said he did not have any cars until February 1.

Surprised, but not dissuaded, I headed for one of the other eight companies neatly aligned in rental car row. Surely one them had to have one leftover car. One by one, it was explained to me that they were “fully booked” and it was the “high season”. Uh oh, now what? A light panic wanted to creep in. I thought, “since I am at the airport, should I book a flight to somewhere else where I can actually get a car and a place to stay without paying high season prices?”

Five minutes from checking the destination board to see where the next local flight was heading, I stopped at the airport information booth to see what was shakin’. Fortunately for me, the girl behind the counter was tired of texting her friends so my plea for help received immediate action. She pulled a tattered binder from under the counter and began flipping laminated pages. First, I needed a car, otherwise I couldn’t get to Cape Town unless I used a taxi, but I was told there were no rental cars in town so I would be stuck at my lodging for the evening, and perhaps longer. My rough itinerary involved thousands of kilometers of driving so without a car my new year would be off to an exceedingly slow start.

She dialed at least three numbers before she had a bite. “Do you want aircon?” she asked holding the phone to her ear. “I’ll take any car you can find,” I replied with a desperate smile. She began scribbling details of two cars on scratch paper. I watched each pen stroke closely. If there was a car on the other line, it was not getting away from me. Before she could hang up to tell me the details, I ordered the car and agreed to wait for the one hour estimated delivery time.

Task one was completed, however, there was still task two, where to stay? Before leaving Namibia I tried booking several places, but all replied that they were “fully booked”, some even added that they, “had been booked for months”. This didn’t raise my hopes, but the girl at the information booth came through once again. After finding vacancies at a $250 per night “sea facing view” hotel, my eyes probably let on that I was looking for something on the other end of the spectrum. I just wanted a bed and a bathroom to call home for the night.

“The Blue Peter Hotel has a room available. It is 550 Rand and is located on the West Coast in Bloughberg,” she said as she hung up the phone.

“I’ll take it for one night,” I responded as if making a last minute bid at an auction. In the back of my mind, I was a bit worried. What is the “Blue Peter”? Has Pee Wee Herman slept there? I couldn’t worry about it as it was New Year’s Eve eve and I needed a place to make plans for the coming days.

Two hours later, I found myself in a beautiful beach community somewhat like a windy Newport Beach. I pulled into the driveway of the Blue Peter and, to my surprise, the place was one big party on the oceanfront. Set across the street from the beach, the attached restaurant bar was bursting at the seams indoors and had swarms of people on the front lawn. Music was blasting and sundowners were doing what they do best, going down. Best of all I had a place to call home for the night.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!!!


(The "Blue Peter" in its day time glory.)