Just when you think you are a world traveller you end up on a tour with 6 others and amongst us all we have most likely been to 90% of the countries on earth. If you pin the places Debbie and I have been to we have covered a good portion of the globe. There are still vast stretches of land without pins but there are also areas where the pins cover the country under them.
We joined up with 6 other folks in Santa Cruz 2 weeks ago to travel across Bolivia. For the most part we were all strangers. Our one common topic is travel. So, our first exchange was to do with travel. This trip involved a lot of car time so we were able to trade stores of our experiences abroad.
There are 4 Brits, which makes sense, Wild Frontiers is a British company. There are 2 1/2 Canadians and 1 1/2 Americans.
Most of us are old, 50 plus, but there is one young lady S, the half Canuck/half Yank. She survived a week with us older types quite well. Working in New York as a bond trader she travels a lot. Managing to visit 62 countries in her 30ish years.
T, the whole American, is a retired lawyer from Houston. Again he has extensive travel experience and has been to unusual destinations like Iran and North Korea.
J, a 79 year old retired electrical engineering tech from the south of England is in amazing shape. He has been around the world and as we end our trip together he is boarding a plane for an extra week on Easter Island.
J, lives in London. She retired from teaching some time ago and still travels a lot. Her stories covered Romania and other eastern block counties and places in Africa like Ethiopia and Morocco.
N, from the English countryside is a pharmacist. She is travelling with her friend, A, who manages a heritage property in the same shire. The ladies travel the globe looking for opportunities to ride horses. Argentina was one of the many destinations they used equine transport to see the country. No riding this time though, in fact I don’t think we saw even one horse.
Our Bolivian tour friends along with Liz, our guide.
It is experiences like these that bring me back down to earth and realize not only how much of the world I have seen but how much of the world there is yet to experience. We now have one more pin in the map and after talking to these folks several more potential pins press into the foam board.
Interesting that I spend more time thinking and dreaming about the places that are out there to travel to and experience through the eyes its people and landscapes! Though, I do love reminiscing about the places that are now a part of my fabric called life.
I know what you mean! The peoples of the countries we visit are a large part of why we travel. In Bolivia especially, the landscapes were so amazing and really made the trip worthwhile.