jonesberries » mum’s ramblings

Mature Travellers

Debbie — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:51:35 +0000

Just met another amazing retired couple. This couple is German. I am starting to see more and more of these amazing older couples that I cant help but admire. There are some couples that buy their “white plastic” for part-time fun and keep their “bricks and mortar” to come back to. There is this complete other breed, however, that demands respect.

One of the first couples I met recently that I would put into this category would be a couple I met in the South of England. He came up to our truck at a “Camping and Caravanning Club” Site at an old Nursery. He knocked on my door, introduced himself and said

“We are terminal”.

“Excuse me? What was that?”

“I have terminal cancer. I am travelling with an old friend from school. She has emphysema. She is terminal too. We were told to wait around in some old home. Wait to die. We thought this would be better. We cant leave UK because of insurance. We need electricity for the oxygen. I pull a small van behind the motorhome that holds our 2 mobility scooters. We thought this was a better way to live out our last days. We have been travelling like this for 3 years now.”

You just gotta respect this couple.

I met another German overland couple yesterday. There is something very amazing about this couple. They have been traveling their whole lives. In Germany they say it was with them in the cradle of their birth. I like that. However, Peter is now retired so they have enough money to go where they want. They have been traveling full-time for 7 years now. They have just come back from Morocco and will go to Asia this summer. OK a little math. That would make him at least 72 right? This couple is strong. I would not consider anything about them frail.

They travel the world in their Mercedes, ex-military, self-build overlander. It is an honour to spend time with them. It is worth learning German just to learn from them. There is this thing that they carry too. They are strong, self-assured, confident. They dont brag – they dont need to. In the last 7 years they have put on 400,000 km and been all over the world with her. Literally, in our short time together she talked to me about their trips to Africa, India, Alaska, United States and talked to me about their 3 weeks in a freighter bringing their truck back from South America. Not really bragging. Talking about it as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

I couldn’t imagine them fading away in an old folks home. They will probably die parachuting off some cliff or something. Yeah.

They are not the first German couple we have met like this. Ooooh they are their own breed. They are…. wow I have run out of good adjectives – I think you get the idea.

This reminds me of an old man I met in Orkney. He was there in his motorhome. He was living in it full-time. He told me, “I’ve only been living in my motorhome a few years. I was in a Narrow boat for about 20 years but then it got too difficult moving it around everyday.”

“How old were you when you moved into the narrow boat?”

“Oh, 63 or so.”

That means this man of 83+ is travelling the world solo.

I mean why are we not hearing more about these really amazing older people? Their mere existence screams out “I WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT”. They aren’t waiting. They are LIVING.

I havent completely figured out this group of people. I probably never will. You see, I have seen a lot of hedonists travelling too. Travelling for the pleasure of it. Expecting the world to deliver every pleasure they desire. That is not what these people are about. It is the heart and soul of the adventurer they possess. It is more about witnessing the beauty and diversity of the world. Of standing up in their big, functional, well worn hiking boots or their mobility scooter and saying “I am a witness”. As a people that stand up high and are worthy of heaps of respect and saying “I respect that”. I want to hover in their shadows and look at where their fingers are pointing and learn from them.

Our world is too infatuated with youth. It is really quite ridiculous. First, we have make-up and hair dye. Now, we have moved on with all our heroes getting surgery to make them look younger. Am I the only one seeing this as sorta weird. Yeah, yeah, I know I’m no spring chicken myself but I have been thinking about this for a while now.

We shove our old people aside like garbage. Sure we look after them. Kinda. We help their bodies live that little bit longer but what about their souls. What about listening to them. Learning from them. They have so much to give.

With this couple I met yesterday I didn’t even know what to ask. I must have sat there, staring with my mouth gaping open looking like an idiot. They had so much to teach me. Being wise they gave out precious morsels from time to time. I think that the most I learned from them though was not so much in what they said or did but who they are. What they have been becoming. Just being in the same space with them taught my soul volumes. Does that make any sense? Am I getting weird now? I am just not sure how to word it. Like being in the room with ripe fruit – true maturity. I feel empowered, like I can see better.

I feel my spirit soar.

Yeah, that’s it.

Canoeing, Feasting and After Eights for Christmas

Debbie — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:40:44 +0000

Well, tried to post this up and lost everything. Here it goes again.

How are we doing? Soggy, soggy, soggy. We are so soggy. Did I say we were soggy? It is still raining, and raining.

Was not so sure how this Christmas would be. You see, we were supposed to be in Morrocco! Spending Christmas with our dear friends the Carters. We were kinda bummed. However, this Christmas turned out to be wonderful indeed.

The river bed that was empty when we first arrived was full and fast and ready for white, oops brown, water rafting for Christmas Eve and the sun even came out for a few moments to celebrate. I must confess I wimped out on all the fun. It may not look it but it was seriously COLD but the kids didnt seem to notice. If you look close you can see that where the small waterfall is behind Andrew is supposed to be a bridge. Now, a few days later, the water has gone up so high that you cant see the bridge at all.

Look at Abi in his little car giving the crazy boys a lift back up the river for more. He is dressed appropriately for the day.

Here are Abi and Lizzy, presently going sideways down the river.

Still going back upriver for more punishment.

After all the craziness on to the Christmas meal. Did we tell you about TJs adventure pack yet? She has this backpack has everything she figures she needs for an adventure ( bottle of water, first aid kit with plasters/bandaids and stickers for good patients, rope, carrabeener, notepad, animal book, sas survival guide, etc). Well, her little survival guide has a section on what you can eat from the wild. She is especially fond of finding edible mushrooms. A frequent site the last few weeks has been TJ squatted down over some new mushrooms she has found with her survival guide in hand doing some careful analysis. I would come over with my bigger mushroom book and we would see if it was edible or not. I must admit, wild mushrooms scare me. Yes, we have spent lots of time in Czech Republic where wild mushroom picking is almost a national sport but I still lack courage in this area. Well, TJ found mushrooms in the orange grove here and we identified them as “field mushrooms”, completely safe. Yeah! TJ quickly memorized the characteristics of young and old “field mushrooms” . The gills are pink on the young ones and brown on the older ones. She scientifically inspects every mushroom before and after cutting the stem with a small knife. We have heard this helps them come back again. She also makes sure not to put any strange looking mushrooms in with the field mushrooms because, we have been told, if you mix one bad mushroom it affects all the good ones.

Here we have Elizabeth gathering tangerines/clementines and TJ passing on her mushroom expertise to Abi.

Here we are prepping our outdoor kitchen. It has been so good here. We have use of the outdoor kitchen, pool table with shelter and the round room (an old windowless granary with a wood stove).

Christmas breakfast always includes a heaping fresh fruit plate. This time we added a bright red berry-like fruit that the people here refer to as coming from a “strawberry tree”. Talking to local people kids will pick the fruit and eat them while walking. The men will pop them into fancy brass stills and make moonshine.

Presents, Samuel is sporting what we call the “evil snowman” tie. When you push a button you get annoying music and the snowman’s eyes flash red. Gifts were simple this year. Believe it or not, We spent no more than 7 euro on each child. We talked it over with the kids and decided to go for great food and less money on gifts. We did this by shopping at the gypsy market, a chinese store but mostly a charity shop/ thrift store. We also made alot of gifts from scraps of fabric, a recycled blanket and brightly coloured string.

Hannah is here sporting a hat I made her with her new exotic scarf. Andrew printed off a special photo for each child as a special treat it this age of digital photos.

Time for the feasting. We were joined by the other campers. A nice dutch couple, Hank and Helga and Adi from UK. I tell you, we have never had such a great tasting Christmas meal. I think it must have been all the simpler food of the last couple of weeks. Lots of beans and rice and porridge. I sometimes wonder if our bodies were just not created to feast all the time. Part of my theory of things that we love. If we get what we enjoy most of the time we tend to appreciate it less and take it for granted. I think that we might enjoy a nice comfy sofa, a vacuum cleaner or a nice hot bath so much more than those that have them all the time because we dont have them enough to take them for granted. I think we can use this for food too. So, perhaps, it was the beans and rice of past weeks or perhaps our great cook but I cant think of a Christmas meal we have enjoyed more.

We borrowed some puzzles for our traditional Christmas day puzzling. Rubin, a “woofer” and friend of the owners is helping out while Adi is supplying moral support.

We went up to Jason and Kay’s house, the owners, for pudding/dessert. They introduced us to their After eight tradition. You place an unwrapped after 8 on your forehead and move it down your face to your mouth without using your hands. Nicola, in red, seems to be winning.

Not the most graceful of activities, leading to strange mouth contortions and if you are in a nice toasty room heated by a roaring christmas fire you get a path of chocolate down your cheek. All in all, alot of fun.

More feasting. And….

Jason brings out the flaming christmas pudding and the room erupts in “Good King Wenceles” sung with deep manly ferver.

We have now left “Conscious Earth”. We are so much richer for the experience. We will be back and we are sure that our paths are now linked with our wonderful new friends.

All in all, a Great Christmas. Hope yours was great too.

Camping in a Hurricane

Debbie — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:01:04 +0000

Last night there was a hurricane. Serious, no exaggeration. First the teenager report than the official one from the news guys. Me and Andrew had a great time watching the light display and hearing the music of the rain from our bed through the night. A bit worried about Samuel and Alana (Donald stayed back because he was a bit under the weather and Elizabeth stayed back because she didn’t understand the attraction of an all nite party). They went off with Eddie and Rubin to an all nite beach party. Turns out that they didnt go to the beach but opted to stay at a shed outside a Dutch and Jamaican household who happen to be dance instructors and gave them dance lessons well into the night. Samuel announced triumphantly this afternoon that he had learned to do a headstand while dancing.

So anyways, away from the very clever teenagers that avoided a beach front performance of a hurricane and back to our would be romantic evening from our Maggie if it wouldn’t have been for the 5 young people sleeping in the truck. So the truck rocked like a cradle all nite. The light display and rain gave way to winds that kept sucking our door open, so we locked the door, seemed sensible. That was it. The next morning the bridge at the edge of the land was out, the river was overflowing and a very large electric metal tower thing bent over midway across a house to get the road into town closed during the day.

I started thinking. As I do too much. We had so much fear of being so vulnerable while we lived in our motorhome and here we are riding out a frost, an earthquake and now a hurricane. All this within a week. Why should we be afraid. I believe in a loving God who holds us affectionately in his arms. How many times does fear keep us from doing what we want to do. Fear keeps us from living a life filled with passion for living. Why should we be afraid. We have been in an earthquake and a hurricane in one week in our beloved Maggie. Way vulnerable but way protected.