Machu Picchu - by Maia Coen

          Machu Picchu was a destination that I put on my personal seven wonders of the world list a few years back.  Of course, this led to a heavy dose of anticipation as we made our way up the mountain.  Though it’s only a short 20-minute climb up to the ruined city once you disembark the shuttle bus, it is quite steep.  With each step my anticipation grew until finally I reached the top and Machu Picchu was before me.

            Anticipation is a tricky thing.  In my years of travel, I’ve learned that sometimes the things that are the most talked about, or rather the most famous places can end up being underwhelming.  The great wall of China is the example I always use.  I had been told the Great Wall of China was one of the most spectacular places in the world.  I thought this because of all the attention a place like that gets.  Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing, but I felt a strange sense of disappointment upon seeing it.  Because of this experience I was hesitant about a place as famous as Machu Picchu.  I feared that my anticipation would once again get the better of me.  I was happy to be wrong. 

Machu Picchu did not disappoint.  Reaching the top of that brief climb and observing the stone city with the mountain rising dramatically behind was every bit as beautiful as the pictures had promised.  I felt out of breath from the climb and the elevation, but it seemed to fit poetically with the breathtaking view I was admiring. We walked through the ruins with commentary from our local guide.  It was interesting to learn how the Incas built the civilization and how they lived but as usual I paid more attention to what I saw and how I felt than what the guide was saying.  My favorite part of the tour were the alpacas lounging casually along the trails.  They sat unphased by the bustle of tourists and continued to nibble grass unaffected.  The best pictures I have consist of beautiful Machu Picchu with alpacas in the foreground.  The perfect Peruvian photograph. 

Another activity I did at Machu Picchu was hike.  My dad and I signed up to hike Montana Machu Picchu.  Little did I know that this was going to be the most difficult hike of my life.  My dad having done the hike on a previous tour warned me that it was going to be a killer.  He warned me that it was basically uneven steps all two and a half hours to the top.  Even then I didn’t quite believe it would be that difficult.  I was wrong, it is to this day the hardest hike I have ever done.  It truly was uneven steps the entire way up with few reprieves.  We trekked slowly trying to conserve our energy and stopped for breaks often.  I sweat through my clothes in the first ten minutes. 

There was a moment where I almost gave up.  I had never felt like I couldn’t make it to the top of a hike before.  But I persevered.  Finally, I could see the peak, it gave me a boost of energy I didn’t know I had in me and my dad and I made it to the summit.  The view would have been spectacular had it not been for the clouds drifting in and out.  It allowed for brief glimpses of Machu Picchu below.  I didn’t even care that the photo opportunities were less than ideal, I had just hiked 2,000 feet in two and a half hours.  I felt invigorated.  Perhaps had I known how difficult the hike was going to be I might have opted not to do it, but I was so glad I did.  It was such a rewarding experience.

I was quite impressed with Machu Pichu and quite relieved that the hype about this place was well-founded.  I’ll never forget the moment I took the last step and saw it for the first time and how impressed I was with myself for making it to the top of that hike.  As far as wonders of the world go this one was pretty wonderful.

Guatemala - by Maia Coen

I have traveled to many fascinating places in my life. I have written of beautiful waterfalls and monumental temples and luscious rainforests. I have written of awe and amazement at the beauty of nature or the beauty of human made creations. Guatemala was different. This is not a story about magnificent structures or the natural wonders of our world, this is a story about humans and how Guatemala changed the way I think about humanity.

Right away in Antigua I felt the energy one often feels in Latin America. It was late and we were tired. The air was warm, and we had amazing tacos for dinner. Amazing because we were starving and because they brought with them the thrill of a new place to discover. My dad and I often say that sometimes we remember food being so good or a song so emotional because of what it is associated with. I am thankful for that first taco meal for a welcoming introduction to the country of Guatemala. Our trip officially began with a walking tour of the city but the real nitty-gritty began the following day when we drove into the mountains to visit a local coffee farmers plantation.

It was here, on a hill surrounded by coffee that I learned of the devastation the United States had caused Guatemala. The man explained to us how the United Fruit Company had once owned 70% of Guatemalan land but was only using a very small percentage for farming. Slowly, land was returned to the locals and they had the opportunity to own land again but soon after there was a coup that booted the current regime out of office. This coup was supported by the Americans because we feared communism during the height of the Cold War. This started the long and brutal civil war that occurred in Guatemala. The Guerillas, as they were known, were the farmers whose land was threatened by the new regime. They were forced to flee to the hills to survive while the military hunted them down. Most of the killing that occurred was by the military, backed by the United States.

I sat on the hillside after enjoying a delicious homemade meal from the smiling locals while listening to this man recount his experience during the war. He was forced to join the military even though he did not support them and was treated horribly. He endured inhuman training for a cause he didn’t believe in. Now he walks up to his coffee plantation every day, miles of terrain have to be covered, and when asked how well he was doing compared to the rest of Guatemala he gave himself a 4 out of 10. My heart was aching, and I was livid. I was furious that I hadn’t learned about this sometime in all my years of education. The fact that I didn’t know how involved we had been in the destruction of such a beautiful country tugged at everything that angers me about my country. History is written by the winners. Guatemala is a rich country, and would be prospering had we not interfered.

Corruption is the biggest problem Guatemala has faced since the civil war, and what they continue to fight years later. Guatemala is the richest country in Central America, but its wealth disparity is so great. There are more private planes per capita in Guatemala than in the United States. That’s how rich the rich are while most of the country is living on less than two dollars a day. I have seen poverty in my life, visiting other countries, but it was nothing like this. This was pure widespread poverty relating directly back to a war that we helped start. This tour had the most cultural connections that I have experienced in one single trip. We learned from the coffee farmer, a UN employee, locals in every town we visited, women who are trying to better their community, and the advocates who work to liberate people from making a living picking through the local garbage dump. This is how the tour ended, with a visit to the country’s most poverty-stricken area, Guatemala City. We were presented with a video from Safe Passage, the people working to end the garbage dump life style. People who cannot find work come to Guatemala City to seek a living from rummaging through the garbage dump in the middle of the neighborhood. They scavenge what they can and sell it for scraps. These people are so stuck in a loop of poverty it seems like there is no way out. They bring their children into the dump with them because there is no school, so they are uneducated with no useful skills.

Safe Passage works to get the children of the dump into school and teach them valuable skills to hopefully break the cycle. When I first learned we were going to visit a garbage dump I immediately feared our being the ugly tourists snapping photographs of these peoples lives from the safety of our tour bus. But I was relieved to be wrong. This is a well thought-out and concerned program. These people are doing the hard work to try and change something in a place where change seems impossible. Trying to explain what it felt like to look down on the dump brings tears to my eyes. To watch human beings digging through trash because their country is so damaged that they can’t find work any other way shattered my pre-conceived notions of poverty. This was true poverty. The smell was foul, and vultures swarmed. It was vile, and terrible, and horrifying. This tour is not easy, it will make you feel disgustingly privileged and it will make you feel like you are not doing enough. Imprint donates all its profits from this tour to Safe Passage and Global Visionaries, which works to build schools in remote villages in Guatemala. Just by going on this tour every tour member was contributing to a country in need. And they got to see the darkest parts of this county’s poverty. We were thrown right into the thick of it with no sugar coating, which is exactly what we need.

When we went around the room at the end of the tour and said our peace about the tour, I found I couldn’t quite articulate what I was feeling after this experience. I stood and couldn’t keep the tears from my eyes as I said I had never felt so altered by a country and how I thought this might have changed my life. What I wanted to say was, this is what we need to do as a culture. We need to stop hiding from the problems we have caused in the world and start trying to heal what we have helped break. I thought of climate change and how nothing matters if half of the world is uneducated. There is no point in technology if the people don’t understand what their actions mean. What I wanted to say was, my heart was broken wide open by Guatemala and I intend to do whatever I can to help it and share my experience with whoever will listen. It is a beautiful, rich country, that is suffering largely from our hand. People are suffering and digging through trash while just a few miles over the richest people in the city reside in skyrises drinking expensive martinis. I understand what it feels like to be doing so much just by being there and feeling like it isn’t close to enough.

We asked ourselves the same question the whole trip: What do we do? We were all thinking the same thing, how do we fix this? And there isn’t an answer. All we can do is our very best to tell the world what happened in Guatemala. We tell them how beautiful it is. We tell them how friendly the people are towards us despite our countries choices. We tell them it is a country rich with Mayan history and tradition. We tell them that it is a place that deserves our attention. What I meant to say was this is what matters. In Guatemala I discovered what humanity can be at its very worst and its very best. It’s the people that matter. If we help the people, we help the planet. The only reason we want to save the planet is because people live on it, so maybe we should stop focusing so much on not using straws and start paying more attention to the children in Guatemala who want to go to school. This is the heart of it, and I can’t believe it took me so long to figure that out. So go to Guatemala, see for yourself how humanity can break your heart right open.

Here are links to the websites of both Global Visionaries and Safe Passage if you would like to know more.

http://globalvisionaries.org/

https://www.safepassage.org/

The Botswana Bathroom Debacle by Maia Coen

Everybody knows what happens when you drink a beer.  Among other things, it makes you have to pee.  I did in fact know this at the time.  Though I was 16 my parents had allowed alcohol on trips abroad as a part of the travel experience.  This story takes place in Botswana.  On a boat.

            The group settled into the rows of plastic chairs arranged on the boat and began our Chobe river safari cruise.  Right away we spotted a baby elephant bathing itself by the side of the river.  It was collecting water with its trunk and spraying it on his back just like you would see in a documentary.  Many of us were enamored by this new experience.  Even though we had seen many elephants previously, seeing this young one taking a bath was easy enjoy. 

We floated calmly down the river, stopping periodically for crocodiles or more elephants swimming along beside us.  Drinks were handed out and I took a beer out of habit, not thinking much of it.  This was my mistake.  I think everyone knows where this story is going.  I told my mom that I had to pee and if she would ask if there was a bathroom on the boat or how long we would remain on the river.  There was no bathroom.  The time on the river was undetermined, but probably at least an hour.  After about half an hour I had to pee so badly that I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.  I thought, this is it.  Here I am in Botswana and I am destined to die of an over full bladder.  I whispered to my mom that I didn’t think I could hold it much longer and she got up and discretely told the captain.

            Being in the middle of a river in Botswana I wasn’t sure what this boat captain was going to do.  It’s not like there were toilets out there.  After what felt like an eternity the captain started to float the boat towards a small island in the middle of the river.  As soon as we began heading towards it, I knew what was going to happen.  My heart sunk at what I would have to do, but I had to pee so bad it almost didn’t matter.  Most of the tour members weren’t paying attention and when we bobbed up against the shore, I pleaded for my mom to come with me.  She jumped down first and immediately sunk deep into the mud.  It was quite a mess but luckily for me it was so funny watching her dig her shoes out of the mud that all the tour members were paying attention to her and not me scurrying off into the bushes. 

I was trying to find a place that was out of sight of the boat when the captain yelled, “not too far.”  This is when I was reminded that I was in fact in Africa on an island that could very well be home to snakes, hippos, or any other safari animal you could think of.  I squatted right there, covered by tufts of long grass but not as much as I would have liked, and tried not to think of all the things that could pop out of the grass and eat me.  When I returned my mom had just gotten herself unstuck from the mud and most people hadn’t noticed where I had gone or why we had even stopped.

            I learned later that the Chobe River is the river that separates Botswana from Namibia, so it turns out I probably peed on an island that wasn’t even designated as a country.  Who knows?  Looking back its easy to laugh about, its quite the story.  When I was 16, I drank a beer on a boat and had to go pee on a tiny island in the middle of a river in Africa.  Pro tip, don’t drink anything on a boat before asking about a toilet.

If you're interested in learning more about Southern Africa tune into “Where in the World” on Facebook next week beginning March 15th. The program is run on Sarah Murdoch’s page Adventures with Sarah

Iceland by Maia Coen

Iceland is to nature as Rome is to history.  It is a place of natural grandeur and awe.  What will strike you most about Iceland is the range of different landscape you will experience.  Each one is so distinct and just as beautiful as the last.  While on the bus you could look out the window and see miles and miles of moss-covered rocks projecting vibrant greens found in old time fairy tales. 

They will remind you of the little moss-covered trolls from the movie Frozen.  If you look away from the windows for just a moment, the next time you glance outside the landscape will have completely changed.  Suddenly you will be climbing up a mountain road with yellow and orange shrubbery dotting the land cut with hundreds of tiny streams.  The moss-covered rocks are enveloped in fog that crept in slowly, like sleep.  The landscape changes then disappears.  Moments later you will emerge from these clouds of smoke and you will be atop a mountain pass looking out over vast stretches of old lava to one side and new lava to the other.  And if you keep looking you will see fields of green grass and so many rivers. 

            Icelandic horses dot the countryside and if you look up at the right time you’ll see the thickest layer of clouds you’ll ever see, stretched across the sky like a giant blanket.  Then perhaps to your right you will spot the most vibrantly colorful rainbow.  Every aspect of nature we find beautiful is present in Iceland but magnified.  The dramatic cliffsides with violent waves crashing and wind whipping your body around in a way you didn’t know wind was capable of. 

The black sand beaches with giant slabs of ice scattered like diamonds.  Stretches of green and flashes of the orange leaves of fall and glacier tongues bigger than you could have imagined.  Waterfalls everywhere, and each one just as spectacular as the last.  There is nothing like standing at the top of a waterfall with the spray on your skin and the roar of the waterfall tearing through you.  That force reminds you how powerful nature is.

            When you visit Iceland, every day you are overcome with the overwhelming feeling that you are alive.  There is no mistake that it is nature that makes us feel this way.  The country is a beautiful amalgamation of landscapes that are so distinctly different, and yet fit together so perfectly.  You will never forget the feeling of standing atop that waterfall, or the taste of the homemade buttered bread from the Icelandic horse farm, or the unnerving feeling of disappearing into a thick fog and the excitement of what might be on the other side of it.  You will feel everything you are experiencing deeply in a way only nature can illicit.  You will be blown away.  You will wonder why it took you so long to get here.

Mountain Gorilla Adventure

Having been to Africa with groups on several occasions, I’ve had the good fortune to see all the classic animals:  The Big Five (elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, cape buffalo), giraffe, hippo, cheetah, and all manner of hooved ungulates.  And often in spectacular fashion.  Four cheetahs running down a Namibian road in front of our vehicle, lions up close and personal, a leopard attack on an impala, genuine “tuskers” on parade in Amboseli, a rhino baby in Ngorongoro Crater, and hippos from the deck of my safari camp boma in the Okavango.  But nothing compares to my recent experience of seeing the mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.

          We had just finished our successful first tour of East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) and, for our tour extension, had flown to Rwanda for the gorillas.  Rwanda seems to be a very prosperous nation, particularly compared to Kenya and Tanzania.  The streets were pristine clean, buildings were brightly painted and in good repair, same for roads and sidewalks.  Vehicles appeared to mostly be of late vintage and also in good repair.  In short, there was a lack of that “developing world” look or feel to everything.  While their standards are not European or American, they are nonetheless a step up from their neighbors.

          After a moving visit to the Genocide Memorial (that story merits a separate blog) we headed north for Ruhengari, gateway to Volcanoes National Park and, for us, the mountain gorillas.  Ruhengari seemed almost as prosperous as Kigali, with women cleaning the streets with straw brooms, picking up trash, and weeding median grass and flower beds.  My favorite sight:  bicycle taxis – everywhere.  How cool is that?  Very ecologically responsible, employs lots of people, and very efficient.  We could learn something here.

When we departed the following day it was a clear morning with misty cloud halos coving only the tops of the 3 volcanic peaks that make up the national park.  It was beautiful.  We were parsed into groups of 12.  Some opted to rent gaiters, gloves, and even boots for the potentially muddy climb.  Our guide instructed us on the dos’ and don’ts of the gorilla trek.  Then we piled into our 4x4 vehicles for the drive up to the park boundary.  The off-road vehicles were absolutely necessary, as the “road” was extremely rutted, muddy, and quite steep.  Exiting the jeeps, we then walked about 30 minutes through farmers’ fields to the “buffalo wall”, a stone wall built to keep wild cape buffalo from gaining access to the crops.  My group walked another 15 minutes up steep terrain, now surrounded by a bamboo forest.  We met up with the trackers who had been out since dawn tracking our assigned gorilla family group.  We took a water and snack break and were required to leave all bags, walking sticks, etc behind.  The gorillas, we were told, were nearby.  It was pretty exciting.  I figured another 30 minutes of slogging would bring us to our reward.  But we had barely taken 10 steps when I looked up to see a young male watching us approach.  He had apparently been watching us the whole time.  The gorillas were CLOSE.

A few more steps and the whole troupe of a dozen great apes came into view.  The resident silverback, named Lucky, like a sentry was comfortably sitting on his haunches watching everything and everyone.  The group consisted of several adult females, 4 or 5 adolescents, and 2 or 3 babies of various ages.  Our guide, who of course has learned the language of the apes, made low grunting noises to assure the silverback of our benign intentions.  This human-gorilla communication might well have been the most amazing experience on a day of amazing experiences.  Simply magical.  The gorillas were entirely acclimated to human presence.  They were clearly comfortable with our being there.  We were able to get VERY close.  I would estimate 20 feet or so.  We were able to spend the next hour visually interacting with them, taking pictures of them, and marveling at their human like characteristics.  Additionally, their brute strength, dexterity, curiosity, and intelligence were also apparent.  Highlights included wrestling adolescents, a mother inspecting a baby for fleas, and the silverback doing anything.  Which was mostly quietly observing. But that in and of itself was simply magnificent with kinetic power.  A few times the youngsters would frolic right into our human group and the guide would have us quietly move out of the way.  However, my personal highlight came when I failed to move out of the way quickly enough and a teenager reached out and gave me smack on the bottom as he trundled by.  What an amazing experience.

I would like to conclude this blog with a hearty bravo for the government and people of Rwanda for what they have created in Virunga.  While much of Africa is the source of sad tales about animals being poached to extinction and steady loss of habitat, here in Rwanda they’ve authored a marvelous success story.

The Amazon Rain Forest by Maia Coen

As soon as I got off the plane I felt the heat.  Stifling heat that only comes with a special level of humidity.  As we flew in I peered out the window and saw the rain forest, stretching for miles.  Miles and miles of thick, lush, trees.  It was a while before I was immersed in the jungle.  A bumpy car ride, a boat, and a ten-minute hike through the trees brought me to my jungle lodge.

When I closed my eyes that first night it was impossible to fall asleep.  The sounds of the jungle permeated the room, they would have to since there were only three walls.  Our rooms were open to the jungle.  The sounds were so loud, a cacophony of insects and birds and larger animals slinking in the shadows.  But what blew me away was the rain.  But it wasn’t Seattle rain.  It wasn’t even Bali rain that drenched me in five seconds.  It wasn’t Kenyan rain in the height of the rainy season.  This was something else.  The sky erupted with the sound of thunder.  A kind of thunder I had never heard before.  It was deep and powerful but the most distinct part of it was how long it went on.  Never in my life have I heard thunder that continued like this.  I could literally feel the bed I laid in shake with the force of it.  And then slowly and all at once it began to rain and the humidity was cut like a knife.  The weather transformed, and the rain cleared the heat. 

“It’s in the name” my dad said as he shrugged his shoulders at the state of the weather.  It would be a shame to visit the Amazon Rain Forest without the rain, I think.  The day went on and the rain let up and then poured and continued on and off like this for hours.  Eventually we had waited long enough, and the group decided to venture out despite the rain.  We donned our jungle boots and plastic ponchos and hats and trudged into the jungle.  I say trudge in all honesty because with every step we had to pull our boots from the mud accompanied by the sound of suction.  The goal was to reach a giant tree about an hour out from our lodge and we trekked dutifully forward.  A couple people got stuck in the mud and went down.  But they got up laughing covered in mud with a story to return home with.  There were times when we had to slosh through water almost up to the edge of our boots and I wondered at this very moment if perhaps one of my boots had a hole in it.  I think I was just overthinking things.  The tree itself was in fact enormous, probably 50 feet in diameter and 300 feet high.  It was inspiring to think that a tree that old still existed in the world.

The next day the weather was perfect.  The rain had stopped but it left a blanket of cool to stifle the humidity.  It was an early departure day to search for the giant river otters in the nearby Oxbow lake.  We looked for quite a while stopping far too long for uninspiring birds and barely visible bats before spotting the otters.  They were far away at first but even from afar I could tell they were much larger than normal otters.  Our guide told us they were about six feet long.  My favorite part of the Oxbow lake came later when our guide hooked a piece of raw meet to a fishing pole and thrust it into the water.  There was a tug and up came a piranha.  I don’t know about you but I grew up on cheesy science fiction movies and I would have sworn piranhas were bigger than this.  Despite its size it lived up to its reputation with the sharpness of its teeth.  When a leaf was pushed in its mouth it chomped it up like a windup toy, without thought.  Our guide said their teeth were sharper than knifes.  I was grateful to be in a boat rather than in the river itself, those teeth looked and sounded dreadful. 

Another thing that astounded me about the Amazon was a specific animal living in it; the Howler Monkey.  I’m sure you’ve heard of them, but until you have actually heard their calls you wouldn’t believe it.  The Monkeys are not large, I would say maybe two feet tall at the most.  One day when I woke up at 4 am to begin our journey into the jungle I heard a noise that sounded like a jet engine.  I listened more carefully and was sure it was not that, but some sort of prehistoric monster.  The sheer volume and intensity of the call left me speechless.  I didn’t believe that sound was coming out of a monkey less than half my size.  If I didn’t have professionals telling me that sound was in fact a Howler Monkey I would have been sure it was some kind of artificial recording.  I could not believe that something like that monkey could make a sound like the sound of nightmares.  Nature is incredible.

On the road in Peru I discovered a popular chocolate bar called Sublime, pronounced Sub-lee-may in Spanish.  This felt like a beautiful connection from the universe to a class I took last fall at CSU, Literature of the earth.  I purchased a chocolate bar for everyone on the tour and passed them out before we went into the Amazon.  I explained the idea of the sublime that we had focused on in class and got them excited for the awe and subsequent discomfort we were about to experience in the jungle.  The sublime as often been mis-explained as the great awe in nature when in reality the sublime is also meant to include the terror and reprehension of nature.  My talk seemed to be spot on as I trudged through the pouring rain in the middle of the Amazon.  I got attacked, and I mean attacked, by mosquitoes, cut by plants, and completely soaked in sweat from the humid climate.  The jungle was incredible, but it was not easy.  My talk on the bus hopefully prepped our people for the experience they were going to have, I sure thought it did.  The jungle was beautiful, difficult, terrifying, exciting, and every word in between.  It was in fact, sublime.

Democracy in Morocco

After a lifetime of travel, one starts to think a new destination will not hold any unique surprises. Such was the case for Morocco - my expectations for Imprint’s first Morocco tour were way too low. This is an amazing travel destination. And perhaps more importantly, it is a country where Americans can experience a democratic, moderate Muslim culture. And we are sorely in need of this exact kind of experience in our current age and time. At a moment in history when fear dominates American perspectives, we need to be reminded that a majority of Muslims are moderate, admire America, and welcome Americans. Morocco is the perfect place to experience it.

“Welcome. Yes welcome in Morocco everybody.” Our charming guide Tariq greeted us with these words several times each day. Initially, I thought it was simply a canned phrase learned for use with tourists. I soon realized this is a direct translation of a traditional Moroccan greeting.  Perhaps more than anything else, this phrase embodies the spirit of the country. It was repeated multiple times every day by everyone we encountered. Eventually I understood this was more than just a greeting - we WERE welcome – genuinely and from the heart. It was definitely refreshing.

Typical welcoming Moroccon smile

Imprint group on Saharan camel trek

Tariq was proud of Morocco’s democratic institutions and moderate outlook. He was constantly pointing out female police, cafes with both men and women together, women in western dress, and kids on their way to school. He shared about new laws passed to combat backward traditions and stamp out racism, intolerance, misogyny, and Medieval practices. Evidence of the country’s prosperity and forward thinking were everywhere. The infrastructure is the best I’ve experienced in the developing Arab world. Buildings are well maintained and there are lots of new, quality constructions. Roads are maintained with new curbs and street lights in the cities. The country is very clean and, according to Tariq, education efforts by the government and king are having great effect in improving the situation even further.

School children engage our Imprint group

One of our friendly camel mahouts

At a time when our own democratic institutions are under siege, it is refreshing to experience the Moroccans’ genuine thirst for the their protection and expansion. That phenomenon is nowhere better demonstrated than the King’s public denunciation of fundamentalist terrorism, which occurred during the refugee crisis in Europe in 2016. I would like to conclude by including his speech here verbatim:

My dear countrymen, the whole world is talking about the problem of immigration, and about the human tragedies suffered by the immigrants. This situation is exacerbated by the spread of terror and extremism, and the attempts to link it – rightly or not – to the immigrants, especially in Europe.
In this context, I call upon Moroccans living abroad to adhere to the values of their religion and to their age-old customs, in confronting this phenomenon, which is alien to them. . . .  I call upon them to be always among the first to defend peace, harmony, and coexistence in their countries of residence.
We understand the difficult situation in which they live. They are suffering from the distortion of the image of Islam, as well as from the terrorist attacks, which have harvested the lives of so many of them. They suffer from reprisals, and from accusations leveled against them by some, because of their faith.
Naturally, we strongly condemn the killing of innocent people. We believe that the killing of a monk is prohibited by the Shari’a, and that killing him in a church is an unforgivable act of stupidity, because he is a human being and a cleric, even if he is not a Muslim. . . .
The terrorists who operate in the name of Islam are not Muslims. They have nothing to do with Islam, and jump on the bandwagon in order to justify their crimes and stupid acts. They are people who have been led astray, and they are destined to dwell in the Hell of all eternity.
Led by their ignorance, they believe that what they do constitutes Jihad. When was Jihad ever about the killing of innocent people? . . .
They are exploiting some Muslim youth, especially in Europe. They are exploiting their ignorance of the Arabic language and of true Islam, in order to convey their erroneous messages and misleading promises.
Can anyone of sound mind believe that the reward for Jihad could be some virgins in Paradise?  Is it conceivable that anyone who listens to music will be swallowed by the Earth?
And there are similar lies. The terrorists and extremists are using all possible means to persuade the youth to join them, and to strike at societies that bask in the values of democracy, liberty, openness, and tolerance.  . . . We are all being targeted. Anyone who believes in what I have said serves as a target for terrorism.

"Go When You Can . . ."

I recently received a newsletter from Lonely Planet that featured an article titled, “Six Bucket List Destinations at Risk of Disappearing Due to Climate Change.” The list included the Galapagos Islands, a proposed Imprint Tours destination for 2023. I was once again reminded how a cherished travel goal can be yanked away, sometimes never to return. And of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept 2020 international travel dreams into the dustbin. Nine years ago, when the Arab Spring abruptly eliminated Egypt from Imprint’s proposed tour schedule, I wrote a blog about not waiting for every condition to be ideal before committing to a desired travel experience. I believe it is a particularly relevant message today and bears repeating. So here it is, updated to include today’s travel challenges:

Anyone who has been on a tour with me in the last quarter century knows my mantra about using available toilets while traveling: “Go when you can, not when you have to.” It’s an essential travel skill when traveling with a group and not a bad strategy under any travel circumstances. Not knowing what the next hour, afternoon, or day might bring in the way of usable, clean toilets forces one to take a proactive approach to facilities. But today I’m extending my catchphrase to embrace all travel: “Go when you can, not when its perfect.” Not as catchy perhaps but imminently true and poignant today. The world is too unpredictable to be sure your chosen travel dream will remain an option until everything is perfectly in place to go. My advice is to push the planning envelope, prioritize your travel dreams, push lesser priorities and obstacles aside, and make your travel goals a reality.

Before leaving on my spring tours this year [2011] I read an interesting article in my local paper. It was written by Frederick Kunkle of the Washington Post and was titled, “Tourism Pays Cost of Freedom in Egypt.” Not surprisingly, Egypt is basically off the board as a travel destination in the wake of the Arab Spring. The article describes how the revolution has “scared away millions of foreign tourists, the lifeblood of the nation’s economy.” In the case of Egypt, I am certain that stability will return, and it will be safe to travel there again one day [Imprint did indeed have successful and safe Egypt tours in 2016 & 2020]. But the events in the Middle East these past few months demonstrate that one should not put off a trip, any trip, to a destination you genuinely want to see.

Egypt rebounded, but what if your lifelong, bucket list travel goal was to see the Bamyan Buddha statues of Afghanistan? I am personally disappointed I will never see two of the largest standing Buddha statues in the world. They were 115 and 174 feet tall, carved from the solid sandstone cliffs, and 1500 years old. Wow! In March, 2001 the Taliban blew them up - gone forever. I can’t reschedule a hoped-for or planned trip to see them. I can’t “go next year”, when all the logistics of my life align.

There are other factors that compel one to avoid delaying travel. Number one on that list is personal health. Everyone knows someone who, during their working life, talked about post-retirement travel. Trips were planned and anticipated only to be abandoned when health issues emerged. Just this month [2020] I had coffee with a former tour member. After doing a Germanic Europe tour with me in 2011, his appetite for more travel had been kindled. But he and his wife allowed one thing or another to prevent them from following through on their travel intention. Finally, five years later, the stars aligned, and they signed up for another European tour. Mere weeks before the tour departure, his wife was diagnosed with cancer. They cancelled their tour and the illness has prevented them from traveling to this day. Or perhaps the reasoning is: “once the kids are done with college”, “once the house is paid off”, “once the children are married”, or “once the house remodel is finished” – the obstacles are many if you allow them.

Sometimes missing a great travel experience is not due to a surprise obstacle. Rather, it is because other activities have been prioritized. I understand that there are many life events and commitments that take priority over a travel experience. I’m not referring to those. I’m talking about things like an annual camping trip, concert, or other “traditional” outing or event. I realize my position on this issue is based on a crucial prerequisite belief:  travel is more than just another recreational pursuit. I am not belittling anyone’s hobbies or traditions. If those “other” activities are truly your priority, go in peace. What I am arguing is that, for many, travel is more. It is a life-changing experience that compels people to evaluate their own cultures, lives, and values. Marcel Proust wrote, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes" At the end of your life, will you be more satisfied with that 10th annual “fill-in-the-blank” activity or with having experienced the Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall of China, or the Pyramids of Egypt?

As a tour operator, I witness travel aspirations being snatched away on a regular basis. I have heard many reasons: an unanticipated tax bill, the birth of a grandchild, the wedding of a child, or a stock market tumble that gutted a retirement fund. The most cited reason is the death or illness of a parent or loved one. The point is simple and obvious. There are many reasons travel objectives can be dashed, and those intrusions can emerge from a variety of unanticipated sources. The pending post-COVID economic recession will likely derail many a travel dream.

I hope I have made my point. But let me now share one success story which illustrates the potential reward of “pushing the travel envelope”. In 1994 my father planned an Inside Passage cruise to Alaska. As my mother was not interested, he offered to take me along in her place. For my fiancé to join us, we needed to pay for her. I was in graduate school, we were planning and paying for our wedding, and had neither time nor money. But we decided to stretch ourselves and go. We had a great experience and spent quality time with my dad. Six months later he died. The memory of that trip is a unique comfort to me. It might never have happened; had I not chosen to push aside the obstacles and go.

In the 1980s Robin Williams starred in a movie that popularized the Latin phrase, Carpe Diem - seize the day. I love that sentiment and have often quoted it. Regarding travel, it seems to me to be an imperative. So, once the COVID-19 crisis is gone, if travel is something you love, seize the day, make the plans, see the world: "Go when you can, not when its perfect."

Victoria Falls By: Maia Coen

Plume rainbow with Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls was the second natural wonder of the world I’ve experienced in my life.  As I approached the falls, I could hear the water roaring in the background and I swear it was the most powerful sound I’ve ever heard.  Have you ever heard a sound that you can actually feel in your body?  It made my skin tingle.  I was about to see the most magnificent waterfall in the world, and I could literally feel it.  When we rounded the last corner and the falls came into view I had to stop and stare for a moment.  Most people around me immediately took out their cameras and started snapping away.  I took photos of course, but not immediately.  I let the magnitude of it sink in first.  I think sometimes our instinct to take photos immediately can take away the wonder of an experience.  The photos will only serve as a reminder of the beauty, not a replication of it.  So, just take a moment to be there.  See the falls without the lens for a moment.  It’s difficult to describe how spectacular it was.  It was the kind of experience that makes you thank whatever you believe in that the earth was capable of such wonder.  The sheer power in those waterfalls is greater than anything manmade.  The waterfall formed a giant chasm in the earth and water poured out of it with a sound like thunder.  As I watched the water flow, in that moment I believed that water would never stop roaring.  

As we walked the pathway and made our way along the edge of the waterfall it progressively began to get mistier.  Each viewpoint was just as spectacular as the last.  The images that come to mind when I think about this walk are the rainbows.  I’ve seen rainbows in my life but never have I seen as many as there were here.  Everywhere I looked there was another and they were the brightest most amazing rainbows I’ve ever seen. One place I remember to be particularly special came at the end.  We all walked to the end of a cliff where the spray was the most intense.  I stepped out onto a rock and took it all in again.  I could see so much of it from that one spot.  I stopped trying to keep the water out and pulled my hood back and just let it soak my face.  There was so much water.  I stood there with a smile on my face and water dripping down my cheeks in the most incredible moment.  Its moments like these where I am overwhelmed by how lucky I have been to experience things like this all my life.

Helicopter view of the falls

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the feeling that came over me when I first saw the falls.  It was truly sublime.  Nature is terrifying and beautiful all at once and I am grateful to have experienced a piece of it.  The truth is I won’t remember these feelings of awe because of the pictures I took, I will remember because it was wild and powerful. I remember because I can still feel the water on my skin.  I remember because I can still feel the falls roaring through my body.

            Join Imprint Tours on our Southern Africa tour and experience Victoria Falls for yourself.  Next departure Sept 2, 2021.

The author, viewing the falls from the Zambia side

African Safari By: Maia Coen

            I left home with the excitement of a child.  I was about to see African animals in the wild.  The journey was longer than any other I’d endured in the name of travel, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.  When I arrived in Botswana with my mother, I had the biggest smile on my face.  We settled into our tents that night and went to bed after a long day.  Despite the exhaustion that threatened to drag me under I lay awake that first night and I listened to the sounds permeating the tent.  There were so many new interesting, intriguing noises.  All the clicks and clacks and the outrageous sounds I couldn’t have placed in a million years.  Before I go any further let me tell you this; I am not a bug person.  There were spiders on the walls the size of my hand.  My stay at the camp could have been more comfortable if there had not been giant spiders above my head.  That being said, I’m glad it wasn’t.  Travel is often sugarcoated.  Especially in the age of travel influencers who dominate Instagram it is easy to forget that sometimes travel is not comfortable.  Travel is not just sitting on a beach with a tropical cocktail.  Sometimes there are giant spiders all over your tent walls.  And sometimes you just have to deal with it.  I think it makes for a better traveler to feel a little uncomfortable every once in a while.  So, despite the spiders I was able to lie in complete darkness and listen to the sounds of Africa as I drifted off to sleep.     

            The following days were filled to the brim with excitement and the achievement of life long dreams for many people.  Seeing African animals on safari was something a lot of people dreamed about doing since they were children.  We saw elephants, impalas, hippos, lions, giraffes, water buffalo, and many more.  The only animal that eluded our eye was the leopard.  I have experienced so much culture and so much beauty in my lifetime, but I have never felt something so pure and true as I did when I saw the elephants.  They were huge majestic creatures who towered over me and made me feel like maybe we humans were not as important as we thought.  I looked into their eyes and they stared back in bliss.  They continued to chew their leaves while staring right into my eyes unphased by our presence.  They looked at me and I saw a kind of wisdom and grace I have never seen before.  I looked at them and I felt they knew more about the world than me or any other person ever would.  When I was around them, I felt calm like nothing else mattered.  They left me at a loss for words which does not happen often.  I felt that they had the secrets of the universe locked up tight and they were the only ones with the keys.

            The other animal that had an incredible impact on me was the lion.  We came across a whole pride of them one day.   Our driver took us in closer, and closer, and closer until we were ten feet away from them.  It’s hard to explain the feeling of unease that collects in your stomach when you are that close to wild lions.  They were right there, just lying around and dozing.  Lions, elegant and deadly right before my eyes.  I felt uneasy but at the same time comforted since I was in a seat in a vehicle.  Even though I knew at any minute one of them could jump through the vehicle and we wouldn’t stand a chance.  The lions humbled me.  The beautiful animals made me feel that I was not the best, I was not on top of the food chain.  They were so peaceful and content and the most majestic creatures I have ever seen.  They yawned and I saw their deadly teeth and I knew they were the ones with the power, and I was okay with that.

            There are so many things people think about when they hear the words African safari.  I will now forever think of the elephant and the lions that changed the way I thought of humans.  We may think that we’ve got it all figured out.  We may say that we rule this world.  We don’t tend to realize that we do not in fact own this world, we share it with thousands of creatures big and small.  We see our technological advances and our advanced society and think we know best.  Mistakes are being made every day by people and we continue to brush them aside.  The elephant’s wisdom and the lions pride made me understand a little better.  This was an experience that happened to me five years ago and I look back and realize these animals were saying more than just how small humans are.  If that elephant could speak it would have said “When will you start paying attention to us instead of what’s in your wallet?”  We and our corporations are killing our planet and I am tired of sitting around and watching it burn.  If we don’t get on top of climate change, there won’t be any safaris to go on.  Imprint tours is working to offset carbon emissions for the flights of our employees, please consider doing what you can to offset your own emissions.  Below is the link to offset your flights.  I implore you to take the climate crisis seriously and acknowledge your part in it, then do something about it.

https://www.americanforests.org/