In my wandering, I search out and savor those unique timeless experiences that help me feel connected to all the people who came before me and all who will come afterwards.
I first discovered that feeling decades ago while walking through a doorway in the White Tower of the Tower of London. As I held onto the sides, I imagined all the kings and servants walking through that doorway before me.
There’s nothing like visiting a historical or some archeological sites to feel like you’ve stepped back in time. But there is something special in discovering that feeling in small, quiet moments while you wander.
One warm day, while trekking in the Sierra Madre Mountains of southern Honduras, our group stopped to rest and eat on some benches in the petit shaded town square of a small mountain village. We found that this remote village had wifi service, so most of us used the opportunity to check our messages and emails and other phone applications. I took a moment to browse my Instagram account and came across a post that said something like: “A hundred years ago, everyone had a horse, and only the rich had cars. Now, everyone owns a car, and only the rich have horses.”
As I was looking at this post, a local man rode by on a horse! At that moment, I realized there weren’t any cars around. In fact, we hadn’t seen another car in quite a while! For a brief moment, I felt like we had stepped back in time a hundred years! 😊
Exploring the remote ancient town of Shangli in the Sichuan Province of China was a highlight in our feeling like we had stepped back into time. While strolling along the banks of the Longxi River, we noticed an older woman near one of the picturesque bridges cleaning her dishes in the river, much like her ancestors must have done for thousands of years.
Perhaps her ancestors worked on nearby Meng Ding Mountain, where it is said that tea was first cultivated, picking tea among the terraced rows of tea bushes and ancient wall reliefs. Drinking handmade tea in a Meng Ding Mountain tea ceremony is one of those timeless experiences that you not only see and feel, but you can also smell and taste and touch.
Speaking of smell, certain aromas of wood burning now bring me back to a lovely visit, many years ago, to the remote village of Totoras, high in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. The people we encountered lived, frozen in time, in humble, but warm, mud and straw homes, with straw roofs. There would be potatoes cooking over a wood burning fire inside the hut which everyone would eat with their hands.
There was no electricity in this remote village, nor internet, except for one building, and it lacked most of the other conveniences that we are used to in our western lives. But the people were hospitable and hard-working, and they humbly and kindly welcomed us into their simple lives, helping us realize that less is needed materially to truly live and experience a fulfilled life.
I was rather surprised to feel transferred to a simpler time while stepping from a busy noisy Delhi street in India onto a winding, very narrow, and extremely quiet, side street in the Old Delhi neighborhood of Chandi Chowk. It was as if the noisy present day disappeared into the quieter days of old. And I was there to see and hear and feel it.
Simple and sometimes surprising moments like these motivate me to continue wandering, seeking out those unforgettable and amazing experiences while traveling.
New World Wanders 