I returned to El Charco del Ingenio botanical gardens here in San Miguel last Saturday because I was curious: How would it look after the heavy rains we’d had in the past week? My watercolor sketch of it then (see the sketch in my previous WOW post, “A Near Getaway”) showed a reservoir with scant water in it. It looked like a vast field of reeds and weeds. Sitting on the same log bench where I painted my sketch, this past Saturday showed an entirely changed scene:
And I didn’t go to El Charco alone this time. I went with my friend Barb Mandaville, who’d just returned from a long trip – visiting European countries she’d never been to, as well as family members in the States. She’d been gone for ten weeks, and we needed to catch up.
I’d followed Barb’s recent travels on Facebook, where she generously shared fabulous photos of all the places she’d visited since mid-May. But I still had many questions for her, such as: Was she ever lonely, traveling alone as a single older woman to so many countries? (Her answer: No.) Did she ever feel unsafe? (Not at all.) Which country was most expensive? (Switzerland. “I paid $9 for a cup of chai at Starbucks in Zurich!” she told me.) Which was her favorite place? (Crete, for many reasons.)
Such travels have been an essential part of Barb’s life for the past twelve years. Sometimes, as she reminded me, we all need a change of scene to recharge our batteries and restore our joie de vivre.
For most of each year Barb chooses to live a simple, frugal life here in beautiful San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, during which time she plans and saves for her next international trip.
With just a carry-on bag — containing two pairs of pants, one skirt, and five blouses — she traveled this time first to Lisbon, Portugal; then Madrid, Spain; then Zurich, Switzerland; then Split and Dubrovnik, Croatia, with short tours of Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro; then Athens, the island of Crete, and the small village of Stupa on the coast of the southern Peloponnesus peninsula in Greece.
Everywhere she went she stayed in small, modest hotels and spent her days walking, sightseeing, photographing, visiting museums and parks, eating local food, and meeting friendly people along the way.
Being a true people-person, Barb especially enjoyed meeting and talking with locals everywhere she went. “For me,” she said, “travel helps to reinforce the belief that most people are good people. A smile begets a smile and frequently opens the door to conversation and connection. After all, most of us want the same things – a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, an education for our children, and caring family and friends.”
Two questions always spur Barb when it comes to deciding where, why and when to travel: If not now, when? And, Why not?
In my own life, I’ve found travel to be not only life-enhancing but also life-saving. One such memory:
In the summer of 1985, after I’d just turned forty and after a year in which my mom had died of brain cancer and a longtime love and I broke up, I took a leave of absence from my stressful writing/editing job in New York and spent some weeks in Paris, France, staying in the apartment of a friend there while she and her boyfriend traveled elsewhere.
Every day I walked alone for five or six hours, taking in the sights and sounds and smells of this most beautiful City of Lights. It was a time of healing and renewal for me. Since then I’ve often told friends who were experiencing loss and heartbreak, “Don’t go to pieces, go to Paris!”
As my friend Barb says, “Shake it up!” The world is big. Our heartaches will heal, eventually. When things look bleak, we must climb out of our ruts, lift up our heads, and seriously consider the wider landscape. The rains will come – and then pass on. The reservoir, both literal and metaphorical, will, Lord willing, be replenished. The grand old cities and green rolling countrysides and magnificent shorelines of this wonder-filled world have a lot to show us and teach us. As Barb always says, “Just go!”
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El Charco is like a lake now. And indeed, traveling enriches nuestra vida. Besitos.
Si, Te, it finally looks like a reservoir again! When will you be coming to see for yourself? 🙂
My dear Bonnie, thank you for traveling vicariously with me while I was on my journey. As I moved about the world, it was so nice to know that I had many friends traveling with me, even only via FB. Many people stay in one place all their lives – I can’t. I once mentioned to a friend that I must not have deep roots. She said “You may not have deep roots vertically, but you have wide-spreading horizontal roots.” I believe that to be true.
Yes, Barb, and I’m hoping that your story will inspire more of us single women in our seventies (and beyond) to uproot ourselves a bit, get over whatever fears we might have of solo travel, and do as you urge us, “Just go!”
Bonnie, I absolutely love this! Hats off to Barb – and you – for your sense of adventure and possibility. My first thought about solo travel is that I would get lonely. But maybe not! And I love Barb’s itinerary. xx
Thanks so much, Debbie! So glad you liked Barb’s adventure story. Yes, she proves it CAN be done! — xx
My kind of gal!
Indeed she is!!! 🙂
So enjoy your writing!! I have written down your friend’s packing list. How freeing to travel
light. I will try!
Thanks so much, Judy! And I enjoy hearing from WOW readers like you! Yes, Barb knows how to travel light. Not sure I could do that as well as she does. I tend to pack everything I might possibly need… 🙂
YAY for Barb! She truly has figured out what matters in life. Loved this blog post
She really has, hasn’t she? Thank you, Kavita!
I just turned 82, and my BIG change of scene was 5+ years ago when I moved from California to San Miguel. Now I’m planning to take a drawing workshop in Morocco next spring, and attend the Urban Sketcher worldwide Symposium in Buenos Aires next fall!
How WONDERFUL, Rhoda! And how exciting that you’ll be going to Morocco — one of my favorite countries in the world. You are an inspiration!
Barb is a free spirit that wants to see the beauty of different cultures and countries without the pinch of limitations. Good on her! She should serve as an inspiration to many!
I told you that nature looks different from one season to the next, and there you are, proving how different things can look within a week alone, after rainfall. I enjoyed seeing those photos.
I have spent two weeks in Paris, walking 10 hours a day, and still never feeling that I had seen my fill.
The gardens, the old buildings, the artists along the Seine, the amazing art galleries, and history; the patisseries and fruit markets, and the amazing street life of cafes with conversing, diners and small lap dogs- there is so much to take in that it distracts one’s mind and heart. I’m glad you had Paris when you needed her, Bonnie.
Ah, Loula dear, I feel we are soul sisters — so far away, yet so close in spirit! Thank you, as ever, for your input. I’ll share your comments with Barb. — Abrazos (hugs), BB
Very inspiring…in fact, we will soon be traveling a similar route for several weeks.
How exciting, Dorothy! Do you know Barb? Maybe she could give you some travel tips…
I loved reading this, Bonnie Dear! And especially loved meeting Barb Mandaville again. She has such an easygoing way of being; I can imagine people anywhere in the world responding positively to her.
And what a difference a week of rain made on El Charco! It must be quite a relief to see it fill.
Much love, Be
Yes, Be, Barb is a people-person to be sure! And, you’ll be happy to know we’ve had even more heavy rains since I last visited El Charco, so the reservoir is probably near overflowing right now. 🙂
Dear Bon,
I marvel at your friend who lived out of her backpack and covered so much ground in ten weeks. She is an inspiration! You did get a lot of rain. Is this the rainy season in Mexico?
Love,
Paul
Yes, Paul dear, Barb IS a marvel! And, yes, it’s the rainy season here now, and when it RAINS, it really pours. 🙂 The plants and trees (and everybody’s gardens) are very happy.