The Final Chapter Begins

Yesterday marked day 265 of our travels. We are returning to Colorado exactly one year from when we left, which means we have 100 days left of our year long journey. I remember back in Osaka when we reached the 100 day mark. I can’t believe we are now to this point in our year. As we approach the last 3 months of our travels, we have started talking about what it will feel like when we go home. We want to fully lean into the last part of our year. However, like it or not, we also have to think about going home.

The World is Beautiful and The World is Hard

Sometimes it’s extremely hard to embrace the amazing experiences we are having when there is suffering all around you. Our road trip to Addo was dotted with small towns along the way and the signs of poverty were staggering and difficult to see. On the outskirts of almost every town are informal settlements where houses are pieced together with salvaged materials. It’s a difficult shift for my brain to see the beauty of the Indian Ocean out one window and extreme poverty out the other.

South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world at over 30%. This is the most direct exposure we’ve had to this type of poverty all year. We are asked for money almost every time we walk anywhere. A woman asked if she could look through our trash for food as we were putting it in the dumpster. We gave her a bag of food from our condo, but it doesn’t feel like enough. How do we keep experiences like this forefront in our minds when we get back to Colorado? How could we do more to help? These are the questions that have been playing on repeat in my head for days.

Gratitude, Contradictions and 100 Days to Go

I was recently reading about the idea that the opposite of a profound truth is also true. I have related to that concept so often during our travels. This one in particular expresses how I feel right now – “Travel reminds you how much we all have in common and travel reminds you how vastly different our lives are”. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we have so much to be thankful for! I’m looking forward to savoring the last 3 months of our travels. Only 100 days left and I want to enjoy every last one of them!