Making it Happen
Trip Start
Jun 09, 2010
1
36
39
Trip End
Dec 31, 2015
Belize City, Belize District, Belize
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Making it happen.
I know it may sound cheesy, but I think that for most people the path of life is littered with wishes and dreams discarded. It’s unfortunate, but true. We all have things we want to do, wish we could have, and dream of experiencing, but tell ourselves it just isn’t possible. It’s too expensive. There isn’t enough time. I can’t. It’s too hard. That’s crazy. That’s not practical. Logistics. (The UPS commercial is suddenly popping into my head). I know it’s easy for me to say because I don’t have a lot tethering me down and my job often affords me time that other jobs don’t allow, but I’ve been a firm believer for some time now that if you truly want something, you can make it happen. Nobody else is going to make it happen for you. You can find a way. A little creativity, curiosity, a willingness to trust in others, taking risks, and a lot of forward thinking and planning will go a long way to making anything possible. As Robin Williams said in Dead Poet’s Society, “Carpe Diem.” Seize the Day. John Barrymore said, “A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.“ And as my good friend Steph recently posted on her face book status “Blessed are the Curious for they will have Adventure.” My Uncle Rob once said to me that he’d rather end his life in a wheelchair reminiscing about all the great things he did in his life, than to end it standing with regret of the things he never did.
Well, they speak true. I hear them well. I try to make it happen.
So begins the latest little adventure in my life. Let me take you back a couple of weeks. For the first time in several years, I spend the winter holidays sitting at home in cold Missouri. I’ve never been a fan of cold weather. I’d rather sweat than shiver. I usually try to find a way out of winter whenever I can. And when if I’m going to be in colder climes, I’d rather be having and adventure. Maybe dog sledding in the Arctic like I did back in 2008. But when I can help it, I’d rather head south to recharge my batteries in the warmth of a tropical or summer sun. But this year, for a variety of reasons, it wasn’t to be. By the end of our short holiday break this year, I knew that I had to do something. I had to go somewhere. So it was on New Year’s Eve that I was reading an older issue of National Geographic on a cold winter morning in Missouri and came across an article about the mystical, jungle shrouded Mayan ruins of Tikal in Northern Guatemala. I was inspired. This was a place that needed to be on my list of places to go. I wanted to be there, have a little adventure. I wanted to make it happen. And so I did. Within 30 minutes of finishing the article, and in an act of spontaneity that is bold even for me, I cashed in some of the frequent flier miles I’ve been saving and booked a flight to Belize City, Belize. Paid for a cheap flight from Belize City to Flores, Guatemala, and put in an email request to the manager of one of 3 accommodation options in Tikal National Park for a room for two nights and transportation for the 1 hour drive from Flores to the Tikal Ruins. Within 24 hours, it was done. I had flights, hotel, transportation arranged. The cost was ridiculously low. Then a breathed and stepped back from what I had done. I had just booked a trip to the wilds of Guatemala over a three day weekend. Not only that, but I had booked a trip that was scheduled to commence in just two short weeks. So it was that I had made it happen. I was going to visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal over Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend!! Sounds crazy, right? Ridiculous, right? Why bother, right? Well, if I had listened to all the reasons why I shouldn’t have done it. I would have spent another cold weekend in Missouri. Instead, I had one of the best weekends of my life. A weekend full of adventure. A weekend of rejuvenating escape. A weekend of learning and exploration that has further broadened my understanding of a people past, of a culture long gone, of a nation struggling to emerge from the conflict of recent war and current economic struggle.
So, this is just the first of 3 entries I hope to post on my blog about my adventure last weekend. I know that I typically only do one entry per spot, and I also know that it’s atypical for me to have so much to say about such a short trip, but hopefully I can put something together that can capture even in a small way the grand scale of what this trip afforded me in terms of experience and reflect the continuing evolution of travel philosophy. The next entry is aimed at recounting the events of the weekend in it’s entirety, my observations of Guatemala and Belize. The third entry will focus more in-depth on my experience exclusively in Tikal National Park on Sunday. I hope you enjoy. And as always, I thank you in advance for listening, reacting, and responding. Hopefully I can inspire at least one other person to look past the cheese and find a way to make it happen.
Whatever your ‘it’ may be.
Comments
This is so awesome! You are something else. If anyone can make things like this happen and work out, it's you! I'm so glad you got to get away to the warm weather and see such fantastic things.
When you use to sit together at basketball games and we asked each other challenging questions, I knew that you were "going places"! You are such a blessing. I admire you adventurous spirit and your unquenchable curiosity. Thanks for continuing to "Make it Happen" and for making time to share your interesting, detailed blogs. I hear those jungle noises, and I too am trembling as "we" know there is a jaguar with us, and I feel my muscles aching as we sweat together getting to the top of the ruins. Then I relax peacefully with you and God as we watch the magnificient sunrise and sunset.
Wanna drag a slightly used, almost new uncle on your next neat trip along with you?? You are having wayyyyyyyyy to good of a time not to have some of the family along to help represent....
Hey Danny, have you noticed from the pictures of your family and friends how "bland" we are starting to look since you are gone so much??