The Road Less Travelled - Mara posting

Two paths diverged in a wood, and I took the one less travelled. I didn't realize that the road less travelled is actually an express lane on the freeway, only a bit bumpier and with less signs. There are fewer people compared to the main highway, but there are still a lot of people driving fast. In other words, there is a well beaten tourist trail everywhere you go.  You can travel the entire world and never leave the bar scene, cafes, sandwich and pizza shops of the western world. You can get on a bus with all white people, get off in the city center and stay with even more of them, conversing in English. 

It can be disheartening to go to the far flung reaches of the globe to places with exotic, enchanting names, only to find that a group of young backpackers just trashed it with plastic bags and beer bottles.  I personally don’t like blazing a trail, and I don’t think that I’m going to discover anything new over the course of our travels. I enjoy all of the amenities the beaten trail brings (good food, massage, hot water, and an occasional espresso), but I also like to explore. 

I’m learning that people don’t stray far from the express lane. All you need to do is duck in an alley or small street, or walk three blocks from the main tourist strip, and suddenly the foreign population drops.  There are few hidden places left in the world, but there are a lot of hidden corners.  We recently took a break from the express lane and wandered in the woods by going to a remote, new elephant sanctuary for our obligatory encounter with the pachyderms, which Greg wrote about.  I’m looking forward to wandering again!