Have you ever totaled up the number of countries that you have visited in your lifetime? Furthermore, how many times have you traveled to each particular country? Breaking it down even further, what places/cities have you visited (with at least one overnight stay) in each destination/country? If you answer all these questions carefully, you’ll have put together your own TRAVELER’S RESUME.

Let’s start out with yours truly. My inaugural trip as a traveler happened in Dec. 1973 when I went to Mexico for 3 weeks. Over the ensuing 35 years, I have traveled to 25 different countries. If you look at my RESUME, you will see that I’m very partial to the tropics. Call me the tropical traveler if you may.

NORTH AMERICA:

• Mexico (18)

Puerto Vallarta (3), Mexico City (3), Guadalajara, Villahermosa, Merida,
Mexican Caribbean – Cancun (4), Playa del Carmen (2) and Tulum; Oaxaca (5),
Puerto Escondido (5), San Blas(2) Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo,
Baja California - Cabo San Lucas (4), La Paz and Loreto,
Costa Alegre - La Manzanilla (2) and Bahia de Navidad

CARIBBEAN:

• Jamaica (30+)

Kingston, Blue Mountains, Port Antonio, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Negril,
South Coast - Black River, Treasure Beach and Milk River Bath; Cockpit Country,
Mandeville and Christiana

• Barbados (6)
• St. Lucia (2)
• Antigua
• Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo and Sosua Beach

• Cuba

Havana and Varadero Beach

• St. Vincent
• Trinidad
• St. Maarten/St. Marten
• Bahamas

Nassau and Eleuthera

• Caribbean/Panama Canal Cruise

SOUTH AMERICA:

• Colombia

Bogota, Cartagena and San Andres Island

• Peru

Lima, Cusco, Sacred Valley including Machu Picchu, Amazon basin

• Ecuador

Quito, Otavalo and Mindo

CENTRAL AMERICA:

• Costa Rica (6)

San Jose (6), Heredia (2), Sarapiqui (2), Manuel Antonio (3), Dominical,
Pacific Lowlands – Carara ; Guanacaste – Canas and Palo Verdes NP (2), Tamarindo Beach (2), Ocotal and Los Innocentes; Jaco, Tortugero, Monteverde (2), Osa Peninsula, La Fortuna and Arenal (4),
Caribbean Coast- Cahuita (2) and Puerto Viejo; Wilson Botanical Gardens
(San Vito), San Gerardo de Dota and Nicoya Peninsula - Playa Samara

• Guatemala (2)

Guatemala City (2), Antigua (2) and Lake Atitlan

WEST AFRICA:

• Ghana

Accra, Gold Coast, Kumasi

• Togo

Lome

• Mali

Bamako and Mopti

• Ivory Coast

Abidjan

SOUTHEAST ASIA:

• Thailand (7)

Bangkok (7), Chiang Mai (5), Mae Sa Valley (2), Phuket (3), Koh Lanta, Koh Jum,
Koh Samui (2), Koh Chang (5), Pattaya (3), Khao Sok National Park, Chiang Rai Province – Doi Tung (2), Mae Salong (2) and Chiang Kong; Kanchanaburi (2),
Sangkhlaburi, Sakaeo, Sukhothai (2), Ayutthaya and Mae Hong Son Province-Pai (2), Soppong and Mae Hong Son (2)

• Laos

Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Mekong River Cruise

• Cambodia

Siem Reap(Angkor Wat)

EUROPE

• England

London Area

Please note: Number in Parentheses () indicates the number of visits

Feel free to submit your Travel Resume here!

If you’ve followed my African Follies series, I’m sure you’re ready for RETURN FROM AFRICA, a unique musical travelogue that celebrates a memorable 6-week adventure to West Africa that I embarked on in December 1995. I distinctly remember landing at the airport in Accra, Ghana sometime after midnight - stepping out into the arrival area, I was greeted by a rousing reception of Ghanaians who were stationed behind the chain linked fence, then whisked off to my hotel by my friend. It was the start of a very momentous journey!

Although I had experienced African culture in the Diaspora while traveling extensively in the Caribbean, nothing in my past experience really prepared me for this trip. My eyes (and my mind) were wide open as I traveled to metropolitan cities and out into the African bush passing thru colorful marketplaces, artisan villages and dirt poor rural villages. On this journey, I learned a lot more about the history and diversity of cultures in West Africa than I had in my studies at the University. Traveling is definitely the highest form of education - you learn so much about yourself, the world and about different cultures and peoples.

Of the four countries that I visited, Ghana by far was the friendliest and most westernized and Mali was the most exotic and intriguing. My only regret was lacking sufficient funds and time to make it to legendary Timbuktu in Mali.

I have so many wonderful memories from this trip - of the people that I met and of the many exotic places that I visited. I will never forget this journey - someday soon I will Return to Africa!

Dec. 23, 1995 Kumasi, Ghana A ladyfriend from Accra accompanied me to Kumasi, Ghana’s 2nd largest city of and spiritual home of the ancient Ashanti empire. Located in the hilly central region about 3 1/2 hours by car from the capital of Accra, Kumasi is now a thriving tourist mecca with a variety of attractions and places of historical interest. Note: The Ashanti King and his royal court still reside here. About a half hour drive from this royal city is Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana’s only natural lake. Surrounded by verdant green hills, this lake is home to several small fishing villages and is considered sacred by the Ashanti people. The lake is very important to the well being of these communities as it provides them with an abundance of fish. Understandably, fish is the staple of people’s diet and fishing is the primary source of income. Christianity and Western culture hasn’t had a tremendous impact here as the people maintain the ways of their Ashanti ancestors and they still pay homage to their African Gods.

Curious about the folklore and mythology of these fishing villages, my friend and I took a taxi to Bosumtwi where we hired a boat for a scenic tour of the lake. The Boat Captain, who was an Ashanti and lived in one of the lakeside villages, recited a very interesting story which was an integral part of Ashanti folklore.

At 16-year intervals, in order to ensure that the lake continues to be abundant with fish, it is customary that the Ashanti people of Bosumtwi district make a sacrificial offering of a human being to the God who resides in the lake. Traditionally, the local people would capture an outsider for this very important ritual as the Gods were most pleased if the sacrificial victim was of European ancestry, and would reward the small fishing villages as such with a superabundance of protein rich fish for the next 16 years.

I asked the boat captain nervously, exactly when does this sacrifice take place? Looking at me with cold steely black eyes, he said that the sacrifice must take place sometime before Christ’s birthday, in other words before Christmas. Hmm, upon hearing this, I gulped, lost all my color and turned a ghostly white. Today was Dec. 22, 1995 - nothing like being in the wrong place at the right time! I could see where this was going. Before I could blink an eye, the captain and my turncoat friend shoved me overboard into the lake. Although I am good swimmer, for some reason the water lacked any buoyancy as I felt myself being dragged below the surface by forces unseen. The rest is history – the local communities were blessed with another 16 years of tremendous fishing!

It was in December 2005 that I embarked on a memorable 6-week adventure to West Africa which took me to four different countries – Ghana, Togo, Ivory Coast and Mali. I distinctly remember landing at the airport in Accra, Ghana sometime after midnight - stepping out into the arrival area, I was greeted by a rousing reception of Ghanaians who were stationed behind the chain linked fence, then whisked off to my hotel by my friend. It was the start of a very momentous journey!

Although I had experienced African culture in the Diaspora while traveling extensively in the Caribbean, nothing in my past experience really prepared me for this trip. My eyes (and my mind) were wide open as I traveled to metropolitan cities and out into the African bush (countryside) passing thru colorful marketplaces, artisan villages and dirt poor rural villages. On this journey, I learned a lot more about the history and diversity of cultures in West Africa than I had in my studies at the University. Traveling is definitely the highest form of education - you learn so much about yourself, the world and about different cultures and peoples.

I spent most of my time in GHANA – I stayed in the family home of a friend who lived in Mamprobi, a humble neighborhood located on the outskirts of Accra. While in Ghana, I visited a number of different places - including the Slave forts of the Gold Coast, the tourist mecca of Kumasi (the heart of the Ashanti) and the Upper Volta dam. The rainforest canopy tour at Kakum was very exciting and was the first time that I had taken a tour like this. Of the four countries that I visited, Ghana by far was the friendliest and most westernized and Mali was the most exotic and intriguing. My only regret was lacking sufficient funds (and time) to make it to the legendary Timbuktu in Mali.

I have so many wonderful memories from this trip - of the people that I met and of the many exotic places that I visited - as well as some really astounding stories to share, that it would be some really juicy material for a best selling novel. In this novel, there would be elements of culture shock, political intrigue, extortion, adventure, romance and heartbreak. Stayed tuned….

While attending a tourism exposition in San Jose, Costa Rica in the early 1990’s, I learned about plans for a new ecotourist attraction that would allow people to explore and learn first hand about the rich and complex diversity of life in the rainforest canopy. It’s estimated that about two-thirds of a rainforest’s species live in the canopy (the uppermost, branching layer of the forest). One of the guest speakers at the Expo was the well-known tropical biologist, Dr. Donald Perry, who for many years had studied the diverse mix of fauna and flora in the rainforest canopy by utilizing a system of pulleys and cables to navigate among the treetops. Addressing the many travel agents, the press and members of the travel industry who were attending the Expo, Dr. Perry announced his plan to develop and operate the Rainforest Aerial Tram, Costa Rica’s First Canopy Tour. The Aerial Tram would be modeled after a ski-lift gondola ride consisting of a series of small open-air cable cars each held together by a three kilometers long cable. The first rainforest Aerial tram opened in 1994, about an hour’s drive from San Jose (Costa Rica’s capital city) on a private rainforest reserve just outside of Braulio Carrillo National Park.

Since the introduction of the first Rainforest Aerial Tram in 1994, the canopy tour business spread like wildfire in Costa Rica. Several more Aerial Tram tours opened - including a Rainforest Aerial Tram near the Pacific Coast Beach resort of Jaco (sister of the original Rainforest Aerial Tram near Braulio Carillo National Park) as well as an unrelated Aerial Tram near Arenal volcano. In addition, several canopy tours have utilized suspension bridges for tourists to walk among the treetops. However, it is the zip-line tour which has really taken over the canopy tour industry. Today, there are currently over 100 canopy tours available in Costa Rica, most of them located in close proximity to the more popular resort and tourist areas. By far most of the canopy tours are of the zip-line variety, which is very fast paced and is more akin to an amusement park ride than a means of learning about nature.

On the zip-line tour, people are attached to an overhead cable with a safety harness, propelling themselves from one tree platform to the next at relatively fast speeds. Small animals and birds that live high up in the canopy might mistake you for a flying ape or a UFO. This type of canopy tour may frighten some people who are afraid of heights. A word of caution - while this type of tour is undeniably fun and thrilling like bungee jumping, it can also be very dangerous. There is no government regulation in Costa Rica of these canopy tours, so before you get strapped into the harness, you should check out the safety standards of the outfitter and verify that they have a proven track record in these types of tours. Since 1997, there have been two zip-line tour deaths in Costa Rica that have been attributed to faulty harnesses.

The canopy tour, which has been entrenched in Costa Rica as a popular eco-attraction, has since been introduced to many other popular tropical destinations from South Africa and Ghana in Africa to Jamaica and St. Lucia in the Caribbean and Peru in South America.

While I have not been on any canopy tours in Costa Rica per se, I did have the pleasure of going on a canopy tour in December 1995 while visiting Ghana in West Africa. Located not far from from Ghana’s Gold Cost, Kakum Rainforest was chosen as the site of Ghana’s first canopy tour. A relatively new attraction at the time, this canopy tour consisted of a series of suspension bridges between platforms located high up in the rainforest canopy. It was very fun but my traveling companion, a young lady from Accra, Ghana’s Capital, experienced a fear of heights. Eventually she conquered her fears and completed the walk among the treetops feeling total exhilarated.

Factoid: It is reported that Canopy tours generate some $120 million annually in Costa Rica , and attract by conservative estimates over 200,000 tourists every year.

Reference:
http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=costa_rica@53&cur_section=fea&feature=30011