As you meet others around you, the first bits of information they share are about their children, wives and husbands. Traveling together, we learned about the importance of connection with people from all over the world. For myself, I most importantly learned about the connection with my father. We’ve always had different ideas and opinions about most things, but we found ways to build our friendship through canoeing on the Napo river, trekking through the Amazon rainforest, enjoying a glass of rose on the Endemic and most of all laughing at ourselves and our inability to keep up with the luxuries of our trip.
In the Amazon specifically, I was reminded of my first travels abroad and saw that in my dad. For example, accents are tough to understand when you’re not used to hearing them, and managing your “stuff” is a constant battle. Most challenging of all is trusting in those around you. These are all difficult factors that, as expected, my dad learned to adjust to as time went on. I teased him endlessly about his bags of bags, and I was reminded of how our difference in generations might be playing a role.
