The father-son mountain trek: what an experience!

Sometimes you've got to decide what it is you really want to do and just go for it…that is exactly what I did when I decided about one year ago that there was no way my son Gil was going to go off the army without a good trek in the mountains, just the two of us. Fortunately for me, Gil and I have the same love for trekking in far-away places, meeting simple people in developing countries, far off the beaten track, deep inside the cross-cultural setting where everything is new, strange, different and challenging. My wife and I raised Gil and his sister, Shani, to appreciate such things, in their short lifetime with us we had taken them for journeys deep into the villages of Guatemala, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Philippines and now it was time for yet another experience- eco-community based tourism at its finest.

This time it was Gil and I alone…well not exactly alone as one out of 2 trekkers on the trail was a young Israeli, usually travelling in groups of 6 or 8 while we were the odd two, quite an attraction the "father and son team", or perhaps only I was the attraction- at 54 I was about 30 years older than the average trekker and there was not trekker in site anywhere near my age…but you know what? I did not feel the least bit out of place, years ago I trekked for two months in the Himalayas, I was pleased to find that I could go up the hills (and there were "going ups" of up to 1000 meters a day), and go down those hills in a way that was no faster or slower than the average.  Perhaps by age it was "Grandfather Ronnie" but in every other way it was just me as one of the guys, but most importantly, it was Gil and I, together on the trial, in the homes of the simple villagers, experiencing what it is to be together 24 hours a day amidst the most beautiful scenery one can imagine.

One needs to remember to grab these moments, seize the day, because they pass so quickly. The memories and the experience of these 4 days together are still so fresh but already do deeply embedded in my consciousness. Seize the day- we did it!

If you have an idea to do something great, just do it. Don't wait. Just do it.--Elaine Newkir