Camaraderie
I've been pumped up on adrenaline for the past
few days, rabid with anticipation for my weekend
trip to Baja with my new Total
Escape friends. Trying to figure out what it is
about this group that attracts me so, I realized
that I've experienced such camaraderie before.
Twenty years ago, I traveled with seventeen other
high school students to Honduras, where we would
spend one of the best years of our lives. Like the
Total Escape group, they were—to a
one—flush with the thrill of adventure.
Exploring the great outdoors with the Total
Escapees rekindles the solidarity and venturesome
spirit that I shared with my fellow exchange
students in Honduras.
It all began in Choluteca, a town in southern
Honduras near the Nicaraguan border (not the safest
of places at the time). There, we all spent our
first two days in the country going through
orientation, getting to know one another and
experiencing our first adventures in the local
market. The chemistry of our group manifested
itself immediately. Our common passion for
adventure bonded us together like old friends in
those two days.
Daily life in Honduras, immersed in a different
culture and foreign language, never ceased to
stimulate, but AFS (the agency through which we
traveled) nevertheless scheduled several organized
tours during the year. As a group, the eighteen of
us hung out on the coconut tree-lined, white sand
beaches of La Ceiba on the Caribbean coast. In San
Pedro Sula, Honduras' second-largest city, we
wandered the streets by day and boogied in the
discos by night. And most exciting of all, we spent
two days exploring the Mayan ruins of Copán
in the northwest corner of the country. Each trip
was a reunion of like-minded souls. Though we
thrilled to the new sights and experiences, our
spirit of camaraderie was an adventure all its own.
Whenever we got together, the enthusiasm was so
palpable you could cut it with a knife.
I haven't felt—haven't been a part
of—such raw, positive energy since then...
until two weeks ago, when I set off on a grand
desert expedition with a bunch of strangers.
Just like Choluteca twenty years ago, the strangers
became fast friends on that long weekend. That's
why I'm bursting with anticipation at doing more
with this fun group of people. I remember the
magical times that followed the last time I felt
such an unbridled spirit of camaraderie, so I can't
help but be thrilled by the good times that are
sure to come.
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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What is "The Daily Strick"?
I have long called
myself a writer, but too often I don't do
what a writer must do daily: write. So
you, dear reader, are the beneficiary of
my resolution to make a positive change in
at least one area of my life. Every single
day of this new year, I will write
something, anything, and post it here. It
is my intention to use this daily exercise
to jump-start my too-long-dormant creative
energies, and perhaps generate some
worthwhile material this year. Hopefully
you will find at least an occasional
amusement or insight in my daily
musings.
Today's
Column
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Previously...
4/28:
A
Mis Hondureños
4/27:
Sunday
Night Ramblings
4/26:
Hair
Band Nostalgia
4/25:
Consequences
4/24:
Lemon
Curry?
4/23:
My
Father Midas
4/22:
Earth
Day
4/21:
Joshua
Tree, Part III
4/20:
Joshua
Tree, Part II
4/19:
Joshua
Tree, Part I
4/18:
Royal
Flush
4/17:
A
Long Strange Trip
4/16:
A
New Line to Back
4/15:
Still
Writing
4/14:
Conspiracy
Theory
4/13:
Los
Coronados
4/12:
Y2K
in Y2K3
4/11:
Slow
Glass
4/10:
Freedom
of Speech
4/9:
Why
We're Fighting
4/8:
Eucalyptus
Memories
4/7:
Sleep
4/6:
Writing,
Just Not Here
4/5:
Sci-Files
Trivia
4/4:
Sobering
Up
4/3:
Great
White Hope
4/2:
Entropy
4/1:
Peace
on Earth
Previous months in
The
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