Showing posts with label story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label story. Show all posts

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Serendipity and Travel

While I am a planner, I am a huge proponent of not planning down to the last meal to the last minute. I want people to be open to the wonders of the world and what they may find along the way. When ever I come across people who have returned from a recent trip, I always ask what was their most memorable part of the trip. Almost always, it turns out to be something they did not plan on their itinerary.

On our recent family trip to Costa Rica, an eco-adventure trip that included zip lining, whitewater rafting, rappelling, my favorite memory is spending an afternoon with my family on a small pristine beach in Dominical that we stumbled upon. This beach had two sea caves that connected the beach to the ocean creating a blow hole effect perfect for body surfing. We spent our afternoon on this cozy little place where the rainforest met the ocean water with nothing but a small sliver of sand in between, a stream meandering through the forest, hiking the muddy river and body surfing the caves. I can’t remember how we had planned to spend that time or if we had planned anything at all, but then that is .. Serendipity.

A wise man once said.. if you follow a path too closely you will miss the wonders that you may find along your way.

There was a village woman who walked 2 Kos (miles) each way to the river to bring water for her family’s daily needs. She used to carry two pots of water on her shoulders every day and even then the water was barely sufficient to meet the daily needs. One pot had a small hole in it. Every day by the time this woman reached home, the broken pot was almost half empty. One day her neighbor asked why do you always carry that broken pot ? The woman replied, most people look at the path along which they walk to the river, but I look at the beautiful flowers growing along that path, that my broken pot waters. Moral of the story, its not always the path that provides the most wonder but often the small things along that path.