Very readable travel memoir. Makes you want to do it and go adventuring! Great lady. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this book and found the second half to be okay. The first half of the book the author traveled the world and discussed cultural issues and norms that most travel writers avoid or ignore. I liked seeing a country and a people as it is, and not as we pretend it is. The second half of the book was more about the author herself.

There were many thoughts and feelings I can connect with and it definitely struck a chord with me. If you love to travel I think you would enjoy this book. ( )

I liked this because she just gets up and pushes herself to do what she wants to do. She also travels to countries that aren't in Western Europe, which is always a plus in my book.
But, but, but...
Oh! I was hoping I'd really like this, but it just fell so very flat. Her writing isn't very good (or her basic biological know-how--this became apparent to me at one point when she describes crocodiles as looking "like ancient amphibians soaking up the sun," which, even if she were to acknowledge that crocs are actually reptiles, it still would remain a lousy simile). She stays with families for as long as is convenient to her, which really rubbed me the wrong way for all of her touting that she's going to really dig her heels into learning another culture. When she does stay for a longer period of time, it's with upper-caste families in Bali. She also tends to set up her story with a fair amount of information, but then glosses through the bulk of her time spent in any given place. As a result, I felt I was only getting a very superficial scope of the region she visited, which inclines me to feel she only experienced things at a superficial level.
That's it. ( )

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13066268

A different kind of adventurer. Normally the people I read about who have gone forth into the world to try out different "lives" have been young, athletic, and gifted in some ways. Rita Golden Gelman, while certainly gifted in some ways, started her journey relatively late in life and did not have the perfect athletic body, ready for anything. I think this is what made her "relatable" to me.

As her marriage starts to fall apart, Gelman decides to break away from the life she has led for so many years. Almost on a whim she heads for Mexico, where she lives happily for one month, then more, learning the language and getting to know many people. She has many adventures and returns home sadder because her marriage is no more but happier and more confident because she's finding out so much about herself at last.

Thus begins her life as a nomad. Like traditional nomads, she doesn't just drift into a place, glance around, and then leave for the next place. She stays a while. She becomes part of the local community, giving as well as getting. How is she able to do this? Apart from learning the language, which she does to some extent in each locale, she is able to teach English. She also is able to write and can use this skill to get places as well as to make money on the road. Most importantly, though, Rita is clearly a people person. She thrives on friendships, on having people around, on learning and teaching. She clearly gains energy from being around others and they tend to benefit from her presence. I think this is her most important gift.

So overall I enjoyed the book. For me, there were aspects that bothered me. While I understand and applaud her sensitivity in trying to accept and become part of each community, thus doing as the natives do and not judging or trying to change things, I put myself in her place at times and realized I could not be part of an animal sacrifice ritual, nor could I cheerfully go eel hunting or mussel catching and eating. I also connected some behaviors with further devastation of the earth and water, even if the effects were not apparent in that particular location. We hear about the wonderful food in Thailand but not about the shrimp farming, for example.

In fact, after the beginnings, when Gelman shared her difficulties in accepting the dissolution of her marriage, she went on to be pretty much ecstatic about almost everything else. It was all exciting, all wonderful. Yes, there are moments of questions or times when she misses her family, but overall this book is so "happy" that it became much like surfing the travel channel. I simply craved more introspection and awareness of the larger world as well as the inner world. ( )

Interesting writing of her travels, primarily in Mexico/Central America and Indonesia. I like the way she connects with children even when they don't know each other's language; at one point they shared how their language refers to various animals sounds (cate in Bali say "Meong, meong." p. 183) I applaud her decision to life the life she's always dreamed of, and managing to do it in a style that is close to the typical villager's. Yet, at some point I started wondering about her urge to keep on moving somewhere new rather than making a commitment to a community which she claims she is friends with and has learned a lot from. She makes a point of saying she intends to remain an observer and not try to make changes in the lives of those she meets. Yet she asks a lot of each new contact, looking for those who will reach out to welcome her. And then she leaves.
I'm hearing a lot about cultural appropriation lately, tho it's not a term used back in the 1980's & '90's when she was traveling. How would that apply here?