Wanderlust in the Time of Coronavirus (A GeoEx eBook)

Wanderlust in the Time of Coronavirus

A Passage to Pakistan: My First Adventure with GeoEx

young men in spattered shalwar kameez playing cricket in the rain. It is women washing their clothes in a river, and naked children playing jacks in the mud nearby. It is tiny, musty shops crammed with old artifacts and new handicrafts; open-air stalls selling oranges and dates, carpets and cloth, jewelry, spices, guns. It is painted trucks, horse-drawn carriages, battered bicycles, mountain palaces, and muddy refugee camps. It is white clouds and gray clouds; green fields and snowy meadows; dusty plains and snowcapped peaks; pearly mist and blue sky. It is all Pakistan. Pakistan! Little did I know, three weeks ago, that I was beginning a journey that would have no end. . . . December 6, 2020; Piedmont, California: I sit in my study, immersed once again in this life-quickening adventure that taught me so much, stretched me so far, and challenged me in so many ways that I had never faced before. Simultaneously here and there, I feel inexpressibly grateful for this unexpected gift, that helped me define my path, and gave my days richness and meaning I had never imagined. It was truly the adventure of a lifetime. And though I didn’t know it then, it was also the beginning of a lasting relationship with GeoEx, another adventure of a lifetime. Now I stretch my arms to embrace all these runes around me, and think: We are all blank maps. Or rather, we make our own maps as we journey, in Pakistan and in life. We don’t know what the world will deliver us—cancelled flights, cloud-shrouded skies, avalanches on the KKH; ancient paths, snowcapped peaks, hand-clasping encounters with carpenters. All we can do is follow the compass of our heart, and open ourselves to the wonders of the open road. Then we may ride the high road to Hunza, and learn that wherever we are, we are already home.

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