MAKA, GWEN - South of the Border: Riding with Ghosts

Eye Books Direct. 2001. (ISBN: 9781903070093). Paperback, 19.4 x 13.6 x 2.2 cm. Condition good exlibrary. Isbn 1-903070-09-0, 1903070090. Her three sons grown and fled the nest, the forty-something Gwen Maka was living a happily chaotic life teaching English to spoiled rich kids in Istanbul, when she happened to glance at a friend's atlas. In an instant, she decided to cycle from Seattle to Panama. In this second part of her adventure, Gwen faces even greater challenges, trials, feats of endurance, weird and wonderful encounters, throughout her hazardous solo ride through the lands of the Conquistadors. She explores the towns, the ruins of earlier civilisations, the deserts, jungles, mountains, highways and byways of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, all the way to Costa Rica. Everywhere she goes, Gwen is peculiarly sensitive to the vibrations of the dramatic (and brutal) past as it hangs shimmering, but invisible to most, in the tropical air and on the ancient stones. She breathes the same exciting life into every aspect of her journey. The scenic and nature descriptions are poetry; the poignant human consequences of present day economic realities and political catastrophes wring the heart. Yet she remains remarkably clear-eyed, and constantly alert for any trace of false sentiment. She is a sworn life member of the Anti-smugness Patrol, and a merciless de-bunker of any who offend, including herself. Born in England in 1948, Gwen Maka's love affair with America and low budget travel began when she stepped off a plane at JFK airport in 1982 with GBP100 in her pocket, on her way to study underdevelopment on a Sioux reservation. Ten years later she abandoned her three grown up sons to their fate when a pin stuck in a map took her to Istanbul where she taught English for eighteen months. Prior to this her lack of long-term strategic planning (and need for cash) led her through dozens of jobs, including potato picking, cleaning, nursing, tree surgery, research assistant, development worker, to obtaining first and postgraduate degrees from the University of East Anglia, and Edinburgh University. She is currently living and painting in Holland. Used: Acceptable.

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